More anti-Trump action planned after second night of protests across US

Protesters across the US were on Friday gearing up for weekend demonstrations over the election of Donald Trump, as other activists began work on plans to disrupt the Republican’s inauguration in Washington early next year.

Rowdy protests against Trump and his divisive campaign have spread to cities all over the country following his victory on Tuesday, leading to dozens of arrests and a complaint from Trump in one of his first public remarks as president-elect.

More than 10,000 people have signed up to attend a noon march on Saturday from New York’s Union Square to Trump Tower, the future president’s home and corporate headquarters, while several other actions are planned for other cities.

“Join us in the streets! Stop Trump and his bigoted agenda,” the organizers of the New York event said in a Facebook post.

Trump complained in a tweet late on Thursday that “professional protesters, incited by the media” were tarnishing his electoral success, which he said was “very unfair”. Amid intense criticism, Trump said hours later in a second post that he appreciated the “passion for our great country” shown by demonstrators.

Activists expressed determination to build momentum for major activity on 20 January, when Trump will officially enter the White House.

A “million women” march on the capital is being planned for the day of Trump’s inauguration, amid intense anger that the next US president allegedly sexually assaulted multiple women and boasted of doing so in a leaked recording.

Leftwing and anarchist groups were also making plans for protests in Washington on inauguration day, according to flyers circulating online, raising the prospect of chaotic scenes as Trump takes the oath of office.

Other activists were biding their time before mounting a response to Trump’s election. Patrisse Cullors, one of the founders of Black Lives Matter, said their movement was “grieving and mourning” following the result.

“We are bringing folks together to imagine what kinds of organizing we will need to do under a Trump presidency,” said Cullors. “I do think we can organize as we have been, and build something bigger and stronger than the hate Trump and his team have exhibited towards marginalized communities.”

Thousands of people took to the streets from Thursday night into Friday in Denver, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Portland, Oakland and several other US cities, as well as Vancouver, Canada. The protests were for the most part peaceful and orderly, though there were scattered acts of civil disobedience and damage to property.

The rowdiest scenes were in Portland, Oregon, where about 4,000 people marched into the city centre late on Thursday. At least 29 people were arrested after a minority of protesters threw objects at officers, smashed shop windows and damaged a car dealership, the Portland police department said, declaring the demonstration a riot. Officers used pepper spray and rubber projectiles to disperse the crowd, the department added.

In Minneapolis, dozens of people marched on to Interstate 94, blocking traffic in both directions for at least an hour as police stood by. A smaller band of demonstrators briefly halted traffic on a busy Los Angeles highway before police cleared them off.

Baltimore police reported that about 600 people marched through the Inner Harbor area, with some blocking roadways by sitting in the street. Two people were arrested, police said. One of the largest demonstrations was in Denver, where a crowd estimated to number about 3,000 gathered on the grounds of the Colorado state capitol and marched through the city centre.

Earlier in the day, high school students staged walkouts across the country. Authorities told the LA Times that at least 4,000 students from the LA County school system had walked out in protest by Thursday afternoon.

Hundreds of high school students in San Francisco walked out of class too, and took to the streets of downtown, shouting “Not my president”, “My body, my choice” and “Love trumps hate” as they marched in the middle of traffic.

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Malkia Williams, 15, who carried a sign that said “Pussy grabs back” – a reference to a leaked recording where Trump bragged he could sexually assault women because of his fame – said it was important for students to speak out since they could not vote.

“A lot of adults voted for Donald Trump and they think we don’t care, but we do,” she said as she marched down a busy downtown street where student activists were temporarily halting vehicles, with many honking in support. “My loved ones and friends could be taken out of this country.”

Williams said she was still processing Trump’s victory. “I still don’t feel it’s real. This is not the future we want,” she said.

In Oakland, where 30 people were arrested on Wednesday night, a crowd gathered on Thursday but the protests were more subdued than the previous evening, when a series of small fires were set, some windows were smashed and a few people threw rocks at police.

Hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, according to a local ABC affiliate station, WISN 12, a number which later swelled to over 2,000 as the group marched downtown, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

Lewis & Clark College student Gregory McKelvey, who organised a protest in Portland on Thursday, told local NBC affiliate KGW: “We think that because Trump is president, it becomes even more urgent for our city to become what people want it to be. It’s an anti-Trump protest but also a call for change in our city because we need to push for progress here.”

Elsewhere on Thursday, hundreds protested in Salt Lake City, Utah; San Francisco; Houston, Texas; and in Washington DC, where about 100 protesters marched from the White House to Donald Trump’s newly opened hotel several blocks away.

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At least 200 people rallied there after dark, many of them chanting “No hate! No fear! Immigrants are welcome here!” and carrying signs with such slogans as “Impeach Trump” and “Not my president.”

“I can’t support someone who supports so much bigotry and hatred. It’s heart-breaking,” said 25-year-old Joe Daniels from Virginia.

While protesters marched against Trump, at least one group was preparing to take to the streets in celebration. The Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan said on their website they would be holding a “victory parade” in North Carolina next month. Men in KKK-style white hoods were seen walking in the state on the morning after Trump was elected.