500,000 march against Trump in DC today

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Wearing pink, pointy-eared "pussyhats" to mock the new president, hundreds of thousands of women took to the streets in the nation's capital 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.

"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, which included plenty of men, too. "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."

Turnout was so big that the original march route alongside the National Mall was packed, and instead of trekking en masse to the Ellipse by the White House as planned, the protesters were told to make their way there on their own by way of other streets. In Chicago, organizers canceled 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 Trump's stand on such issues as abortion, health care, gay rights, diversity and climate change. Their message reverberated at demonstrations around the globe, from New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and Los Angeles to Paris, Berlin, London, Prague, Copenhagen, Sydney and beyond.

"I feel very optimistic even though it's a miserable moment," said Madeline Schwartzman of New York City, who brought her twin 13-year-old daughters to the Washington rally. "I feel power."

Madonna told the large crowd it took "this horrific moment" of Donald Trump's inauguration as president to wake up the United States.

The pop singer used several obscenities during a speech at the Women's March on Washington to emphasize her opposition to Trump. Her comments were carried live on cable television.

She says Saturday's march means "that we are far from the end" and it is the start of a revolution to fight for the right to be free and equal.

Madonna says like-minded Americans need to join together to make it "through this darkness" and show that "we are not afraid, that we are not alone."

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 Trump's inauguration on Friday, based on figures from transportation officials.