Thousands of protesters demonstrating against President Donald Trump filled the lawns and streets around the Colorado State Capitol on Wednesday, hours after federal immigration authorities raided apartments across the Denver area.
A small group of protesters began gathering around 11 a.m., waving Mexican flags along Lincoln Street and drawing honks from the passing cars. Their numbers quickly swelled, and the crowd chanted and carried signs criticizing Trump and his billionaire adviser, Elon Musk.
By noon, a group of demonstrators forced the closure of Lincoln before they turned to march around the Capitol.
Organizers had planned a protest at the Capitol as part of a nationwide day of action called “50 States, 50 Protests.” As marchers circled the building, thousands of protesters gathered at state capitols in Michigan, Texas, Wisconsin and Indiana.
But the Colorado protest took on new vigor after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agencies carried out immigration raids across metro Denver on Wednesday morning, detaining an undisclosed number of people and demanding identification from tenants at several apartment complexes.
One common chant took aim at Trump, while another, in Spanish, said that the “people united will never be defeated.” Some marchers burned incense or handed out fliers about how to respond to federal immigration raids. Cars and trucks moved among the crowd, and one truck briefly stopped so its occupants could dance and chant near the Denver City and County Building.
Signs included one that read, in Spanish, “immigrants are the heart of this country,” and another depicted Musk’s recent Nazi-like salute. Some Democratic state legislators moved among the crowd. Sen. Iman Jodeh, an Aurora Democrat, briefly spoke from the steps in the early afternoon.
Julia Gutierrez, 21, of Denver, held a sign in Spanish that translated to “My family are not criminals. The criminal is in the White House.” She didn’t know about the local ICE raids Wednesday morning, but a general fear of them sweeping the country drew her to the protest.
“I came out today to fight for the rights of my people,” she said. “I’m proud to be Mexican, and I’m here to stand up for those who can’t be here today.”
She has family members who are immigrants, and they didn’t come to the country to cause any damage — only to better their lives and their family’s lives, she said.
Many in the crowd carried Mexican, American, Venezuelan, Honduran and Palestinian flags, and they carried signs defending immigrants.
The crowd grew large enough that it splintered: A contingent stayed near the west steps of the Capitol, where demonstrators passed a microphone back and forth to criticize Trump and defend immigrants in multiple languages. Meanwhile, other groups marched along nearby streets.
At the Capitol, one young female speaker, who did not identify herself, said the crowd was “here because of Project 2025,” referring to the document drafted by conservative activists that has served as a policy blueprint for Trump’s second administration. The speaker’s mention of the project drew boos from the crowd.
“Are we really going to stand by and let this happen?” she shouted, to cheers.
More protesters stayed in the middle of Lincoln Street, while others continued circling the building.
A large group later marched down Broadway and moved past the maze of museums and municipal buildings west of the Capitol. A school bus caught up in the crowd honked its support, and its driver gave the crowd a thumbs-up.
As he set up a table with bottled water and books on the Capitol lawn early on, James Bradek said he was surprised by the size of the crowd, which was still growing at that point. He’d planned to attend the protest even before the immigration raids happened, and he hoped the energy in the crowd would carry on and lead to real change among both major political parties.
“People want to fight back,” Bradek said, as he handed water to passing students who arrived in growing numbers before the marches began in earnest.
Police, who largely kept their distance from the marchers, later closed streets as protesters wound around the building.
“People are upset with how things are going — they need an outlet,” said John Stackhouse, who stood a few feet from the west steps of the Capitol. “I certainly need to be here.”
As the afternoon wore on, protesters returned to the Capitol steps to chant and pass the microphone. Legislators and Capitol staffers looked on from windows or took photos from the House’s balcony, which overlooked the protest. Chants and shouts were audible inside the otherwise silent chamber.
Jessica Ganjon, 49, a Denver resident, stood with a sign reading “Rage Against Fascism” — a gift from another protester. Ganjon said she wanted to be around people who shared her discontent with the Trump administration.
This protest, with its varied causes and occurring as part of a nationwide movement, heartened her.
She attended protests against Trump during his first administration, she said, and let out a sigh at being there again, protesting his second administration.
“I hope that every protest gets bigger and bigger,” Ganjon said. “And I’ll be here.”
Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter, The Spot.