Hundreds attend “Hands Off!” protest outside Nebraska State Capitol

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – The “Hands Off!” protest swept across the United States on Saturday to rally against President Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

The movement inspired hundreds of people to protest at the State Capitol Building in Lincoln.

Many carried signs and led chants to make their voices heard.

Maureen Ose, a Lincoln native, told Channel 8 the amount of people at the event is incredible to see.

“It feels good because this is what it’s all about,” she said. “You’ll see there’s so many signs here today that express so many viewpoints. That means that what’s going on in Washington right now is affecting everybody not in a good way.”

According to the organizers of the nation-wide protest, more than 600,000 people signed up for the event from coast to coast.

One of the activists, Kristie Pfabe, said she is inspired by the community coming together.

“I came here to get some hope because I’ve been feeling really hopeless,” she said. “When I see all of these people around me from my community, it gets me excited and it makes me want to do something. I’m hoping this inspires all of us to make phone calls, to advocate for things that we care about and to really love our neighbors as ourselves.”

Dave Phillips, who told Channel 8 he voted for and supports President Trump, said he is glad he could show up no matter the cause.

“This is my first time protesting,” he said. “It almost feels like I’m voting. It’s an honor to do that. Big turnout like you said, I’m glad Lincoln is involved. It’s a great start, need more of it and I think there will be.”

Kathryn Phillips said the turnout is a glimmer of hope for more people to express themselves.

“It’s easy to become complacent and I think as a society, we kind of have,” she said. “We have it so good and we kind of got taken by surprise by all of this. I’m with Dave, this is a good start and hopefully it will just build momentum.”