Protesters in Washington, D.C., and worldwide gathered on Saturday for the Women’s March on Washington and other demonstrations following the inauguration of President Donald Trump.
Thousands of people flooded Metro trains and other forms of public transportation and traveled from across the nation to gather outside the White House for the march on Saturday morning.
By Saturday afternoon, people packed into common areas wearing pink hats in solidarity, UPI reported.
Women’s rights activist Gloria Steinem said, “We have people power and we will use it.”
She added, “This is the upside of the downside. This is an outpouring of energy and true democracy like I have never seen in my very long life. A Twitter finger must not become a trigger finger,” she said.
Trump’s primary opponent in the election, Hillary Clinton, did not attend the march but offered support to the demonstrators on Twitter.
“Thanks for standing, speaking and marching for our values,” she said. “Important as ever. I truly believe we’re always Stronger Together.”
The march, which began as a movement on Facebook, quickly spawned more than 600 “sister marches” in major US cities outside of Washington D.C. and international marches in Sydney, Hong Kong, London, Rome and Paris, according to CNN. Some 2.2 million people were expected to participate worldwide.
Organizers estimated about 5,000 participants on Saturday morning in the first major international march in downtown Sydney, Australia. Police said the number of protesters was closer to 3,000, as people held up anti-Trump signs.
“We’re not marching as an anti-Trump movement per se, we’re marching to protest the hate speech, the hateful rhetoric, the misogyny, the bigotry, the xenophobia and we want to present a united voice with women around the globe,” Australian organizer, Mindy Freiband, said.
More than 25,000 people are expected to gather in London, according to the Guardian.
Nearly 200 protesters gathered outside the US Embassy in Manila and burned a US flag with Trump’s face and shouted “Dump Trump,” the Philippine Daily Enquirer reported.
“This protest is in solidarity with the American people, because their incoming president is a fascist and a racist who is against immigrants,” Renato Reyes Jr. of the group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan said. “Trump will uphold the interests of the businessmen, not the people.”
