Thousands gather in San Jose for “Hands Off” protest

San Jose, CA – On Saturday, April 5, several thousand San Jose residents gathered in Saint James Park as part of a wider wave of “Hands Off” protests happening around the United States. The protest was chiefly against the Trump administration’s attacks on broad sections of people, including immigrants, federal workers, trans people and many more.

The demonstration began gathering at Saint James Park, before marching past City Hall, and then returning to the park for a program of speakers. Slogans and chants generally revolved around responding to reactionary and billionaire attacks, such as “Hey hey, ho ho, these billionaires have got to go!” and “When immigrants are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!” In addition, anti-war and pro-immigrant chants were common, such as “From Yemen, to Palestine, bombing children is a crime!” and “From Palestine to Mexico, these border walls have got to go!”

Uriel Magdaleno from Silicon Valley Immigration Committee spoke out against Trump’s attacks on immigrants, and ICE’s ongoing crackdowns and brutal detentions, including local cases such as Ulises Pena Lopez, a Sunnyvale resident who was brutalized and arrested by ICE on February 21.

Magdaleno stated, “We demand no deportations and no separation of families! We are calling on Rho Khanna, Zoe Lofgren and Alex Padilla to send a joint congressional inquiry on Ulises [case].” He ended his speech with a call to action, to join the upcoming May Day march, and to continue to organize and agitate against Trump, stating, “It is through the people’s struggle and people’s movements that we will resist Trump!”

John Duroyan from Freedom Road Socialist Organization also spoke during the open mic section, stating “Trump is gonna have a fight on his hands. Trump’s] not going to lay a finger on us! Not if we rise up, as a powerful united front, that will topple these billionaires and oligarchs gutting our country!” He ended his speech echoing FRSO’s general call, “Make the country ungovernable!”

The San Jose protest was organized by 50501, Indivisible, and Silicon Valley Immigration Committee. It was also a prelude to larger actions happening later in the month, and the upcoming May Day march happening on May 1.

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