'It's now or never': Nationwide protests against Trump continue for a third night
Spurred by fear and outrage, protesters in cities around the country rallied and marched Friday for the third night since Donald Trump's presidential election victory.
The spirited demonstrations on college campuses and along downtown streets were mostly peaceful following previous outbreaks of window-smashing and fire-setting.
''It's now or never,'' a Facebook posting from a group, Portland's Resistance, that was organizing a protest Friday. ''We need to resist the Trump agenda!''
Evening marches disrupted traffic in Miami and Atlanta while organizers said people gathered on Boston Common in what was billed as a rally for peace and love.
Leslie Holmes, 65, a website developer from Wilton, Connecticut, took an hour-long train ride to the demonstration - her first protest since the 1970s, when she hit the streets of San Francisco to oppose the Vietnam War.
She described herself as an armchair liberal but declared, "I'm not going to be armchair anymore."
"I don't want to live in a country where my friends aren't included, and my friends are fearful, and my children are going to grow up in a world that's frightening, and my granddaughters can look forward to being excluded from jobs and politics and fulfilling their potential, so I'm here for them," she said.
More than 200 people, carrying signs gathered on the steps of the Washington state Capitol. The group chanted "not my president" and "no Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA."
In Tennessee, Vanderbilt University students sang civil rights songs and marched through campus across a Nashville street, temporarily blocking traffic. A protest also occurred in Minneapolis.
In Chicago, multiple groups planned protests through Saturday.
Protesters in Miami, Florida, shut down the McArthur causeway and freeway entrances as they marched in the street.
3rd straight nite #protest against #trump, #miami #protest right Now #NotMyPresident #ProtestTrump pic.twitter.com/qRGwCxyxwV- Dave (@DaveDhanbeer) November 12, 2016
Nadia Gavino, 25, learned about the rallies on Twitter and protested Thursday evening. Gavino, whose father is from Peru and whose mother is of Mexican and Lithuanian heritage, said she took Trump's harshest statements about immigrants and Latinos personally.
"I obviously agree that he's racist, he's sexist, he's phobic, he's misogynistic. He's all these things you don't want in a leader," she said.
Ashley Lynne Nagel, 27, said she joined a Thursday night demonstration in Denver.
"I have a leader I fear for the first time in my life," said Nagel, a Bernie Sanders supporter who voted for Hillary Clinton.
"It's not that we're sore losers," she said. "It's that we are genuinely upset, angry, terrified that a platform based off of racism, xenophobia and homophobia has become so powerful and now has complete control of our representation."
Demonstrators in Atlanta were met with a large police presence.
Atlanta protests tonight. We are not protesting a president. We are protesting a racist, fascist, and sexist #NotMyPresident pic.twitter.com/uotfAvWbUa- Austin Birchell (@austinbirchell) November 12, 2016
Atlanta PD arrives in numbers at #NotMyPresident march. #FacingRace pic.twitter.com/jbod3yvy86- TimKarr (@TimKarr) November 12, 2016
Demonstrations also were planned Saturday in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and other areas.
Previous demonstrations drew thousands of people in New York, Los Angeles and other large urban centers. The largely peaceful protests were overshadowed by sporadic episodes of vandalism, violence and street-blocking.
On Wednesday, Trump tweeted for the first time since being elected to denounce protesters who he claimed were "incited by the media."
"Just had a very open and successful presidential election. Now professional protesters, incited by the media, are protesting. Very unfair!" Trump said on Twitter on Thursday night.
On Friday, Trump took a different tone, describing protesters' demonstrations as "passion" for the country.
"Love the fact that the small groups of protesters last night have passion for our great country," Trump said, "We will all come together and be proud!"
Protests in New York City, Chicago, the San Francisco Bay Area, Washington, D.C., and Detroit began less than 24 hours after Trump was declared the winner early Wednesday.
Organizers have said they are prepared for a long fight and will continue their protests in the future, the Associated Press reported.