On Saturday, April 5, an estimated 400 people gathered in downtown Vergennes along Main Street outside City Park as part of the approximately 1,300 nationwide Hands Off! protests against the Trump administration. Beginning around noon, the protest lasted roughly two hours through wind and rain. At its peak, protesters spread across Main Street and the intersection at North Green Street and Green Street. The protest was planned concurrently with other Hands Off! protests throughout Vermont, with an estimated 10,000 in attendance at the Montpelier, Vt. protest. The local chapter of the progressive Indivisible movement placed attendance in Brattleboro, Vt. at around 1,500.
The protest served as an opportunity for people to come together and rally against what they have found most frustrating about the administration’s work. When asked what brought them to the protest, each protestor cited a myriad of reasons.
“You name it. Good grief, every day it’s like 10 different things,” said Ted Tighe, a Vermonter of 50 years and Middlebury resident.
This sentiment was reflected in the handmade signs protesters held up, which demanded that the government “keep their hands off” of American allies, free speech, national parks and more. One protester placed a sign at the bottom of the U.S. veteran tribute in City Park, calling for government “hands off” of “Veterans”, “Medicare” and more. One protestor’s sign featured a design she has been working on — “ENF,” standing for “Enough.” A Starksboro, Vt. resident carried a sign that simply read “Stop the coup.”
“I tried to think of all the things — ‘hands off this,’ ‘hands off that’ — and then it was just too many,” said the Starksboro resident, who asked to remain anonymous. “So I realized, this said it all.”
Protestors demonstrated their spirit with continuous cheering that swelled each time a passing car or truck honked. Some drivers passed by the stretch of protesters multiple times, riding their horns.
Police at the Vergennes protest asked demonstrators to move off the City Park green onto the sidewalk because they had not obtained a permit for the protest.
Several protesters shared that the arrest of Tufts University graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk by federal agents gave them a shock that spurred them into action. Middlebury resident Carla Tighe carried a sign that read: “Rumeysa Öztürk. handsoff2025.com.”
“[Öztürk’s arrest] starts a weird precedent of people in plainclothes being able to kidnap people off the street in broad daylight and just say that they’re ICE, even if they don’t show any identification,” Vergennes resident Meghan Brumback told The Campus. “That’s really scary, even as a citizen, to have no due process.”
Others were driven by a concern for younger generations. One of several families at the Vergennes protest with young children, David Small ’09.5 and Abigail Blum ’08.5 brought their child, who carried a sign labeled “Toddlers Against Tyranny.” Small shared that they came to the protest because they wanted to be an active part of ensuring their son’s future.
“It’s important for him to see this — he’s been chanting ‘Don’t tread on my trains’ all morning,” Small said. “He’s a big Amtrak guy, loves watching the trains go by.”
Addison County State Senator Ruth Hardy was also in attendance, conversing with community members. She told The Campus that she was there both as a senator supporting her constituents and a participant.
“I feel the same as everybody else — I’m concerned, I’m worried, I’m scared about what’s happening to our country, to our rights,” Hardy said. “I want to speak up and be part of the resistance to the actions of the Trump administration and their impact on Vermont.”
As a member of the State Senate, Hardy has seen the impact of the Trump administration’s funding cuts as the State Senate legislates the budget and responds to federal funding cuts for vaccines, local food-purchasing and humanities programs, among others. She anticipates that Vermonters will be particularly hit by tariffs against Canada since as its neighbor, Vermont relies on Canada for tourism and trade.
“The state legislature right now is trying to figure out how to plug these holes and we just, as a small state, will not be able to. Vermonters across the board will be impacted by the federal cuts,” Hardy said.
Hardy and Small both expressed desires for the college to not “preemptively cave” to the pressures of the Trump administration, with Small pointing to the college’s near $1.6 billion endowment as a means of doing so. Other community members were particularly concerned for the welfare of the college’s international students.
“Middlebury College is part of my district and the students are my constituents, and I’m concerned for them, and I want to make sure that our college is keeping all [students] safe,” Hardy said.
According to the Vergennes resident who first posted about the protest on Front Porch Forum (FPF), 100 people had expressed interest in attending on the platform as of Friday. The company Mobilize placed the Vergennes protest on the Hands Off! map to increase visibility.
“The 100 people who signed up to come could be coming with 100 different reasons, but it doesn’t matter. This is a slash-and-burn administration, you know?” the Vergennes resident said. “They’re trying to tear down the fabric of the whole culture to destroy, destroy, destroy, and then build it up in whatever image they want.”
There was no one organizer for the Vergennes protest: the Vergennes resident emphasized that there were no designated speakers or plans.
“I’m not trying to make it anything. I just started it. But I’m not trying to own it, you know? It’s grown very organically,” they said.
The protest grew beyond FPF, both through the mailing list of local Indivisible chapters and through word of mouth.
Numerous protesters expressed fears about being targeted by the government for taking a stand, both for their safety and their desire to protest in the future. Two shared that they hoped to go to Canada later in the year, but were nervous about being let back into the country despite holding U.S. passports.
“We’re just two steps away from them arresting citizens,” said a Middlebury resident who wished to remain anonymous, referencing Öztürk's arrest.
Despite these fears, those same people plan on continuing to demonstrate. One protester mentioned planning to attend the protests on Saturday, April 12 against the loss of funding at Bixby Library in Vergennes. A group of protesters emphasized the importance of demonstrating against the current administration as a sustained effort.
“It’s a marathon, not a sprint,” the anonymous Vergennes protester said.
Editor’s Note: Addison County State Senator Ruth Hardy is married to Professor of Film and Media Studies Jason Mittell, who serves as faculty adviser to The Campus. He had no role in the publication of this article.
Noor Khan '28 (she/her) is a Layout Editor and Contributing Writer.
Noor is majoring in history with a minor in French. Outside of The Campus, she works as a tour guide for Middlebury College Admissions. She is originally from London, England, and now lives in the Bay Area in California. Noor enjoys reading, hiking, and boba.
