Donald Trump became the 45th U.S. president, and a majority of people were not celebrating. Thousands across the country protested peacefully, with solidarity across multiple sectors of society. Despite a few clashes with police in Washington DC, people voiced their non-violent disapproval to the incoming administration. Then, on January 21, millions internationally joined the Women’s March for a historic protest that launched the campaign 10 actions for the first 100 days. Following are a sampling of images from these game-changing events.
January 20 – Inaugurate the Resistance
WASHINGTON DC: Protesters made themselves heard in the nation’s capital Friday, leaving a trail of damage along some city blocks, disrupting security checkpoints at President Donald Trump’s inauguration, and clashing with police as Trump supporters tried to celebrate. The “anti-capitalist, anti-fascist bloc,” called black-bloc, was just one among a number of direct actions called by organizers of the Disrupt J20 Inauguration Day protests.
Unlike the January 21 vast Women’s March, Disrupt J20 aimed to directly impede, delay, and confront the inaugural proceedings.
McPherson Square Rally in Washington DC on January 20. Prayers by International Indigenous Youth Council – Indigenous Rising Media
NEW YORK: About 25,000 New Yorkers kicked off a weekend of protests around the United States with a clear message: It’s time to cut the depression and get to work.
New York protesters on Trump’s inauguration: ‘We need to move forward with love and hope and courage. Despair is not our voice’
SAN FRANCISCO: On January 20, the SF Trump Resistance Movement simultaneously shut down Caltrain (tech, gentrification), Uber HQ (collaboration w/Trump), Wells Fargo HQ (DAPL, displacement, financial crisis), 555 California St. (massive corporate bldg partially owned by the Donald himself), & the Israeli Consulate (Friedman, Kushner, settlements, occupation, the list goes on). (Ethan Buckner)
As well, a crowd estimated at 3,500 formed a human chain protest along the east sidewalk of the Golden Gate Bridge Friday morning.
LOS ANGELES: Thousands braved the rain in Downtown LA for a massive rally and then a march ending at City Hall, called the “United Against Hate-Inauguration March.” A coalition of organizations involved in the protests have included a list of demands, calling for an end to mass deportation, war and pipelines, while advocating against racism, misogyny, Islamophobia and homophobia. Among other things, they are also demanding respect for education and health care rights.
Jeremy Scahill from The Intercept on the para-militarization of law enforcement in Washington DC, a taste of what is to come in a Trump Administration.
CHICAGO: The first of two Chicago protests on the day of Donald Trump’s inauguration began with a crowd at Daley Plaza chanting in Spanish and English to stand against the new president’s positions on immigration, climate change and criminal justice.
“It’s a show of force saying, ‘We are watching.’ There are more of us that voted against him, and we are watching to see what you’re going to do,” protester Diane Kasnick said of the protests. “If we don’t like what you’re going to do, we are going to protest, we are going to call our senators and representatives, whatever we need to do so that legislation does not get through.”
MINNEAPOLIS: Thousands of protesters marched peacefully in Minneapolis Friday to demonstrate against the inauguration of Republican President Donald Trump, saying his policies don’t match what they stand for. The Resist from Day One Coalition said various Twin Cities groups and dozens of student groups marched to reject what the coalition calls “the Trump administration’s hateful agenda.”
SEATTLE: Hours after President Donald Trump’s inauguration, hundreds of protesters hit the streets in Seattle, decrying the freshly minted administration as racist, sexist, homophobic and anti-immigrant. Though marchers carried a variety of signs touting immigrant rights, women’s rights, LGBT rights and more, the group was broadly in protest of Trump’s presidency.
“I want to be here for all the immigrants because I’m privileged and I want them to see my support,” said Wendy Smith, as she marched near Fifth Avenue South in Seattle. “And the other part is for all the things I’m afraid will go to hell under Trump. This is the beginning of resistance.”
ST. LOUIS: About 200 #BlackLivesMatter protesters marched in downtown St. Louis and later in Ferguson Friday evening, where five people were later arrested for blocking the street.
ATHENS, GA: “It was kind of shocking” to see Trump inaugurated Friday, said Carter Coleman, one of the several hundred people who jammed the wide sidewalks around City Hall in downtown Athens for a rally and march dubbed a “Day of Resistance.”
ASHVILLE, NC: There are other protests planned for Inauguration Day, and for Saturday as well, the day of both the Women’s March on Washington and a concurrent local event, the Women’s March on Asheville.
January 21 – 8 Million Women’s Marching Across the World
Millions went out in the streets on January 21 to call for the protection of women’s rights, and protections for safety, health, and families — recognizing that vibrant and diverse communities strengthen rather than weaken the country. In one of the largest days of protest in US history.
In addition to Washington, massive protests took place in Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Madison, Wisconsin; New York, Oakland, Portland, Oregon, St. Paul; San Francisco, and Seattle.
“Over the next months and years, we will be called upon to intensify our demands for social justice, to become more militant in our defense of vulnerable populations. Those who still defend the supremacy of white, male, hetero patriarchy had better watch out.” — Angela Davis, at the DC March
httpvh://youtu.be/rp1FyjB8WXQ
Women’s March on Washington 2017 (FULL EVENT) | ABC News
In the end, the next four years presents an ugly prospect of the United States turning insular, neo-fascist, with the arms of government being overseen by effectively corporate and military stooges whose interest is to roll-back any regulations that protect human rights and environmental quality if they get in the way of profit. How will we overcome this? Peaceful revolution.
Thanks to Karen Pomer
Updated 23 January, 2017
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