Critics of US President-elect gathered in Washington, DC, on Saturday to express support for progressive causes and reject his .
Demonstrators gathered in public squares around Washington ahead of the march, pounding drums, yelling chants and holding signs in what was dubbed “The people’s March.”
Protesters walked to the city’s Lincoln Memorial for a larger rally, where a fair was also set up for organizations at the local, state and national level to host information tables.
March attendees represented a wide range of progressive causes from immigration and democracy to climate change, abortion rights, and Israel’s war in Gaza.
It comes as some 350 anti-Trump events are scheduled across the country over the weekend, which is a holiday weekend, as Martin Luther King Jr.’s annual commemoration falls on Monday.
Successor to ‘Women’s March’
The march followed in the footsteps of a major demonstration that took place in Washington in 2017, ahead of Trump’s inauguration, as many Americans strongly rejected his Electoral College win.
Known as the , while millions more participated in local marches around the country on what was to become one of the largest single-day demonstrations in US history.
Although the movement rebranded to “People’s March” to broaden the group’s appeal, this year’s crowd was far smaller, with fewer than the expected 50,000 participants in attendance.
Heavy security to avoid clashes
The march took place under a heavy police presence to avoid clashes between protesters and Trump supporters.
Although the gathering was largely peaceful, tensions arose as many Trump supporters have also descended on Washington to celebrate his inauguration on Monday.
The march paused briefly when a man wearing a red Make America Great Again hat and a green camo backpack walked into a line of demonstrators at the front.
Police intervened and removed him from the march peacefully as protesters chanted “We won’t take the bait.”
Mini Timmaraju, CEO of the advocacy group Reproductive Freedom for All, told Reuters news agency that the crowd’s gathering was peaceful “in the face of what’s going to be some really horrible extremism,” in an allusion to Trump’s second term.
jcg/sms (Reuters, AP)
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