Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's office in Boulder after the Trump administration laid off hundreds of workers from the agency.

By Brad Brooks BOULDER, Colorado (Reuters) -Over 1,000 protesters gathered outside a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration building in Boulder, Colorado, on Monday, decrying Trump administration layoffs of what two current employees said were upward of 10% of scientists there.

Colorado meteorologists in the private sector are skeptical of Republicans' ambitions to privatize parts of NOAA.

It defies anything that I have in my political experience to understand how stupid this is,” former Rep. David Skaggs told The Denver Post.

Hundreds of federal employees, scientists and community members gathered in to protest mass layoffs at NOAA and other federal agencies amid Trump administration funding cuts.

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

The flag was removed by the city to maintain the natural area, staying consistent with its practice of removing abandoned and unauthorized items and displays from open space lands.

Hundreds of protesters gathered outside Boulder’s U.S. Department of Commerce building on Monday to oppose layoffs of federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration employees.

NOAA, situated under the Commerce Department, is instrumental in climate research and houses the National Weather Service, which provides detailed forecasts and weather modeling. In Colorado, NOAA maintains laboratories in Boulder, while the National Weather service has forecasting offices covering Boulder, Grand Junction and Pueblo.

Hundreds of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and National Weather Service employees were laid off on Thursday, raising questions about the extent of the impact on NOAA and NWS

Two former members of Congress and the head of the Boulder Chamber joined a crowd of protesters on a sunny, warm Monday outside the offices of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in south Boulder to rail against the layoffs and firings of federal workers by the Trump administration.

NOAA operates fleets of satellites, sensors on airplanes and ocean-going buoys, as well as radar, providing the data used by weather forecasters nationwide – and freely available to anyone.