Feature: Denver's Women's Day March shifts to anti-Trump avalanche
0 Comment(s)
Print
E-mail Xinhua, January 22, 2017
Cars and people kept coming in, filling downtown Denver's streets beyond what event organizers had imagined.
"Republicans, Democrats, gays, straights, blacks, whites, Latinos, Asians -- and a 3-million majority of Americans -- are here to say, "Go to hell, Donald Trump," Olivia Grace, 25, a local kindergarten teacher, told Xinhua.
Grace was one of thousands of protesters who appeared in downtown Denver on Saturday, not just marching to support the Women's March, but to denounce the newly inaugurated 45th president of the United States.
"Besides our loathing of Trump, we're here to bring attention to reproductive rights, the proposed rollback of (former President Barack) Obama's health care law, and for equal pay for men and women," Delores Keen, 57, an accountant, told Xinhua.
More than 2 million Americans nationwide participated in Saturday's Women's March, but the focus of the event shifted quickly onto the new president, who was inaugurated just a day earlier.
"History shows a lunatic tries to become president every century or so," said Rhonda Styles, 23, a history major at the University of Colorado, as the massive crowd behind her chanted, "Chump Change."
"James Blain tried in the 1880s, but he was defeated two times," Styles said. "Trump succeeded because he rigged the election, and the media is so lame it let him get away with it. Kiss our democracy goodbye," she said.
Streets in downtown Denver were overwhelmed in hours -- clogged with a crowd that mushroomed to almost 200,000 people, one of the largest protests in Denver history.
Local media estimated the crowd was larger than the 2016 Denver Bronco's Super Bowl victory celebration, considered the largest in the city's history.
Crowds started pouring into Denver's Civic Center Park shortly after sunrise on Saturday, quickly filling the area with signs, placards, and chants demonizing the inauguration of Trump.
"Love Trumps Hate," was a sign seen by many who attended the march. Organizers said, their targets were to "support social justice, human rights and equality, and to demonstrate that we will be vigilant in protecting these rights moving forward."
Denver police reported three arrests during the massive rally, and said none were related to the march.
Eleanora Brown travelled to Denver from Fort Collins, about 65 miles (110 km) away, to attend the march with her three granddaughters, who were dressed in red, white and blue, and waving American flags.
"I want my little granddaughters to know that we can march against an obnoxious, belligerent tyrant, even if he is the president of our great nation," Brown said. Endi
Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)