Women’s March: Millions Rally Against Donald Trump in US and Worldwide
Millions of anti-Trump demonstrators have taken to the streets of major cities in the United States and around the world to rally against the new president.
There were more than 600 rallies worldwide just one day after Donald Trump’s inauguration.
The protest’s aim was principally to highlight women’s rights, which activists believe to be under threat from the Trump administration.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump used his first full day in office to visit the CIA headquarter.
President Trump said he was “1,000%” behind the CIA’s employees and also accused the media of being dishonest in its reporting of the size of the crowd at his inauguration.
He did not refer to today’s protests.
The biggest US rally was in Washington DC, which city officials estimated to be more than 500,000-strong.
This far exceeded the 200,000 that had originally been expected by organizers of the Women’s March on Washington.
By most estimates, the Washington rally also surpassed the crowd at yesterday’s presidential inauguration.
The protesters in Washington heard speeches from Scarlett Johansson, America Ferrera, Ashley Judd, Gloria Steinem and Michael Moore among others.
A planned march to the White House proved impossible as the entire route was filled with demonstrators.
Interim DC Police Chief Peter Newsham told Associated Press: “The crowd stretches so far that there’s no room left to march.”
Image source ABC7
During his speech, Michael Moore ripped up a copy of the Washington Post, saying: “The headline was <<Trump takes power>>. I don’t think so. Here’s the power. Here’s the majority of America right here. We are the majority.”
Madonna also made an appearance, swearing several times in a speech carried live by major TV networks.
She said: “Yes, I am outraged. Yes, I have thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House.”
America Ferrera told the crowd: “We march today for the moral core of this nation, against which our new president is waging a war.”
Huge crowds were reported at other protests across the US.
In Chicago, some 150,000 turned out that a planned march had to be called off and the event declared a rally. Streets were also overflowing in LA.
Huge crowds were also reported in New York, Miami, Seattle and Boston, some of the venues for about 300 nationwide protests.
Many women wore knitted pink “pussy hats” – a reference to a recording that emerged during the election campaign in which Donald Trump talked about groping women.
In London, between 80,000 and 100,000 people had taken part at the rally, the organizers say. Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Bristol were among the other UK cities holding protests.
Anti-Trump marches took place earlier in Australia, New Zealand and in several Asian cities.
Several thousand women and men joined a rally in central Sydney, with a similar number in Melbourne.
Women’s March Sydney co-founder Mindy Freiband told the crowd: “Hatred, hate speech, bigotry, discrimination, prejudicial policies – these are not American problems, these are global problems.”
In Europe, Paris, Barcelona, Rome, Amsterdam, Geneva, Budapest, Prague and Berlin were among the cities that took part.
Donald Trump’s first full day in office began with an inter-faith service at Washington National Cathedral before visiting the CIA’s HQ in Langley, Virginia.
In a speech there, President Trump told about 400 employees: “There is nobody who feels stronger about the intelligence community and the CIA than me.”
During the election campaign, Donald Trump had sharply criticized the intelligence agencies over their stance on alleged Russian involvement.
Donald Trump also talked up his yet-to-be-confirmed nominee for CIA chief, Mike Pompeo.
In one of his first steps, President Trump ordered government agencies to ease the “economic burden” of the Affordable Act, known as ObamaCare.
His team also quickly overhauled the White House website. The revamp replaces Barack Obama’s policies with Donald Trump’s new agenda.
The new administration lists only six issues on the website – energy, foreign policy, jobs and growth, military, law enforcement and trade deals.
Critics complained that it made no mention of civil rights, healthcare, climate change or LGBT rights.