Communities in the Florida Keys joined thousands of nationwide Hands Off protests on April 5 that took place in all 50 states. In the Keys, the largest demonstration was in Key West, where an estimated 600 people lined both sides of the 1300 block of White Street, in front of the National Weather Service office, which has been targeted for funding cuts, and in front of Key West’s city hall. Some 250 residents held signs alongside U.S. 1 in Key Largo, and another group was seen holding flags and signs along the highway in Islamorada. In the Middle Keys, cars passing the intersection of U.S. 1 and Sombrero Beach Road found around 130 protesters lining the street and median.
An estimated 600 people joined Key West’s Hands Off protest on April 5. The peaceful demonstration against the second administration of President Donald Trump and recent actions by the federal government took place along the 1300 block of White Street, in front of the federal National Weather Service forecast office and across the street at Key West’s city hall. LARRY BLACKBURN/Keys Weekly 
Nationally, the protests are thought to have drawn as many as 5 million in one of the largest one-day nationwide displays of opposition to the current administration.
Demonstrators railed against President Donald Trump and billionaire businessman Elon Musk, who has become a top adviser to Trump and the leader of the new Department of Government Efficiency.
Signs in Key West included: “DEI — Deport Elon Instead,” “No One Voted for Elon,” “Hands Off the Constitution” and “Honk If You Never Drunk Text War Plans” – that last one a reference to the recent “Signalgate” scandal in which Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth used a non-government messaging app called Signal to text detailed plans for a military bombing in Yemen to a group of top U.S. officials, accidentally including a journalist.
“In a county that is overwhelmingly Republican, our group received supporting honks, thumbs and fists up,” said Mid-Keys Democrats chair Laurie Swanson, who helped organize the Marathon protest. “As each fleet of cars left the traffic light we were regaled with a cacophony of horns and slow-moving vehicles joining in with ‘This is what democracy looks like.’”
