Thousands of demonstrators continued to march in cities across the United States on Thursday, unwilling to accept Tuesday’s upset election of Donald Trump.
Condemning the president-elect’s litany of crude comments about women and his attacks on immigrants, demonstrators marched along city streets, blocked intersections, burned effigies and, in some places, gathered outside buildings bearing Trump‘s name.
“Not my president,” chanted some of the protesters, while others waved signs with the same message.
Their concerns included policies, such as Trump‘s proposed plan to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, as well as rhetoric that many described as xenophobic.
At a student rally Thursday at the University of California at Berkeley, several hundred students watched as faculty members took turns speaking.
“People make choices, and choices make history. We can be bystanders, or we can be upstanders,” said Rucker Johnson, an associate professor of public policy. “We at UC-Berkeley are a beacon of light. We are the birthplace of the Free Speech Movement. We can’t allow stereotyping and scapegoating to fetter us. We will uphold our traditions of speaking truth to power.”
University of California Los Angeles students march through campus on Nov. 10, 2016 during a “Love Trumps Hate” rally.
As the president-elect met with congressional leaders on Thursday afternoon, more than 100 protesters staged a sit-in outside the Trump International Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue NW.
Police nationwide made dozens of arrests — most of them in New York — late Wednesday through Thursday, according to police officials. Although most of the demonstrations were peaceful, police in Oakland, Calif., said that a rally there turned violent when some in the massive crowd threw rocks and fireworks at police officers, injuring three of them. People in Trump‘s circle said they were monitoring the unrest and had expected such activity after the election.
On Thursday, former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani said the protesters were “a bunch of spoiled crybabies.”
“We’re bringing up a generation of spoiled crybabies,” Giuliani, a Trump adviser who has been touted as a possible attorney general, said in an interview on Fox News. Apparently referring to protests at college campuses, Giuliani said: “Most of the kids aren’t crying. Most of the kids are going to class.”
In Oakland, police said the crowd of demonstrators eventually grew to about 7,000 and began to splinter into smaller groups, some of which vandalized buildings.
Authorities reported 16 cases of vandalism, including graffiti and looting, with “numerous trash fires in the streets.” (About 40 fires were extinguished by police and fire officials.) Police said they arrested 30 people and issued an additional 11 citations for vandalism, unlawful assembly and assault on an officer.
Anti-Donald Trump protesters chant outside the White House in Washington, DC, Nov.10, 2016.
Protesters burned a giant orange-haired head of Donald Trump in effigy, lit fires in the streets and blocked traffic as anger over the billionaire’s election victory spilled onto the streets of major U.S. cities.
Five people were injured in a shooting in Seattle not far from a demonstration and march there, but “while the shooting occurred near the demonstration, it was not connected,” said Sgt. Sean Whitcomb, a Seattle police spokesman.
MoveOn.org, a liberal group, had called on people to gather in cities nationwide. Ben Wikler, MoveOn’s Washington director, said that people had registered to organize events in 275 cities and communities across the country, noting that many were candlelight vigils and group discussions rather than the sprawling marches seen in New York and Chicago.
“A lot of people reacted to the election results with a kind of plodding feeling, like they wanted to curl up under their desks or hide under their sheets,” Wikler said Thursday. “Just knowing that you’re not alone in this country is a powerful salve. And knowing there are people that want to continue to fight for a more perfect union is a source of strength at a moment that can feel very scary.”
Wikler said other groups were also organizing events, along with “lots of other spontaneous demonstrations” across the country.
Some who turned out to demonstrations said they learned about them online or through social media. In New York, some people on the sidewalk saw the marches and joined in.
Students at the University of California at Berkeley, who marched after the results came out early Wednesday, said they were organizing through social media and word of mouth. High school students from Emeryville, Calif., marched to the Berkeley campus Thursday morning, chanting expletives about Trump. Some said they felt that “our voices need to be heard.”
“This was all initiated by student organizers,” said Jessica Goode, principal of Emery High School in Emeryville. “I heard about it late last night. . . . I want my students to exercise their right to free speech and assembly.”
