Washington: Crowds of people angry about the way President Donald Trump is running the country marched and rallied in scores of American cities Saturday in the biggest day of demonstrations yet by an opposition movement trying to regain its momentum after the shock of the Republican’s first weeks in office.
So-called Hands Off! demonstrations were organised for more than 1,200 locations in all 50 states by more than 150 groups, including civil rights organisations, labour unions, LBGTQ+ advocates, veterans and elections activists. The rallies appeared peaceful, with no immediate reports of arrests.
Thousands of protesters in cities dotting the nation from Midtown Manhattan to Anchorage, Alaska, including at multiple state capitols, assailed Trump and billionaire Elon Musk’s actions on government downsizing, the economy, immigration and human rights.
On the West Coast, in the shadow of Seattle’s iconic Space Needle, protesters held signs with slogans like “Fight the oligarchy.” Protesters chanted as they took to the streets in Portland, Oregon, and Los Angeles, where they marched from Pershing Square to City Hall.
Demonstrators voiced anger over the administration’s moves to fire thousands of federal workers, close Social Security Administration field offices, effectively shutter entire agencies, deport immigrants, scale back protections for transgender people and cut funding for health programs.
Musk, a Trump adviser who runs Tesla, SpaceX and the social media platform X, has played a key role in the downsizing as the head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency. He says he is saving taxpayers billions of dollars.
Asked about the protests, the White House said in a statement that “President Trump’s position is clear: he will always protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid for eligible beneficiaries. Meanwhile, the Democrats’ stance is giving Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare benefits to illegal aliens, which will bankrupt these programs and crush American seniors.” Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign advocacy group, criticized the administration’s treatment of the LBGTQ+ community at the rally at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., where Democratic members of Congress also took the stage.
“The attacks that we’re seeing, they’re not just political. They are personal, y’all,” Robinson said. “They’re trying to ban our books, they’re slashing HIV prevention funding, they’re criminalizing our doctors, our teachers, our families and our lives.” “We don’t want this America, y’all,” Robinson added. “We want the America we deserve, where dignity, safety and freedom belong not to some of us, but to all of us.” In Boston, demonstrators brandished signs such as “Hands off our democracy” and “Hands off our Social Security.” Mayor Michelle Wu said she does not want her children and others’ to live in a world in which threats and intimidation are government tactics and values like diversity and equality are under attack.
“I refuse to accept that they could grow up in a world where immigrants like their grandma and grandpa are automatically presumed to be criminals,” Wu said.
Roger Broom, 66, a retiree from Delaware County, Ohio, was one of hundreds who rallied at the Statehouse in Columbus. He said he used to be a Reagan Republican but has been turned off by Trump.
“He’s tearing this country apart,” Broom said. “It’s just an administration of grievances.” Hundreds of people also demonstrated in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, a few miles from Trump’s golf course in Jupiter, where he spent the morning at the club’s Senior Club Championship. People lined both sides of PGA Drive, encouraging cars to honk and chanting slogans against Trump.
“They need to keep their hands off of our Social Security,” said Archer Moran of Port St. Lucie, Florida.
“The list of what they need to keep their hands off of is too long,” Moran said. “And it’s amazing how soon these protests are happening since he’s taken office.” The president golfed in Florida Saturday and planned to do so again Sunday, the White House said.
Activists have staged nationwide demonstrations against Trump and Musk multiple times since Trump returned to office. But before Saturday the opposition movement had yet to produce a mass mobilization like the Women’s March in 2017, which brought thousands of women to Washington after Trump’s first inauguration, or the Black Lives Matter demonstrations that erupted in multiple cities after George Floyd’s killing by police in Minneapolis in 2020.
In Charlotte, North Carolina, protesters said they were supporting a variety of causes, from Social Security and education to immigration and women’s reproductive rights.
“Regardless of your party, regardless of who you voted for, what’s going on today, what’s happening today is abhorrent,” said Britt Castillo, 35, of Charlotte. “It’s disgusting, and as broken as our current system might be, the way that the current administration is going about trying to fix things — it is not the way to do it. They’re not listening to the people.” Among thousands marching through downtown San Jose, California, were Deborah and Douglas Doherty.
Deborah, a graphic designer, is a veteran of the 2017 Women’s March and was nervous that fewer people have turned out against Trump this time. “All the cities need to show up,” she said.
Hyderabad: The misfiring Sunrisers Hyderabad will hope for a happy homecoming when they take on a resurrected Mumbai Indians here on Wednesday, eyeing a much-needed victory to revive their campaign in the Indian Premier League.
With only two wins in seven outings, SRH are in a desperate situation. Their power-packed batting has let them down more often than not while their bowlers are not making any strong impression either.
That SRH are a one-dimensional side has been proven by the manner in which it has struggled on slow and turning pitches.
SRH batters thrive on flat wickets which produce high-scoring contests and having a favourable surface against MI would give the them the best chance to find some momentum.
Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head will have their task cut out against MI given SRH’s chances of winning hinge, to a large extent, on the left-handed opening pair. Their success in the powerplay defines the team’s fortunes in a contest.
Abhishek smacked a 55-ball 141 in his last outing here against Punjab Kings to record the highest individual total for any batter in this IPL.
There will be, however, some concerns around Head who hasn’t gone all guns blazing like he usually does and SRH will want their Australian star to be at the top of his game.
A defeat would put SRH in a tough situation.
For Mumbai Indians, it is a perfect opportunity to test their resurgence in an away game before they return home to face Lucknow Super Giants in Mumbai on Sunday.
Mumbai Indians have put their disappointing start to the IPL behind with three consecutive wins.
The five-time champions are coming off a massive nine-wicket hammering of Chennai Super Kings on a batting-friendly wicket on which they went over the line chasing a target near 180 with more than four overs to spare.
Rohit Sharma’s sensational 76 not out and Suryakumar Yadav’s 68 not out with all his trademark shots coming out fluently signalled the return to form of MI’s two batting pillars.
Tilak Varma did not get to bat against CSK but the left-hander has been in prime form, while Naman Dhir has shown signs of hitting his strides as a finisher alongside skipper Hardik Pandya.
Jasprit Bumrah hasn’t been at his menacing best when it comes to taking wickets but the ace India bowler has begun nailing his line and lengths perfectly.
This could be a warning sign for the SRH batters given MI tend to use Bumrah more strategically, with Trent Boult and Deepak Chahar sharing the new ball.
Head-to-head record:
Mumbai Indians boasts a good head-to-head record against Sunrisers Hyderabad. The team has won 14 out of their 24 matches.
In their last encounter in Mumbai on a tricky Wankhede pitch favored the hosts as MI registered a four-wicket win exposing SRH’s frailties in challenging conditions.
Winning Probability:
The pitch at the Ragiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Uppal is traditionally flat and a batting haven. The nature of the surface could have a bearing on the outcome with SRH’s two wins here coming on flat decks ensuring run-fests in their contests against Rajasthan Royals and Punjab Kings earlier. However, the Pat Cummins-led outfit has lost two home matches too.
A confident Mumbai, on the other hand, is improving by the day. With the addition of Bumrah and Rohit Sharma finding form, Hardik-led side would be walking into the game as favorites.
Teams (from):
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Pat Cummins (c), Ishan Kishan (wk), Atharva Taide, Abhinav Manohar, Aniket Verma, Sachin Baby, Smaran Ravichandran, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Travis Head, Harshal Patel, Kamindu Mendis, Wiaan Mulder, Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mohammed Shami, Rahul Chahar, Simarjeet Singh, Zeeshan Ansari, Jaydev Unadkat, Eshan Malinga.
Mumbai Indians: Hardik Pandya (c), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Robin Minz, Ryan Rickelton (wk), Shrijith Krishnan (wk), Bevon Jacobs, Tilak Varma, Naman Dhir, Will Jacks, Mitchell Santner, Raj Angad Bawa, Vignesh Puthur, Corbin Bosch, Trent Boult, Karn Sharma, Deepak Chahar, Ashwani Kumar, Reece Topley, VS Penmetsa, Arjun Tendulkar, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Jasprit Bumrah.
Match starts at 7:30pm IST.
An email threatening that a bomb has been planted in the Kerala High Court on Tuesday afternoon turned out to be a hoax. The court registrar received the threatening email, following which the Kochi City police were alerted. But a detailed examination of the court premises found nothing suspicious, the police said.
Published – April 23, 2025 09:09 am IST
A file photo of the Socio-Economic and Educational Survey being conducted in Mandya.
The release of the population data of castes/sub-castes in Karnataka, as part of the Socio-Economic and Educational Survey (popularly called caste census), has generated much political heat. Though the dominant Vokkaliga and Veerashaiva-Lingayat communities have termed the survey “unscientific” and have called for a new survey, the real underlying fact is the fear among the communities over a possible change in the political landscape and power dynamics between castes at the local level.
Political dominance in most places depends on the sway that certain castes hold locally. The numbers that have now been published are likely to allow the other backward classes (OBCs) to challenge the dominance of a community, which the land-owning Vokkaliga or Veerashaiva-Lingayats normally hold.
“Feudal structure at the grassroots can get shaken. If other castes come together, these traditional structures will also come under pressure. Political parties may also start looking at the numbers carefully and distribute the ticket,” said P.R. Ramesh, former Congress MLC. “A big political implication from the published data can be that the parties could try social engineering and justice in the distribution of ticket.”
The 2015 survey by the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes puts the percentage of the Vokkaliga and Veerashaiva-Lingayat communities, which have so far dominated the State’s politics, of the total population in the State to be 10.29 and 11, respectively, far below their claimed figure of about 13% to 15% and 17% to 22%, respectively.
In the current classification of the backward classes, barring about 24 castes among the about 197 castes/550 sub-castes classified as backward class in the State, the rest have had no political representation so far in the Assembly or Parliament through elections, commission sources said. Though many castes get represented in local bodies, there are still castes that have not had any representation at any level.
“It has been observed that many of the castes do not have adequate population or money power. Parties do not distribute the ticket to leaders from such castes, which results in a lack of representation. Leadership has also not evolved in such communities,” said K.N. Lingappa, a member of H. Kantharaj commission, which conducted the survey.
Acknowledging the fear of power structure altering on the ground, Akhila Bharatha Veerashaiva Mahasabha secretary H.M. Renuka Prasanna said, “We also fear that the same population data could be used for reservation in local bodies. Already, with 50% reservation in local bodies, efforts are made to reserve the Veerashaiva-Lingayat community-dominated wards to other communities and keep the wards where the caste population is not dominant in the general category. This will reduce the chances of candidates from the community winning elections. Our political representation will come down drastically.”
He also blamed the delimitation exercise, after which the State went to the polls in 2008, for reducing the number of Veerashaiva-Lingayat legislators in the Assembly. “As many as 24 constituencies that Lingayat legislators would win were reserved, including five each in Raichur and Ballari districts. Today, in Ballari, which produced several Lingayat leaders, Lingayats cannot win even one seat,” he claimed.
The fear of both Vokkaligas and Lingayats remains common, and a Vokkaliga leader in the Janata Dal (Secular) said that once the number of winnable constituencies gets reduced, it automatically influences the power structure. “In local bodies, the position of president and vice-president is also reserved. If the number of winnable wards is reduced, the total number of elected representatives from the community also gets reduced. The claim on the president or vice-president posts becomes difficult.” The political manoeuvres become difficult at the local level if the number of other castes are also big, he said.
Published – April 23, 2025 07:50 am IST
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