50501 allyship collects in L.A.
A protester holds a sign that states “Mien Trumpf” with Donald Trump in a Ku Klux Klan robe during the 50501 protest while protesting Project 2025 in Downtown Los Angeles, Calif., on Wednesday, February 5, 2025.(Jake Crandall / The Corsair)
Spawning out of an unassuming Reddit collective calling itself “50 protests, 50 states, 1 day,” a protesting fervor stormed the country on Feb. 5, centering in the state capitals. By way of capillary action, extra parroting protests arose in supporting cities, corroborating the anti-ICE action surging in L.A.
A protester holds an upside-down American Flag during the 50501 protest while protesting Project 2025 in Downtown Los Angeles, Calif., on Wednesday, February 5, 2025.(Jake Crandall / The Corsair)
On the misty steps of Los Angeles City Hall, a secondary demonstration centered on opposing President Donald Trump and his proposed Project 2025 united a unique conglomerate of liberals and leftists.
The blend wasn’t always amicable. After railing against fascism, one orator implored surrounding individuals to join the resistance effort by enrolling with the Revolutionary Communist Party.
“‘Rev-com’? Oh, fuck that,” said a spectator. Hearing the sign-up instruction, he began to back away from the central speaker instead.
The spillout of high school walkouts across L.A. contributed to the body of the demonstration, joining independent activists, including a Santa Monica College student in spirit gear.
The unified action was frequently peppered with calls of “Fuck Donald Trump!” and “Fuck Elon Musk!” A few attendees drifted around the group waving clusters of burning incense and passing out water bottles.
Protesters hold up signs during the 50501 protest while protesting Project 2025 out front of Los Angeles City Hall in Los Angeles, Calif. on Wednesday, February 5, 2025(Jake Crandall / The Corsair)
Protesters were rallying behind mutual dislike of the Trump administration, a perspective common enough to attract swaths of different individuals. Naturally, the dense crews of ideologues intermingled with corrosion.
A Los Angeles Police Department officer walks up the stairs of Los Angeles City Hall in Downtown Los Angeles, Calif., on Wednesday, February 5, 2025, during the 50501 protest, which was protesting Project 2025.(Jake Crandall / The Corsair)
To remedy this, attendees took to the free-for-all megaphone for anecdoting and heralding others with ovations, often between sentences. A structure emerged and became a pattern: speakers would give an outline of themselves, then theorize what their unique insights could provide for the movement. Fearing the threat of political persecution, most speakers withheld their identities and shielded behind masks and even goggles.
For instance, one speaker from Yugoslavia was fueled by frightful comparisons.
“I was a child in a war-torn country,” she said. “My family sought refuge here for a better life in America, believing in the promise of democracy and freedom. But today it’s the alarming parallel.”
At home, she said, “the streets are filled with bloodshed as people fight for their basic rights. We cannot allow such tyranny to take root here.”
Protesters hold signs and an American-Mexican flag out front of Los Angeles City Hall in Downtown Los Angeles, Calif., on Wednesday, February 5, 2025, during the 50501 protest, which was protesting Project 2025.(Jake Crandall / The Corsair)
“I know people like Musk, I grew up around people like this,” said a resident Californian from Silicon Valley. “And let me tell you this: they do not see us as full human… They’re not interacting with brown people or black people or gay people regularly. They have an insular bubble.”
Other speakers claimed their call to action was their own immunity.
“I came out here because I wanted to fight for the people that were too scared to come, for my friends that are scared of getting deported… for my trans friends that are too scared to go outside,” said one of them. “Any love that benefits the people at the bottom of society works its way up to the top. Fight for the people who cannot fight for themselves.”
Protesters hold an American-Mexican flag out front of Los Angeles City Hall in Downtown Los Angeles, Calif., on Wednesday, February 5, 2025, during the 50501 protest, which was protesting Project 2025.(Jake Crandall / The Corsair)
“If I’m going to be completely honest, I don’t really have much to lose being out here, so that’s why I’m fucking here,” said another.
A social media researcher warned against relying on the Web for political engagement.
A protester holds up a sign stating “resist” during the 50501 protest while protesting Project 2025 in Little Tokyo in Downtown Los Angeles, Calif. on Wednesday, February 5, 2025.(Jake Crandall / The Corsair)
“Don’t get locked into arguments in the comments, don’t do it. It’s a waste of time,” she said. “Show up here, talk to your community, build connections between people who care about the same things you do… Social media is not the only way.”
Another speaker spoke from lengthy experience with protests in the city.
“I’m an old guy, I’ve been in this country a long time and I’ve made protests, and I’m telling you, our backs are up against the wall. We’ve tried everything. This is a full-on outrage worldwide. I’m telling you, this is the moment. It’s on,” he said. “It’s their game unless we change it now.”
Other speakers identified the same maliferous “them” as the opposition. Additional topics of contention were Trump’s restrictions on federal employment, his rape charges, and his anti-trans policies. “Back Off My Passport Trump” read a sign, referring to Trump’s executive order fixing gender as “non-changeable.”
Such specific outcries were rare in the sea of Musk banners and generalized calls to unspecified action, with signs like “Dissent is Patriotic” and “Hate will not make us great.”
A man wears a shirt with a swastika crossed out during the 50501 protest while protesting Project 2025 in Downtown Los Angeles, Calif., on Wednesday, February 5, 2025.(Jake Crandall / The Corsair)
More clarifying messages read “Deport Musk,” “Abolish ICE,” “Stop Deportin,” and “F’Elon and the Felon.” Some flexed cultural muscles with “Nazi Punks Fuck Off” imagery and a “Tax, Lies, and Pee Pee Tape” mock movie poster parodying Soderbergh. Another cutout of Elon was dotted with a Hitler stache.
A protester spray paints “Fuck ICE” during the 50501 protest while protesting Project 2025 in Downtown Los Angeles, Calif., on Wednesday, February 5, 2025.(Jake Crandall / The Corsair)
A steady quad of Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers mounted the City Hall steps at about 15 feet from protesters, separated by a fence. When the crowd remained immobile, the police group slowly trickled around them and left.
As a consequence, the group’s takeoff into the streets was met with minimal friction.
Occupying half the road, the march circuited through Little Tokyo, fronted with a Rev-Com-branded banner reading “In the name of humanity, we refuse a fascist America!” The same slogan was resounded orally, and the group was small and orderly enough to keep the chant reverberating for the march’s duration.
In the march’s nucleus, a few timekeepers maintained rhythm with pots and pans.
Upon returning to City Hall, the crowd raised a uniform fist, and most of the crowd dispersed. The remaining protesters spread back into the road and along the steps, waving flags and cheering. A subset broke off and rallied an impromptu dance circle.
A protester holds up a sign stating “resist” and an American Flag during the 50501 protest while protesting Project 2025 out front of Los Angeles City Hall in Los Angeles, Calif. on Wednesday, February 5, 2025.(Jake Crandall / The Corsair)
The action finally broke when LAPD returned to the scene, closing in on the demonstration from both sides. The music was shut off and the streets were cleared.
A few protesters asked the officers about their presence; no response was given.
Lost in tangent, a couple speakers would drift off and find the cat. The audience turned to look, bemused, at the casual attendee with a cat slung over his shoulder and purring. He simply stood and smiled.
A protester dancing in front of Los Angeles City Hall in Downtown Los Angeles, Calif., on Wednesday, February 5, 2025, during the 50501 protest, which was protesting Project 2025.(Jake Crandall / The Corsair)
This fellow sporting an uncommon protest accessory explained to the Corsair that rejuvenating the march morale is optimistic, even without immediate material consequences.
The amount of times humanity has doubted they could do something and then turned around and achieved it is astounding, he said. “There’s always hope.”