Outrage, fear drive anti-Trump protests continuing in several cities around nation
PORTLAND, Ore. — Spurred by fear and outrage, protesters around the country rallied and marched Friday as they have done daily since Donald Trump’s presidential election victory.
The spirited demonstrations on college campuses and along downtown streets were mostly peaceful following Thursday night’s outbreaks of window-smashing and firesetting.
More than 225 people were arrested across various cities by early Friday — at least 185 in Los Angeles alone, the Associated Press reported — amid demonstrations that included highway blockades, angry chants of “not my president” and a rampage through Portland, Ore., that police declared a “riot.”
Friday saw calmer demonstrations. Evening marches disrupted traffic in Miami and Atlanta while organizers said people gathered on Boston Common in what was billed as a rally for peace and love.
Small protests also were held in Detroit; Minneapolis; Kansas City, Mo.; Olympia, Wash.; and Iowa City. Earlier, hundreds of people attended another “love rally” in Washington Square Park in Manhattan.
‘Not my president’
Leslie Holmes, 65, a website developer from Wilton, Conn., took an hour-long train ride to the demonstration — her first protest since the 1970s, when she hit the streets of San Francisco to oppose the Vietnam War.
She described herself as an armchair liberal but declared, “I’m not going to be armchair anymore.”
“I don’t want to live in a country where my friends aren’t included, and my friends are fearful, and my children are going to grow up in a world that’s frightening, and my granddaughters can look forward to being excluded from jobs and politics and fulfilling their potential, so I’m here for them,” she said.
More than 200 people carrying signs gathered on the steps of the Washington state Capitol. The group chanted “not my president” and “no Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA.”
In Tennessee, Vanderbilt University students sang civil rights songs and marched through campus across a Nashville street, temporarily blocking traffic. A protest also occurred in Minneapolis.
In Chicago, multiple groups planned protests through Saturday.
Nadia Gavino, 25, learned about the rallies on Twitter and protested Thursday evening. Gavino, whose father is from Peru and whose mother is of Mexican and Lithuanian heritage, said she took Trump’s harshest statements about immigrants and Latinos personally.
“I obviously agree that he’s racist, he’s sexist, he’s phobic, he’s misogynistic. He’s all these things you don’t want in a leader,” she said.
‘Genuinely upset’
Ashley Lynne Nagel, 27, said she joined a Thursday night demonstration in Denver.
“I have a leader I fear for the first time in my life,” said Nagel, a Bernie Sanders supporter who voted for Hillary Clinton.
“It’s not that we’re sore losers,” she said. “It’s that we are genuinely upset, angry, terrified that a platform based off of racism, xenophobia and homophobia has become so powerful and now has complete control of our representation.”