Special report
Massive worldwide protests against Trump presidency
By
a WSWS reporting team
22 January 2017
Millions of people participated in demonstrations throughout the United States and the world Saturday in a powerful and unprecedented show of opposition to the administration of US President Donald Trump.
The massive protests were far larger than organizers expected and came as a surprise to the corporate media. They were the biggest globally coordinated demonstrations since the 2003 protests against the invasion of Iraq. Demonstrations took place in over 600 locations on every continent, including at a US research station in Antarctica.
A post-inauguration rally in Washington DC attracted more than 500,000 people, twice the reported size of Trump’s inauguration crowd the day before, and an equal number marched in Los Angeles. An estimated 250,000 gathered at the rally in downtown Chicago, where a planned march was canceled due to overcrowding, and the demonstrators simply rallied in place.
Up to 150,000 people joined the march in Boston, in what was described as the biggest protest on the Boston Common since the anti-Vietnam War demonstrations nearly half a century ago. Another 100,000 people marched past Trump Tower in New York City. Demonstrations in other US cities included 60,000 in St. Paul, Minnesota, and more than 75,000 in Madison, Wisconsin.
Internationally, demonstrations took place in Mexico City, Paris, Berlin, Prague and Sydney. Up to 100,000 people marched in London, as well as in the British cities of Cardiff, Edinburgh, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Bristol, and in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Media reporting of the demonstrations presented the protests as centered…