More than 1,000 Connecticut residents gathered for the Presidents’ Day Peaceful Protest held near the grounds of the State Capitol in Hartford on Monday afternoon.

Both sidewalks of Capitol Avenue in sight of the capitol building were filled with people holding signs, chanting, voicing their concerns over the actions of the Trump administration and billionaire Elon Musk, among other grievances. The crowd size was an estimate from a Connecticut State Capitol Police officer on site about one hour into the protest.

Southington’s Pam Kastner was one of the first protesters to arrive and line Capitol Avenue on a frigid morning with temperatures in the 20s. She was holding up an anti-Elon Musk sign.

“Let’s start with the man in our money and every institution that we have and he’s destroying it and it’s hard to sit back and do nothing, so we have to start speaking up,” Kastner said of Musk, while car horns honked in the background. “Our democracy is everything in this world. If we don’t have a democracy, we will have a Hitler, and I don’t want a Hitler. We don’t want fascism. … Our country was born on freedom.”

Kastner said she is also worried about women’s rights and the U.S. abandoning its allies around the world.

“Unless people speak up, they will bully everyone. … They are expecting everyone to lay low, but we can’t,” she said. “We are out here in this freaking weather because we have to stand up.”

“We are concerned we don’t have much time if we don’t stand up and say something, it may all be gone,” added Kastner’s sister and Farmington resident Denise Hale.

Thousands of activists across the United States are launching a protest campaign this week with rallies planned in hundreds of locations. Elsewhere in Connecticut on Monday, an estimated 250 gathered in New London to protest.

In Hartford, New London resident Anita Dees was one of the first to show up on Monday and shouted chants into a bullhorn throughout the day.

“I’m frightened for our nation. I’m frightened for our children, and I don’t know what kind of future they are going to have the way things are going,” Dees said.

“The main issue that concerns me the most is the lack of transparency in government,” Dees added. “They are acting without letting the people know anything. We don’t know what is going on, especially with the CDC and the National Institute of Health being gagged. We are looking at another pandemic, and we aren’t going to know about it until our neighbors are dying and our family members are dying. We have to (protest). It can help and we have to do something. We can’t do nothing or we are part of the problem.”

Clinton resident Terri O’Rourke became emotional when asked about being a part of the protest.

“Nobody minds reform, but what is happening is illegal,” O’Rourke said. “People are getting hurt and it’s not democracy and I’m very fearful that we are losing our rights. … Doing something is important. I am involved in Indivisible and I’m involved in trying to stop misinformation, malinformation and disinformation. I’m doing whatever I can because people should not be afraid to demonstrate for our rights. By coming out and doing this and encouraging everybody is important.

“I have some very intelligent people in my family, and they are all having children and are all busy with life and they are very confident that history will take care of things and history tells us things will right themselves,” O’Rourke said. “But we are living in the moment and that requires all of us to make the future possible for everyone. We have to do it. We can’t just rely on history.”

Avon’s Teresa McCall said she hopes protests like Monday’s event in Hartford will send a message to Washington, D.C.

“I don’t like what’s going on with the layoffs and the firings and taking away all of the checks and balances, it’s just too much,” McCall said. “With all of these checks and balances going away, this is turning into fascism. I see a lot of parallels to what happened in Germany. Some people might think that’s a little over the top, but I don’t think so.”

Willington resident Diana Shain was holding a sign “Save Democracy,” which she said is her biggest concern.

“The safety of our democracy is the biggest priority right now,” Shain said. “The other big one is Musk not being an elected official and Trump trying to do all of the executive orders and not listening to the Congress and the funding that has already been put into place. There was a way he could have done things that could have been by the law and that’s how the United States works and right now he’s bypassing everything. He’s now got the courts in his hands and the Republicans in his hands and it’s looking more and more like Musk is the biggest danger at this moment.”

Shain said the reason for the crowd on Monday is because “so many people have a reason to be scared about something now.”

“Whether or not you are LTGBQ, whether or not you are poor you have reasons to be scared,” Shain said. “We are also destroying our alliances all over the world right now. We are aligning with the right-wing governments. Everyone, except for a very few, have something to be afraid of. … Right now America is being destroyed. There are people protesting all over the country and I hope they hear it.”

Hartford’s Addy Gale attended the protest for her two young children.

“When I was growing up my parents would always bring me to these kinds of things, and I think it’s important to experience what it looks like. I had them make their own signs about the things they care about. I think it’s important that we show up and tell everyone that we are in this together,” Gale said.

“My biggest concern is abortion rights and access,” Gale added. “My daughter is still young, but it’s appalling to me that she and girls like her fewer rights than I did, her grandmother did, and her great-grandmother did.”

Gale said these large gatherings are helpful for everyone involved.

“It’s important that we see each other and get the energy off of each other to then go and do the things we have to do that are harder and quieter and maybe feel scarier,” Gale said. “When you get together in a big group you are like ‘Oh, I’m not alone.’”

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