Local organizers of a nationwide series of protest rallies April 5 say they intend to stand “indivisible,” but definitely not be invisible.

Throughout Northern Illinois, thousands of citizens will gather at “Hands Off!” events to both vent their anger at the Trump administration and Department of Government Efficiency head Elon Musk, and to put on notice a Democratic leadership many believe isn’t standing up to what they consider a clear authoritarian threat to democracy.

Project Indivisible, a social and political action group formed in 2016 during the first Trump administration, says the hundreds of “Hands Off!” rallies will be a national day of action that will include locations around northern Illinois, including downtown Chicago, Lisle, DeKalb, Geneva, Elgin, Gurnee, Algonquin and Bloomington. A planned rally in Rockford has been moved to a joint event in Beloit, Wis.

Eileen Lynch, the Democratic committeewoman for Oak Park Township who works with state Senate President Don Harmon of Oak Park, said the Democratic Party of Oak Park is just one of many political and social action groups that are organizing groups to attend the rally. They include groups in Evanston and Chicago wards, and townships as distant as Palatine.

DPOP volunteers will be gathering at the Oak Park Avenue Green Line in Oak Park at 10:30 a.m. April 5 before heading Downtown for the Daley Center rally.

“I expect to have a big group,” said Lynch, who described the volunteers at DPOP and elsewhere as “very thoughtful, loyal and active. People are eager, excited, committed to go.”

Lynch confirmed what other organizers told Chronicle Media, that the past few months have been a struggle for many Democrats in the wake of the relentless rollout of Project 2025 goals, Donald Trump’s nearly daily executive orders and Elon Musk’s DOGE operation. “It’s been scattered,” she said of the political response from Democrats. “Like, where do I put my outrage and make it clear and loud?”

Trump and the GOP, Indivisible said on its website, were “Targeting veterans, kids, seniors, farmers, immigrants, transgender people, and political opponents. This is not just corruption. This is not just mismanagement. This is a hostile takeover.”

Indivisible said the rallies will take place “anywhere we can make sure they hear us.”

Organizers say they intend to “demand an end to this billionaire power grab.”

Anna Wilhemi, chair of the DeKalb County Democratic Party, encapsulated what many of her peers are feeling when she said that Trump and the GOP “have zero empathy for average people.”

“They’ve never made it more clear. They are dismantling the government as far as the needs of the American people (are concerned),” she said.

“How do we sit back and accommodate that?” Wilhemi asked. “Our people expect us to fight in this situation.”

“Voices need to be heard,” said Nikki Powell of We Can Lead Change in Kane County. “We’re here to protect democracy and make sure that everyone has a voice.”

“I think people see this as a path forward to making their voices heard,” said Patrick Cortesi, chair of the McLean County Democrats.

“There’s a lot of pent-up energy,” said Cortesi. “People have been asking us, ‘What do we do?’”

General themes expressed by several local April 5 organizers include outrage at what they call the outright undemocratic, unconstitutional and authoritarian tactics Trump is employing; the indiscriminate tactics Elon Musk has used in imposing “efficiencies” on government; the targeting of the country’s most vulnerable citizens, including seniors, children, the disabled, veterans and legal immigrants; and what many see as the flagrant greed and insensitivity of many of America’s wealthiest people.

Some organizers also expressed concern that national Democrats are not pushing back hard enough against Trump.

“People want action,” said Tierra Polfliet of the Winnebago County chapter of Indivisible. “We’re saying, ‘Do something.’ Wearing pink suits (as several congresswomen did at the recent State of the Union Address) really doesn’t do anything.”

Powell allowed that “we have a few” Democratic officials willing to speak out forcefully. She singled out Congresswoman Lauren Underwood, D-Naperville, for offering up “concrete ideas.”

Powell acknowledged that congressional Democrats “have no (political) muscle” due to GOP control of both chambers, but said “we do need to have a few (Democratic) leaders step up.”

“I wish they would speak up more, they’ve been silent,” Elgin event organizer Janice Bennett said of national Democrats.

Bennett, who is also a candidate for Elgin Township trustee, said a handful of Democrats have stepped forward. Besides, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Bennett said, Texas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigeig and U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy have spoken out.

At a recent town hall, Underwood said, “None of this is inevitable, we can stop it.”

Urging people to call Republican representatives, she noted, “We just need three. That’s how we stop them. The pressure works. We cannot be afraid to make the calls.”

Reid McCollum, chair of the Democratic Party of DuPage, said he sees the work of Indivisible, We Can Lead Change and other groups as “building a foundation for peaceful mass protests.”

“If we’re going to stop what I call an authoritarian take over of our democracy, it will be (through) peaceful demonstrations,” McCollum said.

Indivisible and local officials stress that the events will be peaceful, saying, “We expect all participants to seek to de-escalate any potential confrontation with those who disagree with our values.”

Hands Off rallies are also scheduled in some deep red parts of the state, including Ogle County, which voted overwhelmingly for Republican Darren Bailey for governor in 2022 over winner J.B. Pritzker, 63.9 percent to 33 percent.