Protesters and supporters alike took to the streets across the country following Donald Trump’s victory speech Wednesday.
Two opposing rallies crowded Pennsylvania Avenue near the White House, while protests on the other side of the country threatened to turn ugly.
Trash fires burned on an Oakland highway, while an illuminated sign outside the White House in the nation’s capital proclaimed that the US was “better than bigotry.”
One of the crowd near the White House held an upside-down American flag, alongside the LGBT rainbow flag, in silent protest.
Superstar Lady Gaga, a vocal Clinton supporter who had performed at the Democratic candidate’s final rally last night, stood atop a sanitation truck outside Trump Tower in New York, brandishing a sign which read: “Love trumps hate.”
Brian Barto, a protester who had remained at the White House after most had dispersed, told CNN affiliate WJLA that he was “destroyed, honestly distraught.
“Everything that has been built up has been destroyed … America has failed (minorities).”
Another, Latasha Wilson, said that she was “scared” about the next four years. “He doesn’t respect women, Black Lives Matter, Latinos. He’s a racist … there are multiple things that add up,” she said.
Supporters celebrate
Others went to the White House to show their support for Trump.
Nicholas Elliot, a student at Washington’s Georgetown University, said that he was “feeling great” about Trump’s election.
“I feel pretty good, a year and a half process has ended and it ended my way,” the Texan told WJLA.
He said he thought it was “definitely the responsibility of both parties” to unite America.
He said that he was disappointed that Clinton did not give a concession speech but agreed that Trump needed to mend fences.
“(Trump’s) got to do his own thing of reaching out to (Clinton’s) supporters.”
Referencing the UK’s “Brexit” vote to leave the European Union, which “translated strongly here,” he said that he had no fear that his candidate would lose.
“There is a hidden vote,” he said, which led to people not voicing their true voting intentions to pollsters in case they were perceived as sexist, racist or homophobic.
West coast protests
On the West Coast, small groups of protesters gathered in urban areas. In California, which voted overwhelmingly for Hillary Clinton, a small group took to downtown Los Angeles to voice its dissent, but numbers never threatened to swell.
In the hours immediately following Trump’s victory speech, television footage showed a group of dozens of protesters walking along an Oakland road at around 1 a.m. (4 a.m. ET).
Images and footage shared on social media showed dumpster fires on what was described in a tweet as a stretch of Broadway, from 14th to 20th streets in the city.
A handful of angry voters also took to the streets of Portland, Oregon, and Seattle.
Twitter users attempted to rally opponents of the divisive President-elect in a number of cities across the US for further rallies Wednesday, including Chicago, Washington, Los Angeles and New York.
