Island Residents Participate in Hands Off Protests
BAR HARBOR—At least two locations on Mount Desert Island, as well as in Augusta and Bangor, hosted some island residents who had gathered to peacefully protest, Saturday, April 5. Chalking on the downtown sidewalks of Bar Harbor in solidarity with the protest occurred the day prior.
Indivisible, MoveOn, American Civil Liberties Union, the League of Women Voters, the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, and several other groups sponsored the mobilization throughout the country to oppose President Donald Trump’s changes to the nation’s health care, education, and Social Security systems.
The Hands Off! gatherings were part of an organized protest, which is intended to be “a nationwide mobilization to stop the most brazen power grab in modern history. Trump, Musk, and their billionaire cronies are orchestrating an all-out assault on our government, our economy, and our basic rights—enabled by Congress every step of the way,” according to its website.
Stand outs (openly protesting or supporting something in a political way even as a lone activist) also occurred across Mount Desert Island at Hulls Cove Beach and the sidewalk in front of the Pemetic Green in Southwest Harbor. Others marched in Augusta chanting, “Tell me what democracy looks like.”
More than 500,000 people had RSVP’d to protests across the nation today. There are more than 1,000 gatherings scheduled of various sizes.
“Let’s talk about Trump’s economic attacks and attacks on our rights,” said Leah Greenberg, the co-founder of Indivisible told the New York Times’ Katie Benner. “They are not different things. They come from an anti-democratic alliance taking over and attacking fundamental parts of our democracy.”
Locally, signs and chalkings referenced tariffs, DOGE, public lands, ICE activities, as well as other institutions such as the postal service, libraries, museums, and the separation of church and state and support of books.
Video via Brian/Liddy Hubbell.
Unless otherwise credited, all photos by Shaun Farrar/Bar Harbor Story.
Follow us on Facebook. And as a reminder, you can easily view all our past stories and press releases here.
If you’d like to donate to help support us, you can, but no pressure! Just click here (about how you can give) or here (a direct link), which is the same as the button below.
If you’d like to sponsor the Bar Harbor Story, you can! Learn more here.
There were at least 3,000, probably many more, protesters of all ages at the rally in Bangor today. It was so heartening to see so many gathered to support democracy and civil rights. The creativity and diversity of all the signs was amazing. My favorites were, "The Emperor has no clothes"(with excellent art work), "It's not a question of right or left, it's a question of right or wrong", and "If it were a question of ridding the country of criminals, Trump should be at the head of the list."