Around 150 people waved signs, chanted and demonstrated at Vashon’s four-way stop the afternoon of Saturday, March 5, protesting the actions of President Donald Trump and his administration as part of a coordinated “Hands Off!” protest around the country that day.

Drivers honked repeatedly to cheers from demonstrators, who were carrying sings with messages such as “Protect The Constitution,” “Stop The Genocide in Palestine,” “Defend Democracy, Truth Matters,” “Putin’s Puppet,” “Farmers against Fascism,” and “Dump DOGE.”

Other islanders took ferries to Olympia and Seattle, carrying their messages to protests at the Seattle Center and the state capitol.

“Hands Off!” organizers said more than 1,400 such rallies, of various sizes, took place across the country on Saturday, according to reporting by CNN, and organizers estimated that millions participated nationwide.

Demonstrators on Vashon held signs protesting a smorgasbord of policies, from cuts across the federal government to the U.S. provision of weapons to Israel.

In conversations with The Beachcomber, protestors listed Trump’s cuts across the government, far-reaching tariffs, women’s reproductive rights, human rights for immigrants, and the rights of transgender Americans as their reasons for protesting. One islander, asked which actions of the Trump Administration had made her come out to protest, simply said “All of them.”

Married couple Nancy and Larry Eister both pointed to the slash-and-burn style cuts coming at the federal government under Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency,” or DOGE. (Despite its name, DOGE isn’t an executive department but is instead a temporary advisory body.)

“I’m very upset with what’s happening with our government since Trump was elected,” said Nancy Eister. “If Cory Booker can stand and talk for 25 hours, the least I can do is hit the street with a little sign. … There’s power in people speaking out, even if they don’t know how to change it or how to legally stop it.”

Larry Eister said he was “outraged by the dissolution of the government being predicated under Elon Musk, DOGE.”

“They’re burning down everything that we’ve built up over the last 200 years, and it won’t come back very easily,” he said. “… The power of the public [is] all we’ve got. … We don’t have the majority in Congress, and we certainly don’t have any control over what the White House does. But we can speak out and stand together.”

Carol Goertzel and Karol Lake held broomsticks affixed with signs reading “HANDS OFF!” that also named a list of services — including the constitution, immigrants, social security, USAID, reproductive rights and HIV research — which they said are under attack in this administration.

“Medicare, Medicaid, school lunches, Meals on Wheels, everything is just being destroyed,” Goertzel said. “… It’s just incomprehensible what he’s doing to this country, let alone internationally.”

Lake, an island tax specialist who will soon turn 80, said this is her first time demonstrating this way. “I feel like I can’t stay away,” she said.

Her hope in protesting Saturday was to show people that “they’re not alone in their anger, in their fear.”

“There are a lot of us that just need to find how to resist, and how to fight back,” she said.

Meanwhile, islanders heading to Seattle shared markers to write signs and chatted on the ferry ride over, said islander and former Vashon HouseHold Board President Christy Clement, then boarded the “smash-packed” King County Metro C Line to reach the Seattle Center.

“The Seattle event was amazing energy and so much bigger than I expected,” Clement said. “I suspect the organizers didn’t expect the turnout because they didn’t set up nearly enough of a sound system. Most of us couldn’t hear the speakers — what an amazing problem to have.”

Reporter Liz Shepherd contributed reporting to this article.

Alex Bruell photo Carol Goertzel (left) and Karol Lake held broomsticks affixed with signs reading “HANDS OFF!” and including a list of services at the Saturday protest.

Alex Bruell photo Around 150 people waved signs, chanted or demonstrated at Vashon’s four-way stop the afternoon of Saturday, March 5.

Alex Bruell photo Around 150 people waved signs, chanted or demonstrated at Vashon’s four-way stop the afternoon of Saturday, March 5.

Elizabeth Shepherd Photo One colorfully-clad islander showed up in red, white, blue, with a message on her purple umbrella: “Hate never made America great.”

Elizabeth Shepherd Photo More than 150 islanders showed up to Vashon’s “Hands Off” protest on Saturday with a variety of messages.

Elizabeth Shepherd Photo Islanders lined the four-way interesection in the center of town on Saturday, with some standing by another sign of the times: an recently placed sandwich board advising Vashon residents what to do if they see immigration and customs enforcement officers on the island.

Kent Phelan photo Around 150 people waved signs, chanted or demonstrated at Vashon’s four-way stop the afternoon of Saturday, March 5.

Kent Phelan photo Around 150 people waved signs, chanted or demonstrated at Vashon’s four-way stop the afternoon of Saturday, March 5.

Kent Phelan photo Around 150 people waved signs, chanted or demonstrated at Vashon’s four-way stop the afternoon of Saturday, March 5.

Kent Phelan photo Around 150 people waved signs, chanted or demonstrated at Vashon’s four-way stop the afternoon of Saturday, March 5.

Christy Clement photo A throng of islanders boarded the ferry to Fauntleroy to join a “Hands Off!” protest at the Seattle Center on Saturday, April 5.

Christy Clement photo Islander Seth Zuckerman displays a sign reading “There’s No Process like Due Process” on the ferry trip over to Seattle.

Ina Gylys-Colwell photo A King County sheriff’s deputy, who helped tamp down tensions at one point as a person argued with protestors, is pictured at the protest Saturday.