By Mary O’KEEFE

Organizers of the Hands Off protest, which occurred across the country on Saturday, April 5, had an idea the protests were going to be well attended. Days prior to the event 1,000 individual events had been planned throughout the U.S. with 600,000 people having signed up online. On Saturday that number had expanded to 1,400 events across the nation with “millions” of people turning out, according to organizers. And that was just in the U.S.; protests were held in other countries including Canada. 

One of the organizers was Indivisible, a “social movement organization,” according to its website. It is a national organization that has satellite groups throughout the nation and internationally. One of those satellite groups is located in the La Cañada Flintridge/La Crescenta/Pasadena area. It organized a Pasadena Hands Off protest on Saturday.  The organization is titled Northeast LA (NELA) Indivisible.

“We had over 2,000 people register to join [Saturday’s] protest,” said Alan Dias, NELA member.

The main Indivisible organization was notified and was informed that hundreds of registrations were received for the NELA event. 

An estimated 4,000 people participated, lining Colorado Boulevard from Old Town to Los Robles Avenue.

Organizers Dias, his wife Jennie Manders, Maddie Gavel-Briggs and her husband Patrick were all at the event. 

Manders had been at the Women’s March, widely known because many of its members wore knitted pink hats. She said Saturday’s protest felt different – it felt more inclusive. 

“I spoke to two people who said they were Republicans, and this would be the last thing they thought they would be involved in,” she said. 

“I think it’s the coalescing of a lot of things of what’s driving this [protest] … from the election, the disappointment and the feeling of powerlessness,” Gavin-Briggs said. She added there is a feeling of helplessness, of knowing what is coming because “we’ve experienced this before” during President Donald Trump’s first administration. 

“It is like a bad sequel,” she said, “but there is a sense after the election that we can do something.”

The protests did cover a variety of issues ranging from concerns over Social Security and health care funding to the mass firings at departments including at the U.S. Forest Service and the Internal Revenue Service and the closing of the Dept. of Education. 

There was a similar Hands Off protest in Glendale on Broadway near the Social Security office. For Donna Goldsworthy, this was the first protest she had attended but, because of the issues facing the country, she felt she needed to be there.

She estimated over 2,000 people were there; other estimates have been closer to 4,000. 

“People lined both sides of the street,” she said. 

Cars would honk in support as they passed the protestors. People raised signs, there was music playing and some people were giving speeches; however, for her it was just important to be there … to show her support for democracy. 

“I am very upset with the [current] administration, with Elon Musk,” she said. “I am scared we are going into a dictatorship.”

She shared her concern about what is happening with Social Security, how several offices are scheduled to close yet it is requiring people to apply for benefits in person. Those who are planning to retire or need to sign up for survivor benefits from Social Security will no longer be able to apply over the phone. They must apply in person or online; however, recently there have been several reports that the Social Security online services had crashed. 

Goldsworthy said that seniors who live in rural areas will find it difficult to apply in person. She is also worried about immigration/deportations.

“I felt good about it,” she said of attending her first protest.

She had invited her grandchildren to join – and they did – though the youngest was a little apprehensive.

“I told [my grandchild] this is just our voices that need to be heard,” she said. “You are the next generation and your voice needs to be heard.”

She and those who participated in the Pasadena Hands Off protest said there was a feeling of camaraderie, that some of the signs people were carrying were funny and it seemed like, regardless where the protestors came from and what their specific concerns were, they had one voice. 

Gavin-Briggs hoped this feeling would continue and that the momentum continued.

Dias added that if the NELA membership growth is any indication, then the movement’s strength will continue. 

NELA has outgrown its current meeting place at Sadler Hall at St. Luke’s of the Mountains. It now has to start looking for a larger place to accommodate all the new members. 

“At our first meeting we were expecting 20 [people] and 80 showed up,” Dias said. “And at that meeting a woman stood up and said she was a Republican. We didn’t boo; we welcomed her. She said she just wanted us to know that.”

All are invited to the next meeting of NELA on April 22 at Sadler Hall, 2563 Foothill Blvd., at 6:30 p.m. Every Saturday it is protesting at Tesla at 117 W. Colorado Blvd. in Pasadena from noon to 2 p.m.