‘Not my president’: anti-Trump crowds gather across the United States, surrounding president-elect’s buildings
Rallies targeting Trump are under way in New York, Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco and other cities
A day after Donald Trump’s election victory, divisions in the US appeared to widen as thousands of demonstrators – some holding signs with messages declaring “Not my president” – flooded streets across the country to protest against his surprise triumph.
From New England to heartland cities like Kansas City and along the West Coast, demonstrators bore flags and effigies of the president-elect, disrupting traffic and declaring that they refused to accept Trump’s victory.
Flames lit up the night sky in California cities as thousands of protesters burned a giant papier mache Trump head in Los Angeles and started fires in Oakland intersections.
Demonstrators in Los Angeles also beat a Trump pinata and sprayed the Los Angeles Times building and news vans with anti-Trump profanity. One protester outside LA City Hall held a sign that simply said “This is very bad”.
Late in the evening, several hundred people blocked one of the city’s busiest freeways, US 101 between downtown and Hollywood. City News Service reported that 13 people were arrested as officers in full riot gear walked the protesters off the freeway.
In Chicago, where thousands had recently poured into the streets to celebrate the Chicago Cubs’ first baseball World Series victory in over a century, 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.
Police said an estimated 1,800 to 2,000 people participated in the Chicago protests. Police reported five arrests, including two for obstructing traffic.
A similar protest in Manhattan drew about 1,000 people. Outside Trump Tower in midtown, police installed barricades to keep the demonstrators at bay.
Hundreds of protesters gathered near Philadelphia’s City Hall despite chilly, wet weather.
Participants – who included both supporters of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who lost to Clinton in the primary – expressed anger at both Republicans and Democrats over the election’s outcome.
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 towards the Massachusetts State House, with beefed-up security. Hundreds also gathered in Providence, Rhode Island, and Portland, Maine.
A protest that began at the Minnesota State Capitol on Tuesday with about 100 people swelled as is moved into downtown St Paul, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.
There were other Midwest protest marches in Omaha, Nebraska, and Kansas City, Missouri.
Marchers protesting Trump’s election chanted and carried signs in front of the Trump International Hotel in Washington DC. Media outlets broadcast video on Wednesday night showing a peaceful crowd in front of the new downtown hotel.
“People are justly frightened,” said one of its organisers, Ben Wikler, director of the advocacy group MoveOn.org. “We are here because in these darkest moments, we are not alone.”
Ethan Miller of the workers’ rights group Jobs with Justice said civil society must stay resilient.
“It’s a hard time for a lot of Americans,” he said. “We saw a campaign that was filled with racism and misogyny and a whole host of other terrible tactics that ultimately were successful for winning the Electoral College.”
Watch: “Accept this result and look into the future,” Clinton says
In Richmond, Virginia, 10 people were arrested after protesters sat in travel lanes of the Downtown Expressway and refused to leave. Earlier, hundreds had gathered near Monroe Park and blocked the streets near Virginia Commonwealth University with some marchers chanting “No Trump. No KKK. No fascist USA.”
Hundreds massed in downtown Seattle. Many held anti-Trump and Black Lives Matter signs and chanted slogans such as “Misogyny has to go” and “The people united, will never be defeated.”
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
