ALAMOSA — An estimated 150 protesters braved drizzling snow and temperatures of about 32 degrees on Saturday as part of "Hands Off!", a nationwide protest against actions taken by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

The messages on protesters’ signs showed the broad scope of dissatisfaction. “Hands off” the Constitution, democracy, national parks, public schools, public lands, civil rights, social security, veterans’ benefits, firing federal employees, immigrants, freedom of speech, PBS, our data and tariffs, to name just a few.

At no time did the protesters impede traffic, which was occasionally heavy. Halfway into the protest, a pickup drove by, demonstrating clear support of Donald Trump with a flagpole bearing a large 2024 TRUMP flag attached and the driver laying on the horn for about a block and a half. Some of the protesters responded by booing.

In contrast, there were numerous cars honking in support, sometimes with drivers doing a “thumbs up” or pumping their fist. The crowd cheered each time.

Whenever the traffic cleared, Sam Bozarth, a self-described “26-year-old concerned citizen” living in Alamosa, entered the intersection and led the protesters in group chants.

“Hands off our data!” Bozarth yelled. “Hands off our data!” the crowd echoed. “Hands off veterans!” Again, the crowd responded. “No justice!” Bozarth yelled. “No peace!” the crowd answered.

When asked what brought him to the protest, Bozarth said he’d started paying attention when Donald Trump was elected in 2016, when he was “as aware of politics as much as any 17-year-old kid can be.”

His interest has only grown since then. “I hope this massive showing of people is some kind of indicator to those who make decisions on our behalf about what we value, what we need from our representatives and what we don’t respect,” he said. “We don’t respect a government that doesn’t respect us. We don’t respect oligarchs taking over our country. We don’t respect destroying the Constitution.

“I do respect the people around me,” he continued. “I respect the impoverished, immigrants, the elderly, all people regardless of race, creed, nationality. I respect life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I thought there was something that said we were endowed with that.”

When asked what he would like to say to his elected officials in Washington D.C., Bozarth addressed Congressman Hurd. “You know where the people stand. If you respect your position and the people who gave you that position, you should listen to us. He has no respect for the Constitution or his constituents. I think he’s a disgrace and has no business representing our district. He’s not aligned with the goals of his constituency, therefore he's not valuable as our representative.”

A group of protesters were asked how they heard about the protest and answers varied from email chains to social media, including Blue Sky. When asked what next steps they plan to take, the answers included, “Reading the news.” “Staying informed.”

“You can’t afford to miss a day of news anymore,” one protester said, declining to give her name for fear it would impact her job. “You don’t know what Trump or Musk are going to do. Two hundred thousand federal workers have been fired. People are being rounded up and shipped to El Salvador and some of them are here legally. He’s going to undo everything that was done to stop climate change and Elon Musk is destroying civil services. And now there are tariffs that are going to raise prices even higher and really hurt our farmers. What’s next? The chaos is very frightening.”

Another protester, who also declined to be named, said she plans to “keep on writing and calling my congressman. The staff in his office are always nice, but I don’t expect to get an answer. I don’t think [Congressman Hurd] cares.”

“Hands Off!”, organized by a coalition of 150 grassroots groups, is "a nationwide mobilization to stop the most brazen power grab in modern history," according to the group's website.

The protest in Alamosa was one of more than 1200 protests held in major cities and counties in all 50 states across the country. According to Indivisible.org, one of the coalition of 150 groups that organized the event, 400,000 people had RSVPed to participate in advance of Saturday with tens of thousands more expected to show up on the day of the protest.

In Colorado, the Hands Off! website listed events scheduled in Denver, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Longmont, La Junta, Grand County, Greeley, Weld County, Parachute, Telluride, Bailey, Fairplay and Aspen. Other protests were likely held in the state as Alamosa was not listed among the cities.  Protests were also held in Canada and Mexico as well as Frankfurt, Berlin, Paris, London and Lisbon.

Saturday is being reported as the largest protest since Trump returned to office. As of Saturday night, there were no reports of violence.