Days before Trump takes office, thousands gather in Washington for march | Real Time Headlines

Thousands of people from across the United States rallied in the nation’s capital on Saturday for women’s reproductive rights and other causes they believe are threatened by the incoming Trump administration, a reenactment of the original Women’s March held days before the president-elect Donald Trump’s Second Inauguration.

Eight years after the first historic Women’s March at the start of Trump’s first term, marchers say they were blindsided by Trump’s victory and are now determined to show that support for women’s abortion, transgender people and fighting climate change remains strong .

Jill Parrish of Austin, Texas, said she initially purchased a plane ticket to Washington for what she expected to be the inauguration of Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris. She eventually changed the date of the protest before Trump was sworn in, saying the world should know that half of American voters did not support Trump.

“More than anything, I’m here to express my fears about the state of our democracy,” Parrish said.

Before the march, demonstrators performed in squares around Washington, beating drums and chanting slogans under gray skies and biting winds.

They held signs with slogans including “Save America,” “Pro-life? Stop it,” and “Hate will not win.”

Minnesota high school teacher Anna Bergman wore her original pink kitten hat at the 2017 Women’s March, a moment that captured the shock and anger of progressives and moderates over Trump’s first victory.

With Trump now back, “I just want to be surrounded by like-minded people on days like today,” Bergman said.

Rick Gratz of Manchester, New Hampshire, said he came to Washington for his four granddaughters: “I’m a grandpa. That’s why I marched.”

After being rebranded and reorganized, the rally took on a new name – the People’s March – as a means of broadening support, especially during a moment of reflection for progressive organizations after Trump’s decisive victory in November. Republicans were sworn in Monday.

Women angry about Trump’s election in 2016 flocked to Washington in 2017 and organized large rallies in cities across the country, laying the foundation for a grassroots movement that became known as the Women’s March. The Washington rally alone attracted more than 500,000 marchers, and millions more participated in local marches across the country, making it one of the largest single-day demonstrations in U.S. history.

This year’s march is expected to be about one-tenth the size of the first march and comes at a moment of restrained reflection as many progressive voters feel exhausted, disappointed and despairing after Harris’ loss. The relative quiet contrasted with the intensity of the inaugural rallies, when large crowds shouted demands through loudspeakers and marched in pink hats in response to Trump’s first election victory.

“The reality is, it’s hard to capture lightning in a bottle,” said Women’s March general manager Tamika Middleton. “It was a very special moment. In 2017, we hadn’t seen a Trump presidency and the kind of vitriol it represented.”

After the protests were hugely successful, the movement fell apart amid accusations it wasn’t diverse enough. This year’s name change to People’s March is the result of an overhaul aimed at broadening the group’s appeal. Saturday’s demonstration will promote themes related to feminism, racial justice, anti-militarization and other issues and will conclude with a discussion hosted by various social justice organizations.

Joe Reger, a sociology professor at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, who studies social movements, said the People’s March was unusual in “bringing together a large number of issues.” For example, the women’s suffrage marches focused on the specific goal of voting rights.

For a broad-based social justice movement like the march, conflicting visions are inevitable, and organizers face “tremendous pressure” to meet everyone’s needs, Reger said. But she also said some dissonance is not necessarily a bad thing.

“What it does often is bring about change and bring new perspectives, especially underrepresented voices,” Reger said.

Middleton of the Women’s March said large demonstrations like those in 2017 were not the goal of Saturday’s event. Instead, it was to focus attention on broader issues — women’s and reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, immigration, climate and democracy — rather than more narrowly around Trump.

“We don’t see marches as the end game,” Middleton said. “How do we get those people who show up to organizations and political homes so that they can fight in the community for the long term?”