Hundreds of protesters gathered in front of the Illinois State Capitol Wednesday to protest President Donald Trump’s administration and Elon Musk.
The group stood in the rain holding signs and chanting phrases like “dump Trump, deport Elon” and “no Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA.” The protest was announced in an Instagram post last week as part of the “50501 movement,” which encouraged 50 protests in 50 states on the same day.
Skye Murphy, one of the protestors, said the protest was “against the executive order overreach and protecting our human rights in the Constitution.”
In the Instagram post, the event was described as a “Protest for Freedom of Speech, Racial Equality, Women’s Rights, LGBTQ+ Rights, Public Health and Safety, Gun Violence, Climate Change, Wealth Equality.”
As part of the nationwide protests, the political activist group Political Revolution published a statement calling for “immediate actions to rectify the injustices perpetuated by current leadership and to restore integrity and fairness to our political system”; the statement included specific requests, such as a call for Trump’s impeachment and investigations of government leaders including Elon Musk, who Trump tapped to lead his newly created Department of Government Efficiency.
The activist group also called for the reversal of executive orders that it believes infringe on citizen and human rights, for strengthening laws on hate speech – specifically Nazi propaganda or salutes – and reinstating diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
“We won’t stop until our goals are accomplished,” Skye said. “We’re dedicated. Rain, sunshine, snow, ice, wind, we’ll be here.”
Protestors said they heard about the event from posts on a variety of social media platforms and there was no single organizer. They plan to hold future protests if their demands aren’t met.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
