hue and cry

A large public protest. The company's decision to send thousands of jobs overseas started a real hue and cry as people threatened to boycott its stores.

A public clamor, as of protest or demand. For example, The reformers raised a hue and cry about political corruption. This redundant expression ( hue and cry both mean "an outcry"), dating from the 1200s, originally meant "an outcry calling for the pursuit of a criminal." By the mid-1500s it was also being used more broadly, as in the example.

A loud public clamor. The phrase was most usually heard as “raise a hue and cry.” According to old English law, any citizen who heard shouts that a possible lawbreaker was being pursued was required to join in the chase. The phrase is a combination of the Anglo-French hu (a shout of warning) and cri (to cry out).