HOLYOKE — Commuters driving on Interstate 91 in Holyoke and Longmeadow during morning and afternoon rush hours on Tuesday were greeted with demonstrators waving American and Ukrainian flags along overpasses, accompanied with signs denouncing the administration of President Donald Trump as waging a “coup” against the United States.

Around 70 people were at the I-91 overpass by Mountain Park Road in Holyoke for the morning commute, holding signs denouncing Trump as well as Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has led efforts within the administration to drastically shrink the executive branch. A similar protest occurred at an I-91 overpass in Longmeadow the same day, along with a protest in front of Northampton City Hall at noon.

“Trump is not a king. What else can you say?” said Joe Twarog of Florence, who waved a large Ukrainian flag at the Holyoke demonstration. “There’s not one decent cabinet member. They’re all designed to destroy the agencies they lead.”

The protests in western Massachusetts were among hundreds of others Tuesday across the country ahead of Trump’s address to Congress later that night. Dubbed “March 4th for Democracy” and held as part of the 50501 (Fifty-Fifty-One) movement opposing the Trump administration and executive overreach, demonstrations took place in cities including Boston, Miami, Oklahoma City and Portland, Oregon.

The likening of Trump and Musk’s action as a “coup” echoes sentiments expressed by protesters at a rally held a month ago at the offices of U.S. Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren in Springfield. Both protests were organized by the Indivisible Mass Coalition, along with Swing Left Western Mass.

Though a month has passed between the two events, there were still many events over the last several days to fuel the protesters, such as an Oval Office meeting where Trump publicly criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as well as the implementation of tariffs against Canada, Mexico and China that caused stock markets to fall sharply on Tuesday.

“I think more and more people are getting really angry and worried about what is happening in our country,” said John Majercak, a member of Indivisible Northampton who helped organize the Holyoke overpass protest. “They feel isolated, overwhelmed and alone, and this is a way to show them that they’re not and they can let their voices be heard.”

Betsy Young, an Easthampton resident, said she was on the overpass due to concerns she had regarding LGBTQ rights and the mass firing of federal employees under the current administration.

“I’m just needing to exert some energy and get the word out that this is not OK,” Young said. “It just keeps going and it keeps getting worse.”

Richard Gifford, a Holyoke resident and retired teacher, said he was concerned about attacks on the press, citing Musk’s purchase of Twitter, since renamed X, and a recent announcement by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos that the Washington Post, which he owns, would be changing its opinion section to focus solely on “personal liberties and free markets.”

“Journalism has a role in telling a consistently true story, and I think we’ve lost our way,” Gifford said. “Where does democracy stand without journalism?”

City Hall protest

The overpass protests were not the only demonstrations that day against the Trump administration. In Northampton, protesters gathered at City Hall around noontime, including many who were in Holyoke earlier in the day.

Northampton Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra delivered brief remarks in support before heading inside City Hall for a planned meeting.

“Trump and Musk are counting on the silence and the acquiesence of the American people so they can trample on our Constitution,” Sciarra told the crowd of around 100 people who had gathered. “You are letting them know we will not be intimidated, we will not be bullied, and we will not let democracy die on our watch. Together, our voices are stronger than their tyranny.”

Also speaking at the Northampton rally was Anat Weisenfreund, who recently joined the Northampton School Committee and who leads Community Action Pioneer Valley’s Head Start program. Weisenfreund called the federal cuts “horrible, inhumane and cruel,” and evoked the memory of her Jewish grandparents who fled Austria in 1934 after resisting fascism.

“We need to think about our ancestors, who resisted,” Weisenfreund said. “That’s what I think about to help myself with our context today.”

Mike Ewing, a retired nurse practitioner and a Hadley resident, also addressed the crowd, wearing a scarf bearing the colors of the Ukrainian flag and holding a sign that read “Traitor Trump.” Ewing said he often goes out to the Northampton rotary near the Calvin Coolidge Bridge to protest against the president.

“I just feel like I’ve got to do something, and I’m tired of listening to politicians, Democrats included, just talking about how bad it is,” Ewing said.

Ewing said that when he demonstrates at the rotary he gets a good amount of support, but sometimes gets rude hand gestures. But what’s more dismaying to Ewing is the people who drive by and ignore him outright.

“Most of them just are not involved, not engaged. They are the people we need,” he said. “The complacent non-voters outweigh both Trump and [Kamala] Harris. I don’t know how to do it, but we’ve got to get them engaged.”

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.