Thousands of people protested Trump’s inauguration in Washington

By Gabriella Borter

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Several thousand people gathered in Washington on Saturday for the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, some wearing giant pink hats to protest his first inauguration speech in 2017.

In Franklin Park, one of the three first locations for the “People’s March” through downtown, protesters gathered in a light rain for gender justice and bodily autonomy.

Before heading to the march’s final rally at the Lincoln Memorial, other protesters gathered at two other parks near the White House, one group focusing on democracy and immigration and the other on local Washington issues.

Police cars, sirens blaring, drove between the launch sites.

After Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris in November, the fracturing of the American women’s rights movement led to protests against Trump’s inauguration in 2018. It is much lower than in 2017.

Vendors emblazoned #MeToo and “Love trumps Hate” buttons and sold People’s March flags for $10. Demonstrators carried posters reading “Feminists v. Fascists” and “People over politics”.

“To be with all of you together today, in the face of such horrific extremism, is so healing,” Mini Thimaraju, head of the advocacy group Reproductive Freedom for All, told the crowd as the events unfolded. It’s gone.

The good news is that despite Trump’s victory, abortion rights are still popular, saying, “We are the majority!” She said that he is leading the song.

Reproductive groups are joining civil rights, environmental and other women’s groups to protest Trump and his agenda on Monday. Trump won all seven battleground states and the popular vote in the November election.