Massive crowds turn up for Women’s March

DONALD Trump may have had trouble getting celebrities to perform at his inauguration but they turned out in force for the Women’s March.

Charlize Theron at Women's March in Utah. Picture: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images

WEARING pink, pointy-eared “pussyhats” to mock the new president, hundreds of thousands of women took to the streets in Washington and cities around the world Saturday to send Donald Trump an emphatic message that they won’t let his agenda go unchallenged over the next four years.

Among the crowds and leading the chants in the nation’s capital were celebrities including Madonna, Cher, Scarlett Johansson and America Ferrera.

Actress Ashley Judd didn’t hold back, directly referencing President Trump’s infamous ‘pussy grabbing’ comments. They “ain’t for grabbing,” she said.

“They are for birthing new generations of filthy, vulgar, nasty, proud, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh — you name it. For new generations of nasty women.”

Calling on the already screaming crowd, she finished, “So, if you a nasty woman or you love one who is, let me hear you say, hell yeah!”

Feminist icon Gloria Steinem had a message for the marchers: “Make sure you introduce yourselves to each other and decide what we’re going to do tomorrow, and tomorrow and tomorrow. And we’re never turning back!”

Writer and political activist Gloria Steinem speaks to the crowd during the Women's March on Washington. Picture: AP/Jose Luis Magana

Among protesters, the anger towards America’s new president was remarkable. Most were brandishing handmade signs taking aim at anything from his policies, his Cabinet, tweets that have gotten him into trouble, memorable moments from his presidential campaign, even his physical appearance.

The photos that emerged throughout the day from demonstrations across the globe are nothing short of extraordinary.

In Washington, metro stations were jam-packed with people, with many holding handmade signs and donning their pink beanies. Others headed downtown on foot, buses, bicycles, caravans and other forms of public transport, with many having travelled through the night to be involved.

The turnout in the capital was so big — with some estimating about 500,000 people turned out, double the original estimate — that crowds packed the entire march route, preventing organisers from leading a formal trek toward the White House.

Hundreds of thousands of protesters spearheaded by women's rights groups demonstrated across the US to send a defiant message to President Trump. Picture: AFP / Zach Gibson

The Women’s March is believed to be the biggest inauguration protest in history, with numbers even exceeding those who turned up for Trump’s inauguration.

Comparing President Donald Trump's inauguration crowd to the #WomensMarch https://t.co/KUCxASjgSt pic.twitter.com/xt3mFxEEsS

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) January 21, 2017

“We march today for the moral core of this nation, against which our new president is waging a war,” actress America Ferrera told the Washington crowd.

“Our dignity, our character, our rights have all been under attack, and a platform of hate and division assumed power yesterday. But the president is not America. ... We are America, and we are here to stay.”

With record-breaking numbers, the remarkable protest in the nation’s capital has officially made its mark on history, taking its place among past marches that led to movements. By comparison, 200,000 people attended the March on Washington in 1963. In 1967, a march on the Pentagon protesting Vietnam drew a crowd of 100,000.

This is what 200,000 protesters in pink looks like. #WomensMarch @newscomauHQ pic.twitter.com/cCZbmCbaPM

— Charlotte Willis (@lottiewillis) January 21, 2017

Scarlett Johansson delivers a message to President Trump at the #WomensMarch: "I ask you to support all women" https://t.co/ksbr2MuWsd pic.twitter.com/F6ZMZOUumu

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) January 21, 2017

In Utah, Charlize Theron made an appearance alongside Chelsea Handler and Jennifer Beals.

Pop diva Madonna made an unannounced stage appearance in Washington.

“Welcome to the revolution of love, to the rebellion. To our refusal as women to accept this new age of tyranny,” she said as she took the stage, wrapping up hours of speeches by celebrities and rights activists.

“It took this horrific moment of darkness to wake us the f*** up.

“Let’s march together through this darkness and with each step know, that we are not afraid, that we are not alone, that we will not back down.”

To their detractors, she had just two words: “f*** you”.

Madonna performs on stage during the Washington women's march rally. Picture: AP/Jose Luis Magana

Chelsea Handler (left) and Charlize Theron (right) participate in the Women's March at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Picture: Valerie Macon/AFP

In a global exclamation of defiance and solidarity, more than 1 million people rallied in Washington and in more than 600 “sister marches” in cities around the world this weekend.

Australia was the scene of the first major march, with an estimated 10,000 walking from Sydney’s Hyde Park to Martin Place on Saturday.

In New Zealand’s capital, Wellington, organisers said about 700 marchers joined forces.

This @womensmarchsyd crowd is huge, there is no end in sight, and I've been here for 15 minutes pic.twitter.com/iX7y3Ab7aS

— Charis Chang (@CharisChang2) January 21, 2017

In Chicago, organisers cancelled the march portion of their event for safety reasons after the overflow crowd reached an estimated 150,000.

The women brandished signs with slogans such as “Women won’t back down” and “Less fear more love” and decried President Trump’s stand on such issues as abortion, health care, gay rights, diversity and climate change.

Their message reverberated at demonstrations in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Paris, Berlin, London, Prague, and beyond.

Demonstrators gather at the Place de Trocadero in Paris. Picture: Eric Feferberg/AFP

Boston professor Garland Waller, 66, part of the Washington mobilisation, said she was “devastated” after the election and had to take action. “I don’t know what to do to make a difference anymore, and this feels like a first step,” she said.

Saskia Coenen Snyder, a teacher at the University of South Carolina who came to a rally in Columbia, said: “I’m not sure we could have picked a more irresponsible, misogynistic and dangerous man to be president.”

A crowd fills Independence Avenue during the Women's March on Washington. Picture: Alex Brandon/AP

Officials said the crowd in Washington could be more than half a million people, more than double expectations. The event appeared to have attracted more people than President Trump’s inauguration on Friday, based on figures from transportation officials.

71-year-old Allan Parachini, who travelled from Hawaii to the Washington march, called it “the most impressive crowd I’ve seen since Woodstock.”

Protesters make their way through the streets of London during the Women's March. Picture: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Retired teacher Linda Lastella, 69, who came to Washington 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.

As the demonstrators rallied alongside the National Mall, Mr Trump opened his first full day as president by attending a prayer service at the Washington National Cathedral, a tradition for the day after inauguration, and later visited the CIA. As he travelled around town, his motorcade passed large groups of protesters that would have been hard to miss.

Thousands gather in Philadelphia. Picture: Jacqueline Larma/AP

Marlita Gogan, who came to Washington from Houston for the inauguration, said police advised her family not to wear their “Make America Great Again Hats” as they walked through crowds of protesters while playing tourist on Saturday.

“I think it’s very oppressive,” she said of the march atmosphere. “They can have their day, but I don’t get it.”

On the streets, feminist leader Gloria Steinem described the worldwide mobilisation as “the upside of the downside: This is an outpouring of energy and democracy like I have never seen in my very long life.”

“Sometimes we must put our bodies where our beliefs are,” she told the crowd, labelling Mr Trump an “impossible president.”

Hillary Clinton took to Twitter to thank the participants for “standing, speaking and marching for our values.”

Thanks for standing, speaking & marching for our values @womensmarch. Important as ever. I truly believe we're always Stronger Together.

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) January 21, 2017

The marches displayed a level of enthusiasm that Ms Clinton herself was largely unable to generate during her campaign against Trump, when she won the popular vote but he outdistanced her in the electoral vote.

At rallies around the globe, the hand-knit “pussyhats” became a message of female empowerment aimed squarely at Mr Trump’s crude boast about grabbing women’s genitalia.

They “ain’t for grabbing,” actress Ashley Judd told the Washington crowd.

Many women in attendance also wore the now-famous T-shirts with hearts embracing Mr Trump’s phrase about Ms Clinton: “Nasty Woman.”

A woman holds a sign amidst a sea of pink caps in Seattle. Picture: AP Photo/Elaine Thompson

A sign is held aloft at the rally in Seattle. Picture: AP Photo/Elaine Thompson

Dozens of older women held signs that read, “I can’t believe I still have to protest this sh*t.”

The marches were a magnet for A-list celebrities, unlike Mr Trump’s inauguration the previous day, which had a deficit of top performers.

Cher, in the nation’s capital, said the 45th US president’s ascendance has people “more frightened maybe than they’re ever been.”

In Park City, Utah, it was Charlize Theron leading demonstrators in a chant of “Love, not hate, makes America great.”

In New York, actresses Helen Mirren and Cynthia Nixon and Whoopi Goldberg joined a crowd of protesters marching to Trump’s local home.

In Paris, thousands rallied in the Eiffel Tower neighbourhood in a joyful atmosphere, singing and carrying posters reading “We have our eyes on you Mr. Trump” and “With our sisters in Washington.”

Hundreds gathered in Prague’s Wenceslas Square in freezing weather, mockingly waving portraits of Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

“We are worried about the way some politicians talk, especially during the American elections,” said organiser Johanna Nejedlova.

Actress America Ferrera speaks to the crowd during the Women's March on Washington. Picture: AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana

The rallies were a peaceful counterpoint to the window-smashing unrest that unfolded on Friday when self-described anarchists tried to disrupt the inauguration. Police used pepper spray and stun grenades against demonstrators. More than 200 people were arrested.

Women take photos as protesters walk during the Women's March on Washington. Picture: Mario Tama/Getty Images/AFP

— Associated Press Writers Alanna Durkin Richer, Brian Witte, Matthew Barakat, and David Dishneau in Washington contributed to this report.