About 200 people in Mobile took part in a protest Monday against President Donald Trump’s administration and billionaire Elon Musk’s influence at the federal level.

Participants took to the streets waving signs and saying chants denouncing Trump administration policies including anti-immigrant rhetoric, cuts to the federal workforce and anti-LGBTQ+ policies.

Since taking office on Jan. 20, Trump’s administration has conducted a mass firing of federal workers and announced cuts to funding for the National Institute of Health.

Notably cuts to NIH funding would negatively harm biomedical research conducted at the University of Alabama in Birmingham due to reliance on federal grants.

During the Mobile protest Shalela Dowdy, co-founder of Stand Up Mobile, stated that the actions by Trump’s administration have upended countless lives of federal workers. Dowdy said Trump’s obsession with wielding his power through executive orders was, “giving dictatorship.”

“We have an issue in Washington,” Dowdy said. “We have checks and balances in our country, and it looks like the leader of the executive branch is trying to have sole and complete control. It’s giving dictatorship.

Millions of Americans are being affected by the recklessness of these executive orders that are coming down with people losing their jobs.”

Dowdy also urged Alabamians to get involved at the municipal and state level to push back against the localization of Trump’s policies.

Demonstrators also called out the “fascist” nature of Musk’s actions as he spearheads the Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE.

Musk claims that the efforts of DOGE are to cut unnecessary and wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars. However, critics argue it is an unofficial engine for Musk to gut many federal departments he dislikes such as the Department of Labor and Internal Revenue Service.

The demonstration, dubbed ‘No kings on Presidents Day,’ was part of a nationwide day of protests inspired by a call to action by the 50501 Movement.

The name stands for 50 states, 50 protests and one movement. The organization is a leaderless, grass- roots coalition seeking to mobilize people against the “anti-democratic” policies of the Trump administration.

Protests were held in Birmingham, Huntsville, and Tuscaloosa.

According to a press release from the organization, the White House is being governed by Musk through his status as a billionaire.

“We stand firm at a critical moment in history, demanding that the American people be heard and that the White House be governed by the true will of the people—not by a tech billionaire who seeks to buy influence and control,” the release said.