More than a thousand demonstrators gathered outside Trump Tower on Monday night as President Donald Trump returned to New York City for the first time since his inauguration. The protest, spurred by the recent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, saw crowds lining the streets for over four hours, chanting and waving signs.
Trump's motorcade was met with boos and chants of “shame” as he arrived around 9pm for a two-day visit described as a “working vacation”. Police erected metal barricades and sanitation trucks blocked access to the front of the building in an attempt to contain the crowd.
Organiser Josh Friedman, a 23-year-old activist, said Trump's handling of the Charlottesville tragedy was a key focus. “Even though Donald Trump is not per se the cause of that, he is related to that,” Friedman said, adding that the president is “enabling white nationalists, white supremacists, the KKK, armed militias.”
Around 200 demonstrators dressed in black held a “funeral march” at the corner of Central Park to mourn Heather Heyer, the 32-year-old woman killed when a driver rammed a car into counter-protesters in Charlottesville. Others brought an inflatable rat depicting Trump with yellow hair and a long red tie.
April Goehrke, a 33-year-old graduate student, said she was inspired to protest by the “events in Charlotte”. “The fact people feel comfortable spouting that kind of hatred in America is appalling,” she said. Teacher Maribeth Whitehouse expressed hope the protest would “show what America stands for” but doubted it would change Trump's ways, saying “that's a shallow pool”.
