Silke Jasso
WASHINGTON — Chats of “No Trump! No KKK! No fascist USA,” rang through the streets of downtown Washington, D.C. Friday afternoon shortly after President Donald Trump took the oath of office to become the 45th president of the United States.
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Protesters did their damnedest to block Trump supporters from entering the inauguration grounds before the ceremony, and took to the streets following the president’s address.
Cries to make D.C. the next Ferguson, Missouri, a city where protests between citizens and police became common place filled the air as people marched against members of several local police departments and the National Guard.
After a bout of violence in which a bank and a coffee shop were vandalized, protesters gathered off the notorious K street in northwest Washington to see what would happen next. For several hours the scene remained relatively peaceful, until protesters got into a limousine that had been broken into. After what seemed like an endless amount of waiting around, protesters cheered as the limousine caught fire. Soon the entire car was ablaze, located near the headquarters of the Washington Post. This caught the attention of police who gave protesters the fight they had admittedly been waiting for all day.
Many of the protesters seemed to be teenagers, and cheered as police shot tear gas and pellets into the crowd.
In parts of the crowd, media outnumbered protesters.
There were frequent comparisons of President Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler.
Blocking traffic at 13 and Mass pic.twitter.com/7g5NRBcsMz
— Doug Barclay (@dougbarclay17) January 20, 2017
Vermin Supreme, an absurdist political candidate was among the protesters, as was a naked man who ripped off all his clothes and danced around in an effort to diffuse tension among police and protesters. Though many protesters threw bricks and water bottles at police, others cried for a peaceful demonstration.
“We live here,” one protester was heard yelling at the crowd as he gathered bricks and gave them to police, and urged his fellow protesters to stand back.
As day turned to night situations had once again calmed down, though many protesters openly bragged about an inauguration day they hoped devolved into more fire and rage.
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