Around 5,000 protesters took to the streets to protest President Donald Trump’s crackdowns on immigration, transgender rights and federal spending in a march spanning Union Square to Washington Square Park on Monday afternoon. 

NYU students and faculty, New York-based activists and representatives from local unions comprised the group of demonstrators. Sponsored by direct action group Rise and Resist, the rally was one of several held in major cities across the country titled “Not My President’s Day.” Protesters chanted “Stop the coup,” “No dictators in the USA” and “No king, no crown, we will not back down,” and held signs reading “DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION,” “GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY FUTURE” and “MAKE AMERICA THINK AGAIN.” 

The group congregated in Union Square with a series of speeches from policy makers, labor unions and activist organizations across the city. Protesters then marched down Lafayette Street and west on Ninth Street, before approaching Washington Square Park from Fifth Avenue. After a rally of live music and chants, hundreds from the group continued marching south to City Hall. 

“This feels like a space where I can freely scream and have all the rage and all the feelings — especially within NYU, everything feels very censored,” Steinhardt junior Elise Silvestri told WSN. “There’s a general feeling that almost everyone hates what’s going on right now at the White House, but there’s very little talk about it.”

Speakers condemned Trump’s overhaul of the national government and judiciary, comparing his dismantling of federal departments to a dictatorship. The protest came days after Trump gutted an agency dedicated to overseeing government ethics and proclaimed on X, “He who saves his country does not violate any law” after judges questioned the decision’s legality. 

“Without a foundation of the rule of law, no one is safe and nothing is safe,” Nicole Page, a Gramercy Park resident at the demonstration, told WSN. “Those who are wealthy and comfortable are fooling themselves — they don’t recognize that the erosion of the rule of law will eventually affect them as well.”

In tandem with criticism of Trump’s onslaught of executive orders, the group highlighted dissent for Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency with chants declaring “No one voted for Elon” and hundreds of signs berating the billionaire’s seemingly prominent role in policy making. 

“This truly is a ‘Handmaid’s Tale,’” said Andy Zee, a speaker and co-founder of the anti-fascist coalition Refuse Fascism. “This regime has to be gone. It’s not going to happen through just signing petitions. It’s only going to happen through millions of people taking to the streets.”

Speakers also criticized Trump’s orders for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to deport thousands of undocumented immigrants, specifically focusing on their impact on commerce in New York City. Frank Garcia, a chairman from the National Association of the Latino State Chambers of Congress, said there had been a decline in business at bodegas because of heightened caution among immigrants. 

NYU recently said it would “comply with the law” amid potential deportation orders on campus. The university’s statement has garnered backlash and protest from students and faculty. In interviews with WSN, several protesters said they are worried about their right to free speech in the future.

“We’re scared, we’re mad and we’re here to fight back,” Tisch sophomore Jill Saperstein told WSN. 

Protesters also condemned the Trump administration’s now-blocked executive order to restrict gender-affirming care for patients under the age of 19. They intermittently chanted phrases such as “Trans lives matter” and held signs reading “The constitution protects trans kids.” The demonstrators also referenced NYU Langone Health’s decision to deny gender-affirming care to at least two children earlier this month. 

“They have come in with an agenda of capitalistic, imperialistic dictatorship,” said Carl Dix, a representative and founding member of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA. “It must be stopped, and you can’t stop it by relying on the system that they work through to get into power.”

Sidney Snider contributed reporting.

Contact Amelia Hernandez Gioia at [email protected].