Protests in Washington as Trump takes control of White House

WASHINGTON: America's political divisions turned violent on Washington's streets during US President Donald Trump's inauguration on Friday, as black-clad anti-establishment activists set fires and clashed with police, while Trump supporters cheered the new chief executive.

Hundreds of protesters with varying agendas marched through downtown, and some groups clashed with police, throwing rocks and bottles, which police responded to with tear gas and concussion grenades. A helicopter hovered low overhead.

At one flash point, a protester hurled an object through the passenger window of a police van, which sped away in reverse as demonstrators cheered. Earlier, activists wearing masks used chunks of pavement and baseball bats to shatter the windows of a Bank of America branch and a McDonald's outlet, all symbols of American capitalism.

Multiple vehicles were set on fire, including a black limousine and a television truck. A knot of people dragged garbage cans into a street a few blocks from the White House and set them ablaze, later throwing a red cap bearing Trump's "Make America Great Again" campaign slogan into the flames.

Police said at least 217 people were arrested and six officers were injured in scuffles with activists.

The people arrested would be held overnight before making court appearances on Saturday, Peter Newsham, interim chief of the Metropolitan Police Department, told a news conference. Newsham added that police would continue to monitor security around the night's celebrations.

Friday's protests played out just blocks from Pennsylvania Avenue, where New York businessman-turned-Republican politician Trump took part in the traditional parade a newly sworn in president takes from the US Capitol to the White House.

The various protest groups scattered around the city chanted anti-Trump slogans and carried signs with slogans including "Trump is not president" and "Make Racists Afraid Again."

"Trump is not going to be stopped at the top, he's going to be stopped from the bottom, from people rising up," said Ben Allen, a 69-year-old retired teacher from San Francisco. "We support the right of everybody in this country, no matter what nationality, what religion, the colour of their skin, to be respected as a human being, and this guy doesn't respect anybody.”

   

'Didn't expect violence'

Trump supporter Ryan Shirring, 21, stood nervously with a group of friends near a pile of smouldering trash cans.

"We thought there would be protests but we didn't expect violence," said Shirring, a college student from Hartford, Connecticut. "We were hoping for a completely peaceful transfer of power."

Democratic officials, including Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser, condemned the violence.

 

The US Secret Service, Washington police and other law enforcement agencies had about 28,000 officers in place to secure a roughly three-square-mile (7.8 square km) of the city.

Trump, a former reality TV star, angered many liberal Americans during his stunningly successful campaign with demeaning comments on women and immigrants. His inauguration speech was a populist and nationalist rallying cry.

Protesters and police said the black-clad violent activists were acting independently of organised opposition to Trump.

The Disrupt J20 group on Twitter said its anger was not directed only at Trump, and that it would also have demonstrated had Democrat Hillary Clinton won the election last November.

Not far from the White House, Bob Hrifko, a member of the Bikers for Trump group, said he was struck in the face with an aluminium chair when he tried to intervene in a scuffle involving police and protesters.

"We need more order. This ain't right," said Hrifko, who was bleeding from a cut under his eye.

The number of people who turned out for the midday swearing-in ceremony in the rain appeared to be significantly smaller than the estimated 2 million who attended Democrat Barack Obama's first inauguration in 2009. Overhead video of the National Mall showed sections of the white matting laid down to protect the grass were largely empty.

The city's Metro subway system reported ridership levels as of 11 am (1600 GMT) at less than half of what was seen in 2013 or 2009 and roughly on par with George W. Bush's second inauguration in 2005.

Sympathy protests were held around the nation and the world, in cities including Los Angeles, Tokyo and London. But in Moscow, Russians hoping Trump will usher in a new era of detente with their country celebrated his inauguration.

In Washington, David Guthrie, a long-haired, bearded, 36-year-old from South Bend, Indiana, stood stark naked on a street corner with an obscenity and "Trump" written on his buttocks in black magic marker.

As he stood, he was pepper sprayed by police, but stood with his eyes clenched, saying he wanted to prompt "a national conversation on the illegitimacy of the Trump presidency."

"I need a shower," he said, as fellow protesters helped him walk away, wrapped in a silver blanket.

 

 

Sympathy rallies

Tensions were high on the streets of Washington, with scuffles breaking out between Trump supporters and opponents.

Trump supporters Chris and Karen Korthaus, who carried a life-size cardboard cutout of the former reality TV star, crossed paths with an anti-Trump crowd.

"A protester came over and ripped off the Don's head," Karen Korthaus said as she showed a reporter a video of the incident. "We ran to a pizza shop and taped his head back on".

Members of Bikers for Trump assembled near the start of the route the new president will take to the White House to cheer the parade, shrugging off Trump opponents who briefly engaged them in a shouting match.

"They're just trying to argue," said a member of the bikers group, Donald Gregory, 53, of North Carolina. "We finally have someone we can root for."

Trump's inauguration drew reaction across the world.

In Tokyo, several hundred people, most of them expatriate Americans, protested against Trump. In London, activists draped a banner across the British capital's iconic Tower Bridge reading "Build bridges not walls," a reference to Trump's promise to wall off the U.S.-Mexico border.

But in Moscow, Russians hoping Trump will usher in a new era of detente with their country celebrated his inauguration. To the east, craftsman in the city of Zlatoust released a limited series of silver and gold commemorative coins, engraved with "In Trump We Trust."

The U.S. Secret Service, Washington police and other law enforcement agencies had about 28,000 officers in place to secure a roughly three-square-mile (7.8 square km) of downtown Washington.

Along the stretch of Washington where the rioters smashed windows, workers were beginning to clean up the debris.

"We're just working, and the next thing you know, violence is coming our way," said Edwin Garcia, 26, a cook at an Au Bon Pain where three windows were shattered. "What was the point if they never got to where Trump is?"

Cheers and boos on parade route

US President Donald Trump met with cheers -- and some boos -- as he stepped out of his limousine to walk briefly along the inaugural parade route in Washington.

Holding hands with First Lady Melania, and accompanied by his young son Barron, Trump waved to supporters as he walked along a stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue near the Trump Hotel -- where protesters had unfurled a giant banner reading "Shame."

Moments earlier, the president drove past a crowd of protesters chanting anti-Trump slogans and waving banners reading: "Try to deserve this office," "Obama cares, Trump scares," or "Make America Sane Again." 

A deafening roar rose from the protesters gathered at the city´s Navy Memorial Plaza as the presidential motorcade drove by. 

"Not my president! Not my president!" they yelled, as the pro-Trump crowd in bleachers across the street chanted "USA! USA!"

The protesters pressed forward, waving their signs, as police manning the barricades kept out a watchful eye.

"The only way to change things is to get involved," said Nina Orezzoli, 39, a creative executive at an ad agency in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in town for the protests.

Throngs of anti-Trump protesters have converged on the US capital, as the 70-year-old Trump, his supporters and top dignitaries gathered on the National Mall for his inauguration.

Most of the noisy protests -- including those by an array of anti-racist, feminist, LGBT, pro-immigration, anti-war and marijuana legalization groups -- were peaceful.

But violence broke out on the fringes as masked, black-clad protesters carrying anarchist flags smashed windows and scuffled with riot police just blocks away from the parade route, leading to more than 90 arrests.

"To those of you visiting Washington, DC, we welcome you but we cannot allow you to destroy our neighborhoods," city mayor Muriel Bowser said on Twitter.

Trump and his wife emerged again from the presidential limousine known as "The Beast" near the White House to cheers from supporters in the parade reviewing stand, walking for a brief stretch before getting back in the car.

 ‘America First’

Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of United States on Friday, issuing a staunchly nationalist vow to put “America first” in his opening address to a country – and a world – watching a page of history turn.

“From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land,” Trump said, pronouncing an end to business as usual in Washington.

“Today we are not merely transferring power from one administration to another or from one party to another, but we are transferring power from Washington, DC. And giving it back to you, the people.”

“From this day forward, it´s going to be only America first.”

“Together we will make America strong again. We will make America wealthy again. We will make America proud again. We will make America safe again. And, yes, together, we will make America great again,” Trump said.

Just moments before, the 70-year-old Republican billionaire placed his left hand on a bible used by Abraham Lincoln and recited the 35-word oath spoken since George Washington.

Trump’s inauguration caps the improbable rise to power of the Manhattan real estate mogul, who had never before held elected office, served in the government or the armed forces.

A crowd of hundreds of thousands looked on, including outgoing president Barack Obama and Trump’s defeated election opponent Hillary Clinton – who narrowly missed out on becoming America’s first female president.

Obama and his wife Michelle departed the Capitol by helicopter moments after the swearing-in ceremony, turning a page on eight years of Democratic leadership in the White House.

Trump vows to eradicate ´radical Islamic terrorism´

US President Donald Trump placed the battle against religious extremism at the heart of his foreign policy, vowing to work with allies to destroy the militant threat.

He has vowed to tear up Obama’s policies and re-examine decades-old alliances with Europe and in Asia.

“We will reinforce old alliances and form new ones and unite the civilized world against radical Islamic terrorism, which we will eradicate completely from the face of the earth,” he declared.

Trump´s inauguration caps the improbable rise to power of the Manhattan real estate mogul, who had never before held elected office, served in the government or the armed forces.

A crowd of hundreds of thousands looked on, including outgoing president Barack Obama and Trump´s defeated election opponent Hillary Clinton -- who narrowly missed out on becoming America´s first female president.

“I´ve been waiting for this for a long time,” said Thomas Mendenhall, 68, a retired banker from Missouri. “We just want change.”