Thousands Form Human Chain Around Kennedy Center to Protest Trump's Plans

Thousands of demonstrators gathered outside the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington on Friday evening, forming a human chain around the building to protest President Donald Trump's plans for the institution.

The crowd, arriving from a nearby subway station, filled streets in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood and disrupted traffic as participants carried signs and joined the "Hands Around the Kennedy Center" event. At one point, attendees linked hands to encircle the venue.

Chris Raleigh, co-founder of Hands Off the Arts, which organized the gathering, said he hoped the turnout would demonstrate public willingness to resist Trump's intentions for the building. He expressed concern that the president might act without notifying the court, citing the sudden demolition of the East Wing. "Look at the East Wing," he said. "We got up one morning and there was a giant hole there." Raleigh added that the Kennedy Center is more prominent than the East Wing and that the president may not fully grasp the public's distress. "This may be the line that no one expected but this is where the line is going to be," he said.

The Kennedy Center has been a focal point of Trump's efforts to reshape Washington since 2025, when he began appointing allies to its board. Late last year, his name was added to the building, but a judge ruled the addition illegal and ordered its removal. On Tuesday, the Trump-aligned board voted to close the center indefinitely for repairs, shortly after U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper blocked plans to restore Trump's name. On Thursday, the judge required the center to give 30 days' notice before any major physical changes, including demolition.

Protesters emphasized the center's significance to the nation's performing arts. Bud Wilkinson, a local arts community member, set up a chalkboard covered with Trump's name hundreds of times, inviting people to erase them and draw hearts instead. "The Kennedy Center is vital to the arts in Washington. We need it," he said. "This is not just about putting the president's name on the Kennedy Center. It's about censoring the performances and the programming. That's what started all this. So I want to replace all of this with love."

Alina Baciu spoke about the opportunities the center provided to students at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, including borrowing costumes from the Washington National Opera and performing on the Millennium Stage. "All of those things have gone away because of this craziness. And it just hurts my heart," she said.

Laura Steinberg, a volunteer for a decade, described the loss of performances as heart-wrenching. "This reminds me of that picture from Tiananmen Square, where that young man stood in front of the tank," she said. "I'll stand in front of the wrecking ball if it's going to come to that. My guess is many of these people would come down because we saw what he did to the East Wing. Nobody thought he would actually do it. So I think the shock has mobilized people."

The protest followed a week of intense legal activity in federal courts in Washington, with filings and counter-filings as the administration advances several projects under litigation, including a triumphal arch, the takeover of East Potomac Golf Links, and the U.S. Institute of Peace.

Speaking from the Oval Office, Trump said he was willing to save the center, which he claimed was losing money, but did not address a question about demolishing it. "We have a lot of people working very hard on it to save it," he said. "I can save it easily, but why should we be doing that and then raise money for the rest of our lives to keep it afloat? Because that's what you have to do, if we get no recognition. I think the Trump administration should be recognized as having saved the Kennedy Center."