More than two million people flooded the streets of US cities on Saturday (Jan 21) in a peaceful day of women-led protests a day after the inauguration of President Donald Trump, according to estimates from march organisers, APA reports quoting Straits Times.
At the main “Women’s March on Washington” organisers told AFP they estimated the turnout at one million, with huge crowds joining sister marches around the country – and tens of thousands more marching worldwide.
It was not possible to independently verify the claim as the US capital does not release crowd counts.
Metro operator WMATA told the Washington Post it had moved a record 470,000 passengers in the hours leading up to the march, a weekend ridership record.
More than half a million people also swarmed the streets of Los Angeles in one of the largest rallies by protesters, who fear that progress on gender equality, contraception and abortion could be chipped away under Trump.
LAPD spokesman Andrew Neiman said his department was still working on a crowd estimate but he told AFP it was certainly larger than a pro-immigration march which drew 500,000 in 2006.
The Los Angeles march’s organisers claimed a turnout of 750,000. March organizers in New York also claimed a crowd count of half a million, tweeting: “This is what democracy looks like! Over 500k people are here at @womensmarch!”
Roused by fiery speeches, the women sent out a resounding message of resistance and activism the day after Trump took office with a vow to roll back the policies of former president Barack Obama.
“I know that we can do better, we have to fight for the change we want to see,” said Michelle Phillips, a 45-year-old recent American citizen, who told AFP she came to take a stand against what she called Trump’s “platform of hate and bigotry.”
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