A crowd of likely a half million or more gathered in and around the National Mall Saturday to celebrate womanhood and to stand in opposition to the newly inaugurated president, Donald Trump.
The gathering comprised of majority women, so many of them donning pink “pussy hats” that a sea of the color glowed over Independence Avenue, where speakers, musicians and others took the stage before the march. Despite a single, preplanned route, marchers spread in hordes throughout all surrounding streets, making it seem like several divergent demonstrations.
I attempted to capture a few representative moments from among the countless many.
Except for maybe the pink expanse, the march’s most prominent feature was women waiving signs.
Children joined in, too.
Though there were likely others, I spotted only one group of Trump supporters, who brought a float into the area but then had to be escorted out by police once they became surrounded by marchers.
Pro-#Trump float escorted by police after it was surrounded by marchers.#WomensMarch #WomensMarchOnWashington pic.twitter.com/y7H6yQ7KEt
— Michael Stone Ⓥ (@Michael__Stone) January 22, 2017
Some minor mischief occurred, like this small fire set by a boy (not pictured), but no arrests were reported.
Police and marchers were overall respectful of one another. Here, an officer helps a man get by him on a wall after the officer told him to get off it.
The Trump International Hotel is in the heart of the city, so many marchers walked by it throughout the day.
In 1913, suffragettes led a D.C. protest for the right to vote that coincided with Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration. Some of Saturday’s marchers paid tribute to them.
Overall, the occasion proved joyous for those there.
As the march wound down, some left their signs in groupings at conspicuous locations.
They then departed from the city center on Metro trains, which had been so packed throughout the day that the employees of at least one station let riders enter without paying just to get the crowd through.
Surely, it will be a day future’s history editors will have trouble taking out.
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