Coast-to-coast protests vs Trump
Protesters Donald Trump’s presidential election march around Campus Martius Park, Wednesday Nov. 9, 2016, in Detroit. A day after Trump’s election to the presidency, campaign divisions appeared to widen as many thousands of demonstrators flooded streets across the country to protest his surprise triumph. AP
CHICAGO—The raw divisions exposed by the presidential race were on full display across America on Wednesday, as protesters flooded city streets expressing shock and anger over Donald Trump’s surprise election as the 45th president of the United States.
From New England to heartland cities like Kansas City and along the West Coast, thousands of demonstrators carried flags and anti-Trump signs, disrupting traffic and declaring that they refused to accept Trump’s triumph.
Protests happened in major cities, including Boston, Chicago, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle and Washington, and on college campuses in California, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.
‘Not my president’
In Chicago, where thousands had recently poured into the streets to celebrate the Chicago Cubs’ first World Series victory in over a century, several thousand people marched through the Loop.
They gathered outside Trump Tower, chanting “Not my president!”
Chicago resident Michael Burke said he believed the president-elect would “divide the country and stir up hatred.”
He added there was a constitutional duty not to accept that outcome.
In New York, thousands of protesters filled streets in midtown Manhattan as they made their way to Trump Tower, Trump’s gilded home on Fifth Avenue, where police installed barricades to keep the demonstrators at bay.
Demonstrators gathered in Union Square holding signs saying “Love Trumps Hate” and “Trump Grabbed America by the Pussy!” before marching down in the thousands to chant in front of Trump Tower.
System broken
“The Electoral College is broken,” protester Nicholas Forker said of the US indirect voting system. “I think it definitely needs to be reformed. . .I think it’s ridiculous.”
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton appears to be on pace to win the popular vote, despite losing the electoral count that decides the presidential race.
Hundreds of protesters gathered near Philadelphia’s City Hall despite chilly, wet weather.
Participants—who included supporters of both Clinton and independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who lost to Clinton in the primary—expressed anger at both Republicans and Democrats over the election’s outcome.
‘Impeach Trump’
In Boston, thousands of anti-Trump protesters streamed through downtown, chanting “Trump’s a racist” and carrying signs that said “Impeach Trump” and “Abolish Electoral College.”
The protesters gathered on Boston Common before marching toward the Massachusetts Statehouse, with beefed-up security including extra police officers.
A protest that began at the Minnesota State Capitol on Tuesday night with about 100 people swelled as it moved into downtown St. Paul.
Protesters blocked downtown streets and traveled west on University Avenue where they shouted expletives about Trump in English and Spanish.
There were other Midwest protest marches in Omaha, Nebraska, and Kansas City, Missouri.
Students walk out
In Des Moines, Iowa, hundreds of students walked out of area high schools at 10:30 a.m. to protest Trump’s victory.
The protests, which were coordinated on social media, lasted 15 to 45 minutes.
Marchers protesting Trump’s election chanted and carried signs in front of the Trump International Hotel in Washington.
Media outlets broadcast video Wednesday night showing a peaceful crowd in front of the new downtown hotel. Many chanted “No racist USA, no Trump, no KKK.”
Another group stood outside the White House. They held candles, listened to speeches and sang songs.
Dallas activists gathered by the dozens outside the city’s sports arena, American Airlines Center.
In Oregon, dozens of people blocked traffic in downtown Portland, burned American flags and forced a delay for trains on two light-rail lines.
Earlier, the protest in downtown drew several Trump supporters, who taunted the demonstrators with signs.
A lone Trump supporter was chased across Pioneer Courthouse Square and hit in the back with a skateboard before others intervened.
Several thousand chanting, sign-waving people gathered at Frank Ogawa Plaza in Oakland, California.
A night earlier, in the hours after Trump won the election, Oakland demonstrators broke windows and did other damage.
In San Francisco, hundreds marched along Market Avenue, one of the city’s main avenues, to join a vigil in the Castro District, a predominantly gay neighborhood.
Trump effigy burned
In Los Angeles, protesters on the steps of City Hall burned a giant papier-mâché Trump head in protest. Later, in the streets, they whacked a Trump piñata.
Hundreds massed in downtown Seattle streets.
Many held anti-Trump and Black Lives Matter signs and chanted slogans, including “Misogyny has to go,” and “The people united, will never be defeated.”
Five people were shot and injured in an area near the protest, but police said the shootings and the demonstration were unrelated.
Back in New York, several groups of protesters caused massive gridlock as police mobilized to contain them under a light rain.
They held signs that read “Trump Makes America Hate” and chanted “hey, hey, ho, ho Donald Trump has got to go.” and “Impeach Trump.”
Police said they arrested 15 people. —REPORTS FROM AP, AFP AND NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE
