People angry, frightened and fed up with the actions of President Donald Trump held a “Hands Off! Fayetteville Fights Back” rally for several hours at the Market House in downtown Fayetteville on Saturday.
It was one of many anti-Trump “People’s Veto Day” rallies scheduled to take place across the state and country on Saturday, organized by political activist organizations: 50501 (pronounced “fifty-fifty-one”), the Women’s March and Hands Off, according to 50501’s website.
They had many signs, most hand-lettered. Some read “Hands off the VA” (referring to the Department of Veterans Affairs), “86 47” (“throw out” the 47th president), “Elon is not our president,” and “When tyranny becomes law rebellion becomes duty.”
One protester had an American flag wrapped around her.
Because people came and went across the four hours of the rally, which started at 11 a.m., it was difficult to get a definitive headcount. The organizer estimated 200 at one point. CityView later counted 150, but some people seen earlier were gone by then. When CityView left just before 2 p.m., more people arrived — a family with children, carrying signs.
Some rally participants, including Fayetteville City Council member and mayoral candidate Mario Benavente, made speeches with a bullhorn to amplify their voices. Officers from the Fayetteville Police Department stepped in to tell them to stop because the organizer didn’t have a permit from the city to use a device to amplify their sound. A similar incident at another protest in February at the Market House led to a man’s arrest.
Trump supporter crashes the rally
Saturday’s rally attracted a Trump supporter who stood under the Market House in the middle of the anti-Trump ralliers. He cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled a chant: “Trump is your president! Trump is your president!”
Some ralliers surrounded the man. They held up their protest signs, held up an American flag behind him, and they chanted back at him: “Protect the Constitution! Protect the Constitution!”
After several minutes of shouting, the confrontation de-escalated into spirited arguments between the man and several ralliers. They debated, sometimes in raised voices, about Trump’s policies on immigration and deportation, and his handling of the war between Ukraine and Russia.
The man said his name is Mando, but he would not give his last name.
Much of the debate between Mando and the ralliers focused on an immigrant arrested in Maryland in March and sent to a prison in El Salvador. The man was legally living in the U.S. with protected status. The Trump administration this past week said in federal court that the decision to deport the man was “an administrative error.”
In effort to maintain the calm after the confrontation deescalated, rally organizer Dawn Adkins-Hurley met with Mando and clasped hands with him.
“I appreciate you making sure everybody’s engaged, and gets to say their say,” Adkins-Hurley told Mando. “If it escalates, I will have to ask you to leave. But right now you’re being cool. You’re sharing opinions.”
“And that’s the point. That’s the purpose,” Mando said. “It’s calm, peaceful. … No fighting.”
They spoke a few more moments, with Adkins-Hurley closing by telling Mando, “You have a good day,” and Mando telling her, “You’re a blessing. I’m telling you that. You try hard. You organize.”
Few people can do that, he said.
Why they are protesting
The protesters had numerous complaints about the Trump administration.
“We have a republic if we can keep it, and our republic is now in jeopardy, at the worst point in our history since the Civil War,” said Tim Dunn, a Fayetteville lawyer and retired Marine officer who ran for North Carolina Attorney General in 2024.
The Trump administration fired leaders and high level lawyers in the military, Dunn said. “The military lawyers are the sanity check to ensure their bosses are following the law. And he fired all those folks, I think intentionally, because he knew they were going to follow the law,” he said.
Mark Luce said he has worked for the Department of Defense and in foreign aid programs, such as the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID — programs that are now being cut. He said he also has been a Peace Corps volunteer in Afghanistan.
Luce said programs designed to help America win the hearts and minds of people and nations, by providing food, clean water and other assistance, have ended.
“I don’t see how it helps make us great again,” he said.
Jill Fate said she has “a laundry list of reasons” to protest. One of them is potential cuts to Social Security. “My parents are both retired and on Social Security. So stuff being taken away, not being paid, it’s just hurting people,” she said.
Presidential advisor Elon Musk has floated cuts to Social Security. The Trump administration says it will not cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. However, the Trump administration has cut 7,000 employees from the Social Security Administration, and may cut more. This has led to complaints that taxpayers who need assistance from the agency are getting poor service.
Fate sees elements of Project 2025 being implemented. Project 2025 is a book of proposals for major changes to American policy and government, advanced by the rightwing Heritage Foundation.
Retired soldier George Cooper said he protested because he was “fed up with sitting home, and feeling powerless, not being able to contribute.”
He is unhappy that “a president who filed for bankruptcy six times wants to run our economy.”
“And where did this Elon Musk guy from?” Cooper said. “Nobody confirmed him in the Senate. Nobody voted for him. There’s no democratic process, and now this guy wants to stick his nose in every crack and crevice of people’s personal lives.”
“Having served two decades defending the Constitution, and now this?” Cooper said of his military service. “So this is the only means at hand available to still contribute, and not feel so powerless.”
Senior reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at pwoolverton@cityviewnc.com.
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