Hundreds of protesters held signs, chanted together and made their presence widely known in downtown Medford on Monday afternoon — Presidents Day — lambasting President Donald Trump and his administration’s policies and staff. Similar rallies also were held nationwide.

The Medford demonstrators, bearing signs reading “Send Elon Musk to Mars” and using chants such as, “This is what democracy looks like,” were protesting recent actions by the Trump administration, from the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cutting funding for federal grants and multiple federal agencies to targeting the LGBTQ+ community with a Trump executive order banning transgender citizens from serving in the military.

The protest was organized by Oregon District 2 Indivisible, a local left-leaning organization that opposes the Trump administration.

Motorists drove by the scene and honked their horns for hours downtown, and some people offered their own personal gestures to the protesters.

“I’m just another citizen that’s upset with the system,” said protest attendee Jason Hatfield. “It’s the fact that everything Trump’s done has been a lie; everything has been retracted. He said he’d lower prices on day one and stop the wars on day one, and he’s done nothing.”

“I figured instead of being an ostrich that I would come out here and do what I can and try and support,” said protester Brooke Breazeale. “I was coming here thinking that there would only be a dozen (attendees) or a handful maybe, and to see all these people in all genders and races and ages is awesome.”

A commonly-held concern among attendees regarded women’s rights during President Trump’s tenure.

“I have girls, and so I don’t want them to not be able to do things in life,” Breazeale said. “My girls are adults, but that doesn’t mean it’s not going to affect them or their children later on.”

“Why am I here? Because I have a 9-year-old granddaughter, and I’d like to leave her in a world worth being in, and at the current rate, we’re not going to get there,” said protester Glen Crane. “There’s a right way and a wrong way to do things, and we’re currently doing it completely wrong.”

The Medford protest was part of a larger movement in the United States during Presidents Day to protest the current administration. Rallies were held from Boston to Los Angeles and organized by groups such as the 50501 Movement, a grassroots effort primarily organized through social media.

Boston protesters, some dressed in Revolutionary War-style clothing from the 1700s, carried signs saying such things as “This is a Coup” and “Cowards Bow to Trump, Patriots Stand Up,” The Associated Press reported. One sign had a depiction of Uncle Sam saying “I Want You to Resist.”

“I thought it was important to be here on Presidents Day to demonstrate for what America stands for,” said Emily Manning, 55, a Boston engineer who came to the rally with her two teenage sons. “American values are not the values of the plutocracy or the limited few rich people.”

Organizers of Monday’s protests, which were focused on state capitals and major cities including Washington, D.C.; Orlando, Florida; and Seattle, said they were targeting “anti-democratic and illegal actions of the Trump administration and its plutocratic allies.”

One sign at the rally that attracted hundreds in the nation’s capital said, “Deport Musk Dethrone Trump.”

Many demonstrations were slated for cities where temperatures were well below freezing as a polar vortex worked its way across the country.

The rallies followed a series of Trump executive orders and came just days after layoffs across federal agencies as part of an effort to reduce the government workforce.

Oregon District 2 Indivisible is scheduled to hold more protests and activist events in the coming months such as a “National Strike” on March 14 and boycotting Amazon from March 7 to March 14.

To learn more about ORD2, visit ord2indivisible.org.