Donald Trump Protests: Washington Leads Global Rallies
Some 200,000 protesters are gathering for a “Women’s March on Washington”, part of a global day of protests against US President Donald Trump.
The rally is one of more than 600 expected worldwide on Mr Trump’s first full day in office.
The aim is to highlight women’s rights, which protesters believe to be under threat from the new administration.
Mr Trump has taken his first steps, signing an executive order targeting his predecessor’s health care scheme.
The show of dissent in the US capital will see protesters gathering from 10:00 local time (15:00 GMT) on the National Mall, followed by an afternoon march.
Celebrities such as Katy Perry, Scarlett Johansson, Amy Schumer, Ugly Betty star America Ferrera, Patricia Arquette and Michael Moore are expected to attend.
But there will be other protests in some 300 cities across the US, from New York to Seattle.California participant Jessica Vroman posted an image of a flight to Washington packed with women. “This is what hope looks like people!” she wrote.
Many women have knitted pink “pussy hats” – a reference to a recording that emerged during the election campaign on which Mr Trump talks about groping women.
Organisers of the Washington march said in a statement: “The rhetoric of the past election cycle has insulted, demonised, and threatened many of us.
“The women’s march on Washington will send a bold message to our new government on their first day in office, and to the world that women’s rights are human rights.”
They said the protest would not simply be about women’s rights and would attract “people of all genders, ages, races, cultures, political affiliations and backgrounds”, with support from the likes of Amnesty International.
Authorities will be on standby to prevent any repeat of violence that occurred after the inauguration ceremony on Friday, when protesters took to the streets in Washington, smashing windows of businesses and denouncing capitalism and the new president.
Police in riot gear dispersed them using pepper spray, with more than 200 arrests and six officers hurt.
‘These are global problems’
Anti-Trump marches have already taken place in Australia, New Zealand and in Asian cities such as Bangkok.
Several thousand women and men joined a rally in central Sydney, with a similar number in Melbourne.
Women’s March Sydney co-founder Mindy Freiband told the crowd there: “Hatred, hate speech, bigotry, discrimination, prejudicial policies – these are not American problems, these are global problems.”
American expatriate art teacher Bill Scholer, protesting in Tokyo, told Reuters: “Everything we value could be gone. It’s time to speak your mind and concerns and to do our best to salvage the values we cherish in America.”
Demonstrators are marching from the US embassy, in London’s Grosvenor Square, to Trafalgar Square for a rally. Other protests are taking place in Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Bristol.
Eleanor Hallam, 26, said she was at the London march “out of solidarity for all the women and other groups marginalised by Trump’s politics”.
Website overhaul
Mr Trump’s sole official engagement on Saturday is a multi-faith service at Washington National Cathedral in the morning.
But he has already ordered agencies to ease the “economic burden” of the health laws known as Obamacare.
The website revamp replaces Barack Obama’s policies with Mr Trump’s new agenda.
The new administration lists only six issues on the website – energy, foreign policy, jobs and growth, military, law enforcement and trade deals.
Critics point out that it makes no mention of civil rights, LGBT rights, healthcare or climate change.
In Friday’s inaugural address, Mr Trump pledged: “From this moment on, it’s going to be America First. We will follow two simple rules: Buy American and hire American.
“Every decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs, will be made to benefit American workers and American families.”
BBC Washington correspondent Barbara Plett Usher says Mr Trump has vowed to do what he can immediately using executive action, chalking up early victories before he has to turn to the grinding work of getting bills through Congress.
Courtesy : BBC
