Thousands of protesters packed Daley Plaza on Saturday, staging the biggest protest in Chicago since President Trump took office.

The crowd spilled out of Daley Plaza and filled the streets. The anti-Trump "Hands Off" protest was one of hundreds taking place simultaneously nationwide.

"I haven't seen a demonstration this big in Chicago ever," said protester S. Gronkiewicz-Doran.

Tom Lalonde described the huge crowd as "oceans of people."

The crowd couldn't fit into Daley Plaza, so hundreds had to stand in the middle of neighboring streets, as they protested President Trump and billionaire White House senior adviser Elon Musk.

Hands Off protests target Trump administration policies, Elon Musk cuts

The Chicago protest was organized by Indivisible Chicago, partnering with the Chicago Federation of Labor, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Equality Illinois, Sierra Club, Personal PAC and many other smaller organizations.

Their message was simple: "Hands Off!" – a protest against the Trump administration's actions to cut government jobs, shutter federal agencies, deport immigrants, impose tariffs, and more.

"I am concerned about people being kidnapped off the streets and shipped to hellhole prisons. I am concerned about our economy tanking. I am concerned about the fact that we have a president who doesn't care about people," Maryanne Bowman said.

"Things are being defunded. People are losing their jobs. Just really terrible things are happening in this country," Lalonde said.

"There's something that every single person in America cares about that these people are attacking," Gronkiewicz-Doran said.

After speeches at Daley Plaza, protesters hit the pavement to march about a mile through the Loop.

"All these people have all of the power right in their hands," Gronkiewicz-Doran said.

A group of seniors in Edgewater couldn't make it downtown, so they protested in front of their retirement community.

The protest at Daley Plaza was one of more than 1,200 demonstrations happening all over the world.

Suburban protests

Miles away, "Hands Off!" protests also took place in dozens of Chicago suburbs and around the state, including in Oak Park, Rockford, Evanston, Elgin, Arlington Heights, DeKalb, Palatine, Joliet, Lisle, Highland Park, Geneva, Springfield, and more. 

In Arlington Heights, around 2,000 people joined a "Hands Off!" protest along Northwest Highway.

"We're saying hands off. It's hands off so many different things; our veterans, our programs, women's rights. All these issues have been going on and on now for a while, but right now becomes very serious," one woman said.

There were "Hands Off!" protests in all 50 states on Saturday; a nationwide movement of people who want the country to change its direction.

"This goes beyond politics. It's not about politics. It's about caring about each other and showing compassion instead of power-hungriness," Bowman said.

Hands Off protests held across U.S. and the globe

In Washington, D.C., Democratic members of Congress criticized the Trump administration's tariff push.

"Their tariffs are not only imbecilic, they're illegal, they're unconstitutional, and we're going to turn this around," Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland) said.

Tariffs also were a huge topic at protests overseas in Paris and Europe. 

"He's ruining the economy with his stupid tariff policy. He's ruining the global relations with our best friends, Canada, Mexico, the U.K., the European Union," one protester said.

Europeans and Americans living overseas showed their frustration with Trump's push to overhaul government and expand presidential authority. 

"He's kind of the avatar of this hideous energy that has erupted like a boil on the face of humanity, and we have to pop this boil," writer and actor Firdous Bamji said in London.

Organizers call the protests a "critical all-in moment for the pro-democracy, pro-worker movement to forcefully reject Trump-Musk's corrupt and illegal power grab."

Organizers specifically named Trump administration policies threatening voting rights; slashing funding for Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and more to help fund tax cuts; and cutting other programs working and middle-class Americans rely on.

Musk and his "department of government efficiency," known as DOGE, has led the Trump administration's effort to drastically slash the size of the federal government. Tens of thousands of probationary workers lost their jobs in mass firings since the president took office, though the courts have in many cases found the cuts to be illegal. More than 24,000 workers at 18 federal agencies were ordered to be re-hired in March.

Even more federal workers have been left in limbo as to whether or not they will get their jobs back, whether they have been fired or just placed on leave, and wondering about what comes next. Many of the cuts have targeted agencies like the Department of Education, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health and the National Weather Service.

President Trump has also slashed billions in federal funding for research, grants, and domestic and international aid programs. 

In a statement on Saturday, the White House said, "The President won his second round matchup of the Senior Club Championship today in Jupiter, FL, and advances to the Championship Round tomorrow."

The White House also said President Trump plans to protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid for those who are eligible.

Saturday morning, President Trump posted on Truth Social, telling Americans to "hang tough" with the new tariffs, which he called an "economic revolution."

The anti-Trump protests were mostly peaceful, but in Lafayette, Indiana, police said a man driving a truck tried to make a turn at an intersection where protesters had gathered.

Demonstrators blocked him, and investigators said the man then confronted the protesters and one of those demonstrators allegedly head butted him.

The man got back into his truck and then returned holding what looked like a rifle. Police arrested the man, but later released him, saying he acted in self-defense, and never pointed his gun at another person.

Authorities are now looking for the protester who head-butted the man.