Thousands of residents gathered at the Colorado Springs City Hall this Saturday for the Hands Off protest, a national effort opposing President Donald Trump’s policies and potential cuts to services like Medicare and education spending. The event was organized by Indivisible Colorado Springs, which has been active in organizing protests against Rep. Jeff Crank (R-CO). Speakers included local activists and former Democratic Party candidates.
“Our collective presence sends a clear message: we will not remain silent as the foundations of our democratic system, our constitution, our economy, and the country that we love are threatened,” said Luz Gonzalez, one of the organizers of the event. “Over the past four months we have witnessed disturbing actions that challenge the core principles of our democracy. We have witnessed the mass dismissal of the inspectors general. On Jan. 24, Trump fired 17 inspectors general. they are our government’s internal watchdogs. They are tasked with rooting out fraud, abuse, corruption, and mismanagement. Trump didn’t just fire people, he fired a warning shot on oversight itself. He fired the truth-tellers and he sidestepped the rules that hold power in check. That’s not strength that’s fear — that is fear of accountability — but we Americans will not be governed by fear.”
Liz Rosenbaum, former House District 21 candidate and a longtime clean water advocate in Fountain, which suffered from PFAS chemical contamination from nearby Peterson Space Force Base, raised concerns about how cuts by the Trump administration could impact EPA funding. “Since 2016, after relentless pressure, I led the Fountain Valley Clean Water Coalition and we got PFAS out of our water,” said Rosenbaum. “It took me nine years. It didn’t happen by chance. It happened because we fought. Parents, teachers, firefighters, veterans, sick, furious residents who refused to give up, and they showed up, and not just the people in the Fountain Valley. You supported us. This is a human rights movement. We have the funding to filter our water, but our EPA grant is in peril, and I say hands off my grant.”
Joe Regan, a former candidate for CD5 and a U.S. Army veteran, discussed issues impacting veterans. “The PACT Act. This is the largest expansion of veterans’ healthcare since the 1940s. Do any of you know how our Republican congressman voted on that one [in 2022]? No. They all said no. You know what [former Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO)] said? He said it was too expensive to provide health care to those service members that served our country.”
Regan also took aim at Trump’s lack of military service. “We are committed supporting American values,” he said. “We will not let a draft-dodging coward define what makes this country great.”
Sasha Lindsau, chair of the UCCS Young Democrats, discussed the impact of Trump’s tariffs and economic policy. “This country has real problems,” he said. “It’s a dream to be able to afford a house. Americans are struggling to afford groceries. We’re being crushed by things like inflation and struggling for our basic health care, our life-saving prescriptions like insulin. And yet what do these people do when they have these problems in our country? They choose to make it actively worse. They take these new tariffs, they just implemented. They’re gonna make housing way more expensive. They’re going to make food way more expensive. They’re going make clothing way more expensive. Essentially, if you want to buy anything at the store for the foreseeable future, it’s going to be way more expensive. Is that really making America great again?”
Gonzalez urged attendees to stay engaged with national politics. “We are the resistance,” she said. “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for, so let them hear us: hands off our bodies, hands off our neighbors, hands off our books, hands off our ballots, hands off our Constitution, hands off our freedom! We may be in a tough time, but we are not hopeless. We are the descendants of fighters, of dreamers, of marchers, and of organizers, and if history teaches us anything it’s that change comes when people like us speak up and demand it, so don’t stop showing up. Don’t stop speaking out. Don’t stop voting, organizing, marching, and fighting.”
Similar protests took place in Denver, Boulder, and dozens of major cities across the country.
