Over 200 people joined a peaceful protest outside the New Hampshire State House Concord to speak out against the actions of the Trump administration during its first two weeks in power.
Protestors cited a number of different frustrations: the Trump administration’s crackdown on the rights of immigrants and transgender people, its stance on Gaza, the actions of Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, and many, many others.
“There's so many things that are absolutely terrifying,” said Nancy Hirshberg, of Wolfeboro. “And I'm just here to sound the alarm because I think people are somewhat asleep about this.”
The protest in Concord was part of a national day of demonstrations that was organized online under the hashtag #50501, which stands for 50 protests in 50 states during one day.
Christopher Farrell was one of the handful of people involved in organizing the protest. He heard about similar events happening in other states and got to work organizing one in New Hampshire. He and other organizers aren’t directly affiliated with the Democratic party or other political organizations, so Farrell said it was challenging to convince people online that the protest was legitimate.
“We reached out to people and we were like, ‘You know, we don't need funding. We're people who have an issue and we want to protest. Simple as that,’” he said.
The protest started around noon Wednesday and ended a little after six. Farrell estimated that between 350 and 500 people attended in total, throughout the day, as people came and went to accommodate their schedules.
Aside from a few hecklers, Farrell said the protest passed largely without incident. Moving forward, he and other organizers are looking to stage more protests and other actions to oppose the Trump administration.
Those gathered at the State House Wednesday said they heard about the protest online, from social media sites like Reddit and Tiktok. Anastasia Saia, of Manchester, heard about the protest on Instagram. She carried a cardboard sign protesting ICE in Spanish.
“I care about our immigrants and our community,” Saia said. “They contribute a significant amount of culture and love and work and even taxes to our entire country.”
Another common thread was concern around Musk’s actions, including his growing influence on the federal government and his use of the Nazi salute during inaugural festivities. Protestors chanted slogans “hey-hey, ho-ho, Elon Musk has got to go” and “No Trump. No KKK, no fascist USA.”
Casey Baker, of Middleton, works for a federal contractor that could be affected by contracts getting cut. However, he said it was more important to attend the protest and defend the government against what he views as chaos in the government.
“Private takeover of government is terrifying – especially seeing some of the rhetoric out of Elon doing Nazi salutes on stage,” he said. “Watching how fast we've fallen from apparently a democracy to a fascist state is incredible. I have no words.”
