Several hundred people gathered around City Hall on Wednesday – tax day – for a “Tea Party” to protest tax hikes and politicians ignoring the wishes of the electorate.

[view:node_ad=5] The group was a spectrum of all ages, from senior citizens worried about their future and health care to college students to middle-class workers and children given signs to wave as they stood along the sidewalk.

Banners took all sorts of forms, from pitchforks holding posterboard to oversized placards declaring war on Washington and Sacramento, protesting the state’s tax and bailouts given to corporations. Some were aimed at President Barack Obama, calling for his ouster, along with emptying the halls of Congress.

Demonstrators also encouraged drivers to vote against ballot proposals 1A, put on the May 19 ballot by the legislators to extend the recent 1 percent tax hike from two years to four.

One man held a sign that said “Honk If You’re Paying Your Own Mortgage” that he waved at oncoming traffic.

The protestors lined Valencia Boulevard on both sides of the street from the City Hall parking lot to the pedestrian bridge near the Whole Foods market. Although asked to bring a donation for the SCV Food Pantry, barrels were relatively empty despite the enthusiastic yelling and waving going on several yards away.

The Tea Party was one of more than 50 being staged in California and nearly 500 across the country. Thousands of Americans turned out, some dressed as Revolutionaries, to draw the comparison between this event and the one held in Boston Harbor to demand representation with their taxation.