WASHINGTON: Thousands of protesters, predominantly women, gathered in Washington on Saturday to express their opposition to President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, with many wearing pink hats reminiscent of a much larger protest during his first inauguration ceremony in 2017. .
In Franklin Park, one of three starting locations for the “People’s March” that will wind its way through downtown, protesters gathered in light rain to demonstrate for gender justice and bodily autonomy.
Other protesters gathered in two other parks also near the White House, with one group focusing on democracy and immigration and another on local Washington issues, before heading to the march’s final meeting at the Lincoln Memorial.
Police cars, with sirens on, circulated between the starting locations.
Protests against Trump’s inauguration are much smaller than in 2017, in part because the American women’s rights movement fractured after Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in November.
Vendors sold buttons that said #MeToo and “Love Trumps Hate” and sold People’s March flags for $10. Protesters carried signs that read “Feminists against fascists” and “The people above politics.”
“It’s really healing to be here with all of you today in solidarity and togetherness, in the face of what will be truly horrible extremism,” Mini Timmaraju, leader of the advocacy group Reproductive Freedom for All, told the crowd as the events began. off.
He said the good news was that abortion rights remain popular despite Trump’s victory, and led a chant of “We are the majority!”
Reproductive groups joined civil rights, environmental and other women’s groups to organize the march against Trump and his agenda as he prepares to take office on Monday. Trump won all seven battleground states and the popular vote in the November election.
