Wearing pink, pointy-eared "pussyhats" to mock the new president, throngs of women descended on the nation's capital and other cities around the globe today for marches and demonstrations aimed at showing Donald Trump they won't be silent over the next four years.
They carried signs with messages such as "Women won't back down" and "Less fear more love" and decried Trump's stand on such issues as abortion, diversity and climate change.
There were early signs that crowds in Washington could top those that gathered for Trump's inauguration yesterday. City officials said organizers of the Women's March on Washington had more than doubled their turnout estimate to 500,000 as crowds began swelling and subways into the city became clogged with participants.
It wasn't just a Washington phenomenon and it wasn't just women: More than 600 "sister marches" were planned across the country and around the world, and plenty of men were part of the tableau.
In Washington, Rena Wilson, of Charlotte, North Carolina, said she hopes the women can send Trump a message that they're "not going anywhere."
Joy Rodriguez, of Miami, arrived with her husband, William, and their two daughters, ages 12 and 10. "I want to make sure their rights are not infringed on in these years coming up," Joy Rodriguez said.
March organisers said women are "hurting and scared" as the new president takes office and want a greater voice for women in political life.
"In the spirit of democracy and honoring the champions of human rights, dignity and justice who have come before us, we join in diversity to show our presence in numbers too great to ignore," their mission statement says.
Retired teacher Linda Lastella, 69, who came from Metuchen, New Jersey, said she had never marched before but felt the need to speak out when "many nations are experiencing this same kind of pullback and hateful, hateful attitudes."
"It just seemed like we needed to make a very firm stand of where we were," she said.
Rose Wurm, 64, a retired medical secretary from Bedford, Pennsylvania, boarded a Washington-bound bus in Hagerstown, Maryland, at 7 am carrying two signs: one asking Trump to stop tweeting, and one asking him to fix, not trash, the Obamacare health law.
"There are parts of it that do need change. It's something new, something unique that's not going to be perfect right out of the gate," she said.
The march attracted significant support from celebrities. America Ferrara led the artists' contingent, and those scheduled to speak in Washington included Scarlett Johansson, Ashley Judd, Melissa Harris-Perry and Michael Moore.
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