About a thousand people, many of them retirees who had worked at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, gathered Monday in Boulder to protest last week’s firings of federal government employees.

The protesters were at the intersection of Broadway Street and Rayleigh Road, near the NOAA office in Boulder.

A group of armed guards kept the protesters from crossing into NOAA property, as Boulder police kept watch.

People lifted cardboard signs with messages like “NOAA saves lives. Tornadoes are apolitical.” They also chanted, “Hey, hey. Ho, ho. Research makes our country go.” Some carried upside-down American flags and delivered speeches over a bullhorn. Cars passing by could be heard honking their horns. 

One man’s shirt proclaimed “I’m a scientist. Back off.” 

About 50 people were fired from NOAA in Boulder on Thursday, according to current employees who took time out from lunch to join the protesters, despite the risk they said they faced by being seen with them.

Since Thursday, when Paul Hemmock was given an hour to collect his things and leave his office after being fired, he’s felt shock, grief and now anger, he said.

He was still on probation after four months as a safety officer at NOAA, and he said he was terminated by email with no notice in what some called a “sledgehammer” firing.

“I was kneecapped. Told to get out,” he said. 

On Monday, the sea of people who turned out to protest the firing of dozens of scientists, forecasters, budget analysts and software engineers gave Hemmock a boost of confidence that “someone really does care,” he said. 

On Friday, Colorado Democratic lawmakers demanded an investigation into the terminations. 

Nationwide, cuts at NOAA appeared to happen in two rounds — 500 employees and then another at 800, according to Craig McLean, a former NOAA chief scientist who said he got the information from someone with first-hand knowledge. That’s about 10% of NOAA’s workforce.

The first round of cuts were mostly probationary employees, McLean said. There are about 375 probationary employees in the National Weather Service, which conducts day-to-day forecasting and hazard warning.

NOAA, which forecasts hurricanes and supports climate related research, is the latest agency to face layoffs in what the Trump administration described as efforts to reduce “waste, bloat and insularity” in the federal bureaucracy.

The White House earlier told agency heads to initiate “large-scale reductions in force,” targeting offices that don’t perform functions mandated by law and emphasizing “diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.”

Not everyone believes the latest terminations are a bad thing.

“These are regrettable but overdue changes,” said Jon Caldera, president of the Independence Institute, who lives in Boulder. “NOAA is a scientific organization. The science of paying people with money that just doesn’t exist is bad science.”

Trump’s administration has argued that the federal government is too bloated and too much money is lost to waste and fraud. The government has some $36 trillion in debt and ran a $1.8 trillion deficit last year, and both sides of the political agree on the need for changes.

In one memo, the White House said agencies should eliminate positions that are not statutorily mandated and focus on ways to efficiently deliver services.  

Members of Colorado’s Republican congressional delegation have said they broadly support the Trump administration’s approach.

“President Trump has made his priorities clear — to cut the waste, fraud, and abuse within the federal government,” said U.S. Rep. Jeff Crank, a Colorado Springs Republican, in a statement issued earlier this month. “I trust that this administration is working for the benefit of the American people.”

Hemmock said that he is not afraid to speak out about how he got fired. Many others who lost their jobs were “hunkered down,” said Ernie Hildner, who retired 10 years ago from his job as director of the Space Weather Prediction Center of the National Weather Service and NOAA. 

Hildner said it’s hard to know exactly who was fired and who may be next. 

John Tayer, president and CEO of the Boulder Chamber of Commerce, said that information is trickling in but he doesn’t know how the loss of dozens of professional salaries would affect Boulder’s economy.

“They’re making it difficult to find out,” he said. 

Hildner said he was “proud to work with these passionate people. To call them lazy is aggravating beyond words.” Hildner said his weather scientists worked three shifts, 365 days per year, and now are “just boom. Gone.” 

Scientists who work at the University of Colorado in partnership with NOAA and were among the protesters said they are bracing for the possibility of future funding cuts.