Thousands of opponents of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk clogged the streets of downtown San Diego on Saturday, marching, chanting and waving signs protesting the administration’s actions on a host of issues that included government downsizing efforts, immigration policy and LGBTQ+ issues.
“This is the only tool we have to stand up, to be seen, to be heard,” said one of the participants, Jay Duchnick, a 60-year-old registered nurse from North Park.
The San Diego Police Department estimated the size of the crowd at 12,000 people.
The march, which started around noon at Civic Center Plaza just outside City Hall, seemed to gain in numbers as the demonstration went on.
By the time the front of the demonstration reached its final destination at the Hall of Justice on the corner of Broadway and State Street, marchers could be seen taking up approximately 15 square blocks.
Lynn Favor of North Park, a retired computer software manager, said she was encouraged by the size of the crowd that featured marchers chanting slogans such as “This is what democracy looks like,” and waving hand-made signs blasting Trump and Musk.
“I think marching lets other people know, who also think what’s going on doesn’t feel right, that there’s a lot of people with you,” Favor said. “And I appreciate the opportunity to scream my feelings out.”
No counter-demonstrations were observed and no incidents of violence or vandalism were reported, according to San Diego police.
The rally was part of a national “Hands Off!” movement that saw demonstrations at more than 1,200 locations in all 50 states plus Washington, D.C. The national protests were led by a coalition of groups, largely coordinated by Indivisible, described on its website as a grassroots organization “with a mission to elect progressive leaders, rebuild our democracy, and defeat the Trump agenda.”
Richard Cannon of Indivisible North County San Diego said the downtown rally’s message to demonstrators was, “Your voice matters. Your elected representatives are not going to save you. You have to show up and save yourself.”
Across San Diego County, similar protests were held in Encinitas, Rancho Bernardo, Carlsbad, Oceanside and Borrego Springs.
A few hundred people lined the blocks of Rancho Bernardo Drive, cheering and drawing a chorus of honks from drivers passing by. It was an inter-generational protest, drawing youths and older adults alike. Several demonstrators waved American flags.
The Oceanside Police Department reported no problems at the Oceanside demonstration. About 400 people attended the rally in Encinitas, with no disruptions noted, according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office.
The downtown rally attracted a host of elected Democrats on the national, state and local levels.
“This is not what people voted for,” said Rep. Scott Peters. “They did not vote for higher prices. They did not vote for the disruption of the peace and prosperity we’ve built with this country over eight decades, not voted to defund science and not voted to bend the truth.”
Rep. Sara Jacobs said she was “excited to see how many San Diegans have turned out to make their voices heard and to make sure that we are fighting back against this administration that’s trying to gut programs that so many rely on, like Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.”
When asked about Trump vowing his administration will not cut Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid benefits, Jacobs said, “I hope that’s true, but the president says a lot of things and then the congressional Republicans go ahead and do it anyways.”
San Diego City Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera spoke out against Trump’s immigration and deportation actions, saying the administration is violating due process.
“If someone violates the law, they violate the law, but what we’ve seen in the last few weeks, there’s no way of knowing whether or not folks have violated the law,” Elo-Rivera said. “We have folks who are legally permitted to be in the United States being ripped out of their communities and away from their families. If that’s not wrong, I don’t know what is.”
Protesters also directed their ire at Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, who has taken an active role in the Trump administration as head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency.
Musk and his team at DOGE have a stated goal of cutting federal government bloat, but critics say the advisory board’s actions have been sloppy and led to firings and cancellations of valuable government contracts, prompting a rash of lawsuits.
Lucia, 71, of San Diego, who did not want to disclose her last name, held a sign that read, “Nobody likes you, F-Elon! Go Back to Mars!”
“He thinks he has the right to destroy everyone’s life just because he has money,” she said.
Musk has become a political lightning rod. A national survey released Wednesday by the Marquette Law School Poll reported that 58% of respondents disapproved of Musk’s work at DOGE and 60% viewed him unfavorably on a personal level.
DOGE officials defend their work, pointing to studies such as one from the U.S. Government Accounting Office that estimated the federal government lost up to $521 billion a year to fraud between 2018 and 2022.
“What kind of a person doesn’t support eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in government spending that ultimately costs taxpayers more?” the White House posted on its website on March 11.
Union-Tribune staff writers Kristen Taketa and Gary Robbins contributed to this story.
