Reports shared from Oregon local news outlets
By Julia Shumway, Oregon Capital Chronicle
Oregonians turned out to protest on Saturday from Astoria to Gold Beach, Portland to Pendleton, and dozens of cities in between.
The common theme of demonstrations in Oregon and across the U.S.: President Donald Trump, billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) need to take their “hands off” of Medicaid, Social Security, reproductive rights, tariffs, immigrants, LGBTQ+ Americans and more.
Several Oregon news outlets agreed to share reporting and photos to give readers a fuller look that none could provide on their own. Excerpts from those reports are below.
Salem: Thousands gather around the state Capitol
Protesters spilled into the surrounding streets and parks, but the main group of protesters was concentrated along Center Street in front of the Capitol, where protesters banged pots and pans, blew horns and chanted into megaphones.
The constant honking from passing vehicles created a raucous scene and many drivers on Center Street raised their fists and waved at protesters.
Alicia Van Driel of Albany and her partner Raudel Perezchica came to Salem for the local Hands Off protest and said they were particularly concerned about the Trump administration’s slashing of social programs and dismantling of the federal government.
“Trump is breaking the law and they are taking over our government and dismantling it. And they’ve sunk the stock market. Elon Musk has no place there. They have taken away our programs that our taxes are paying for,” Van Dreil said. “I knew that Trump was dishonest before he got voted in. I didn’t vote for him, and everybody that has voted for him needs to take a look at what’s really going on.”
Read more from Joe Siess at Salem Reporter.
Thousands in Medford join nationwide protests
Thousands of protestors rallying against the policies of President Donald Trump and his administration lined the streets of Medford between Hawthorne Park, East Jackson Street and downtown for more than four hours Saturday.
A pair of events kicked off with a “Hands Off!” rally from 10 a.m. to noon at Hawthorne Park, hosted by ORD2 Indivisible and Women’s March Southern Oregon.
More than 2,000 demonstrators were at the Hawthorne Park event, with some saying as many as 3,000. They spilled from the park lawn down East Jackson Street from Crater Lake Avenue to the Interstate 5 viaduct and lined up onto nearby Biddle Road.
State Rep. Pam Marsh, D-Ashland, was in attendance at the Medford event and marveled at the turnout.
“This feels phenomenal. There are people of all ages here, males, females, young people, old people … and the most creative signs I’ve ever seen,” she said. “People took this opportunity to come together and stand up — and they are sure doing it.”
Read more from Buffy Pollock at Rogue Valley Times.
Portland: ‘We’ve been very ready to get out and march’
As the front of the marching crowd neared the middle of the Morrison Bridge around 1:30 p.m. Saturday, a woman in a pink safety vest turned and addressed the protesters.
“Everybody look to your left!” she shouted through a bullhorn. “See how long this march is?”
And she had a point: The column of demonstrators stretched west down the bridge on-ramp onto Southwest Naito Parkway and continued down Naito towards the Japanese American Historical Plaza.
The crowd of thousands — the majority of whom bore signs protesting the Trump administration and the actions of Elon Musk — were gathered in downtown Portland to protest a slew of recent actions by the presidential administration.
Downtown Portland’s “Hands Off!” protest was one of many throughout the state and across the nation as demonstrators voiced their opposition to the Trump administration firing thousands of federal employees, implementing sweeping tariffs and moving to roll back environmental regulations, among other issues.
Read more from Tatum Todd at The Oregonian/OregonLive
Grants Pass
Klamath Falls: Rally gathers estimated 400 people
Southern Oregonians had a message for the White House this weekend: “We fight for democracy.”
In the Republican stronghold of Klamath County, an estimated 400 residents gathered in protest on all sides of a busy intersection in Klamath Falls.
Veterans, educators, healthcare providers, students and senior citizens were among the crowd, unified in protest of the current administration led by President Donald Trump and Senior Advisor Elon Musk.
Read more from Molly O’Brien at the Herald and News.
Hillsboro: U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici joined hundreds of demonstrators
More than 100 turn out in ‘ruby red’ Madras to protest Trump
Madras, the Jefferson County seat with a population just less than 8,000, is far from a hotbed of liberal activism: Donald Trump won the county by 30 points in 2024.
It’s also one of more than a dozen counties east of the Cascades that passed a largely symbolic ordinance in support of moving the Oregon-Idaho borders, arguing that eastern and central Oregon residents have more in common politically and culturally with Idaho than with Portland or the Willamette Valley.
The Madras demonstration attracted Jefferson County residents with years of experience protesting and speaking out politically and newcomers like Cheyenne Dobkins, a Madras resident who scrawled “my tummy hurts and I’m mad at the government” on a poster board she bought from Dollar General.
“I’m tired of being quiet,” Dobkins said. “And I don’t want anyone after all this to ask ‘Why didn’t you say anything?’”
Read more from Julia Shumway at the Oregon Capital Chronicle.
Ashland
Saturday morning’s 300 or so protestors on Ashland Plaza were uniform in their objections to everything Donald Trump has done since his return to office, as well as the actions of Elon Musk, adding Ashland voices to a nationwide chorus declaring “Hands Off” a wide range of government programs threatened with cuts, as well as democracy itself.
Amidst chants of “Hey hey, ho ho, Donald Trump has got to go” and “The people, united, will never be defeated,” the crowd gathered along North Main Street where passing cars honked their support.
The predominantly older crowd identified concerns about prospective cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid as among their chief concerns.
Kay Hagen, 65, said she joined the rally “because I feel like I have to do something. This is wrong. This is not the country I was raised in. This is not OK.”
Read more from Debora Gordon at Ashland.news.
More from around the country
Millions of people attended more than 1,300 similar protests in small towns and big cities across all 50 states, the Hands Off movement announced. Colleagues from States Newsroom, the nation’s largest nonprofit news organization dedicated to state coverage, were on hand covering rallies in many states.
About 8,000 people rallied and marched at the Colorado Capitol in Denver, Colorado Newsline reported. In Tennessee, Sen. Elizabeth Warren fired up a crowd as part of a national Democratic initiative to hold public meetings in red states.
Source New Mexico was on hand for a rally that brought thousands to Santa Fe’s distinctive Capitol building, the Roundhouse. In Alaska, statehouse protesters included a child costumed like a striking New York City newsboys from the musical “Newsies” and a small business owner carrying a sign on a 24-foot pole that said “I’ve had it up to here.”
Thousands gathered in downtown Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the South Dakota Searchlight reported. In Minneapolis, a rally ended with a singalong to the “Les Miserables” anthem “Do You Hear the People Sing?” The Wisconsin Examiner covered protests in Madison, Milwaukee and Green Bay. Maine’s senate president said protesters sent a clear message: “listen to the people.”
In Alabama, a minister at a Montgomery church talked about feeling worried for transgender kids and adults in the congregation who are looking to leave the state. A storm cancelled a planned protest in Little Rock, but northwest Arkansas residents turned out despite the wind and rain.
Julia Shumway has reported on government and politics in Iowa and Nebraska, spent time at the Bend Bulletin and most recently was a legislative reporter for the Arizona Capitol Times in Phoenix, Arizona.
