Hundreds of thousands of people in the United States and around the world are set to join marches Saturday to raise awareness of women’s rights and other civil rights they fear could be under threat under Donald Trump’s presidency.
The key focus of the day will be the Women’s March on Washington, which organizers say could attract a quarter of a million participants.
The march, which began with a modest Facebook call in the aftermath of the election, has grown in to what could be one of the larger political demonstrations ever seen in DC.
But there are also more than 600 “sister marches” planned around the country, with some of the biggest expected in Boston, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.
And women and men in cities around the world — including Sydney, Hong Kong, London and Paris — are also marching in solidarity and in opposition to the values they think President Trump represents.
‘Women united’
Australia was the scene of the first major international march, with thousands joining an anti-Trump protest in downtown Sydney.
Organizers said up to 5,000 people attended the protest at Martin Place; police estimated that the number was closer to 3,000.
Chants from the crowd included “women united will never be defeated” and “when women’s rights are under attack, what do we do, stand up, fight back.” Some carried banners with messages such as, “Girl Power vs Trump Tower” and “Dump the Trump.”
A separate group of about 30 Trump supporters also held a rally in Sydney. Some of them were physically restrained by police when they were blocked from entering the same area as the anti-Trump protest group.
Protest organizers in New Zealand’s capital, Wellington, said about 700 people turned out there for a women’s march.
On Friday night, a crowd of predominantly female protesters gathered in Brussels, Belgium, to denounce sexism and protest against Trump.
Protests, arrests
The Women’s March on Washington, which begins near Capitol Hill at 10 a.m. ET, comes on the heels of a slew of protests there on Inauguration Day.
Six police officers were injured and 217 protesters were arrested Friday, after a morning of peaceful protests and coordinated disruptions of Trump’s inauguration ceremony gave way to ugly street clashes in downtown Washington.
There will continue to be a major security presence on the city’s streets Saturday, as the marchers gather en masse in the nation’s capital.
Department of Homeland Security chief Jeh Johnson told reporters last week that 28,000 security personnel from dozens of agencies, including local and out-of-town police officers, would be fanned out across the city on Inauguration Day and into the weekend.
Organizer: ‘Tone of resistance’
Organizers of the march now say internal divisions, many of them stemming from a divisive Democratic primary fight, are being put aside in the name of solidarity.
“We have already proven that Hillary and Bernie Sanders supporters can work together against fascism, xenophobia, and racism,” Linda Sarsour, a Palestinian-American Muslim activist from Brooklyn, told CNN.
“We’re really trying to set a tone of resistance for the coming years,” Lacy MacAuley, a DisruptJ20 organizer, told CNN. “Donald Trump represents a shift in our politics in a dangerous, harmful, exclusionary direction. We oppose those policies of hate.”
Fundraising for the event and its “sister marches” has largely come in chunks of $20 and $30 online donations.
Many of those taking part are concerned about Trump’s agenda, his past remarks that appeared to demean women and allegations against him of sexual misconduct — which he has denied.
Thousands of people have also been busy making cat-eared knit hats to wear at the march in Washington, with the aim of creating a “sea of pink” on the National Mall.
Organizers of the so-called Pussyhat Project say they have received tens of thousands of handmade hats to distribute to marchers, with submissions flooding in from all 50 states and as far away as France and New Zealand.