More than 750 take part in Saturday’s Hands Off! protest
By Mike McCombs
The Island News
In what was undoubtedly the largest protest in Beaufort County in recent memory, more than 750 people gathered in front of Beaufort City Hall at the intersection of Ribaut Road and Boundary Street on Saturday, April 5, to protest the actions of President Donald Trump and his administration, including billionaire Elon Musk.
The rare Saturday protest – protesters have been gathering each Monday in the same place since February 10 — was a part of Hands Off! National Day of Action organized by more than a dozen organizations “to stand up against those who believe they can take whatever they want — our democracy, our future, our rights.”
The event coincided with events in Bluffton, Hilton Head Island and Okatie, which all saw unusually high turnout for Beaufort County, as well as events nationally that saw more than 3 million protesters take to the streets in more than 1,200 events across all 50 states.
“It was wonderful, it was awesome,” said Barb Nash, President of the Northern Beaufort County Democratic Club. “We had a gentleman who counted at one point and we had 762 people, but more came after that.”
Nash said the turnout was just “beyond my expectation,” and that she was hoping for 500 people.
“It was just incredible!” Nash said. “It was energizing, it was creative. We had great signs, and there was a great response from the traffic that passed.”
“There was a ton of energy, lots of horn honk, lots of thumbs up, the occasional thumbs down, … we did have some of the trucks that gave us a bunch of exhaust to breath in …” said Carter Hoyt, one of the organizers of the original February 10 Beaufort protest. “It just was, for everybody I think, cathartic. It felt good. … It felt good. We wanted our voices to be heard. We’re not represented. We need to be represented.”
Though she’s affiliated with the Democratic Party, Nash said the Beaufort crowd was made up of more than just Democrats.
“There were people from Indivisible. There were Northern Beaufort County Democrats,” she said. “And there were Republicans and there were independents. And a lot of other people from a lot of other groups.”
Unlike the weekly protests, Saturday’s event was more organized with scheduled speakers who talked about hot-button issues such as medicaid, medicare, social security, the military, immigration and censorship.
“We did have speakers,” Nash said, “However, people did not want to leave the protest facing the street to hear the speakers.”
The group 50501, one of the organizations involved in organizing the Hands Off! Protest, is again calling for protests on April 19 in all 50 states against the Trump administration.
According to social media posts, the group’s goal is 11 million people — roughly 3.5 percent of the U.S. population — to participate.
April 19 would be the Saturday before Easter.
“The timing isn’t great,” Hoyt said, “but we’ll do what we need to do.”
Nash said it was important to continue protesting to inspire other who are upset to have their voice be heard.
“It’s amazing to me the courage that it gives other people,” Nash said.
There were two young men who showed up at Saturday’s protest wearing MAGA hats and dishing out insults as they mingled with the protesters. Hoyt said they failed to incite a conflict.
At a previous protest, Hoyt said a Trump supporter told her she shouldn’t be carrying an American flag.
“I found that incredibly offensive,” Hoyt said. “That’s what we’re fighting for. We wouldn’t be out there if that wasn’t what we were fighting for, America.”
Mike McCombs is the Editor of The Island News and can be reached at TheIslandNews.com.
