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Inauguration Protesters and Police Clash on Washington’s Streets Inauguration Protesters and Police Clash on Washington’s Streets
(about 4 hours later)
WASHINGTON — Police officers used nonlethal crowd-control tools against dozens of protesters just blocks from the parade route where President Trump was scheduled to pass on Friday afternoon. WASHINGTON — A spate of violence erupted on Friday in the nation’s capital, as protesters damaged storefronts, threw rocks and bricks at police officers and lit a limousine on fire.
Protesters threw rocks and bricks at the police, smashed car windows and lit trash cans on fire. Officers holding riot shields formed a phalanx and were trying to prevent protesters from advancing. Phalanxes of police officers used pepper spray, flash grenades and other nonlethal crowd-control tools to disperse the protesters. By the end of the day, six police officers had sustained minor injuries and more than 200 people had been arrested.
Earlier in the day, protesters destroyed the glass front of a Bank of America and a Starbucks in the area. The Metropolitan Police Department said that at least 95 people had been arrested. A spokesman for the department said it would not release estimates on the number of protesters who were clashing with the police. Many of the protesters were dressed in black, wore face masks and carried flags associated with anti-fascist groups. They congregated on a series of streets just blocks from the parade where Donald J. Trump passed as he made his way to the White House for the first time as president, their activities creating a distraction as television networks played live footage of the clashes.
Many of the protesters were dressed all in black, wore face masks and carried flags associated with antifascist groups. The protests attracted onlookers who watched the clashes while capturing images on their cellphones. The protests created a distraction from Mr. Trump’s inauguration festivities. Television stations carried extensive footage of police officers clashing with the protesters as Mr. Trump attended a lunch with lawmakers and his supporters in the Capitol. The violence was focused not only on the police. Richard B. Spencer, a prominent leader of the so-called alt-right, was punched in the face by a protester as Mr. Spencer gave an interview on the street, according to a video posted on Twitter.
Across the city, the demonstrations simmered in the hours before Mr. Trump was to take office. “We’re not peaceful,” said one of the masked protesters who, like many others who clashed with the police, ran away after being approached by reporters.
Some convened before sunrise, in downtown Washington, to protest Mr. Trump’s immigration policies, a gathering dotted with black hats that read, “Not My President.” While the clashes occurred, several thousand peaceful protesters marched nearby.
Just before 9 a.m., about 150 protesters gathered in McPherson Square, breaking off in groups to march along I Street. An organizer advised two dozen people on the day’s aims: to disrupt Mr. Trump’s celebration as much as possible — an objective, he predicted, that would rankle “mainly police officers and Trump supporters.” Around the country, protesters flooded streets and plazas, mostly in peace, as they voiced anti-Trump slogans. In New York, seven people were arrested when they blocked the sidewalk outside Trump Tower.
Protesters in San Francisco formed a blockade across train tracks, leading to eight arrests, and chained themselves to the downtown offices of Uber and Wells Fargo. In the central business district of Portland, Ore., banks, clothing retailers and a jewelry store boarded up windows and covered walls to limit vandalism. Chants in English and Spanish broke out in Phoenix.
“This is one of the darkest days in the history of our country,” said Adelle Wallace, 75, during a rain-soaked march in Los Angeles.
The violence in Washington began about an hour before Mr. Trump was sworn in at noon. Storefront windows at a Bank of America and a Starbucks several blocks from the parade route were smashed, leading to many arrests.
Around 2 p.m., as Mr. Trump ate lunch on Capitol Hill with lawmakers and supporters, the protests expanded and turned violent. Protesters hurled rocks and bricks at police officers several blocks from the parade route. Officers with helmets and riot shields tried to disperse the protesters by using flash grenades and pepper spray.
After being pushed back a block, protesters outside the Washington Post building lit a fire in the middle of the street, smashed the windows of a limousine and then lit it on fire. Police, using more flash grenades, cleared a path for fire trucks as protesters retreated to a park.
The violence attracted a throng of onlookers, members of the news media and peaceful protesters who had marched earlier in the day.
Reed Arahood, 34, of Massachusetts, who had come to Washington to be part of the peaceful protests, said she was ambivalent about the violence.
“I don’t think I have words to accurately describe how I feel about them,” she said about the protesters. She added that she felt “solidarity” but also was “absolutely” concerned about the image of violent protests.
But overall the scene of thousands of protesters gave her hope.
“I feel pretty proud of the number who showed up today,” she said. “Looking strangers in the eye and knowing that we’re together and talking with people from all over the country who have come here to express their concerns about what is going to happen in the next four years and what is already happening in our country. I feel really good about that.”
Along several access points to view the inauguration, the protesters hoped simply to put themselves in the way, locking arms, forming human blockades in front of both public and ticketed entrances. The police directed attendees around the corners of blockades, sometimes in single file, forcing some ticketed attendees to wait nearly an hour in line to trickle past the protests.
Content with their success disrupting the flow of attendees, about 150 protesters gathered downtown in McPherson Square, breaking off in groups to march along I Street. An organizer advised two dozen people on the day’s aims: to disrupt Mr. Trump’s celebration as much as possible — an objective, he predicted, that would rankle “mainly police officers and Trump supporters.”
“Police officers,” a woman in the crowd grumbled, “are Trump supporters.”“Police officers,” a woman in the crowd grumbled, “are Trump supporters.”
A few attendees drummed on buckets, nodding at the instructions. At least a few wondered aloud about divine intervention in the weather. “It’s the Earth crying,” said Elodie Huttner, 52, “about the climate-denial president.” A few attendees drummed on buckets, nodding at the instructions. At least a few wondered aloud about divine intervention as the day turned rainy. “It’s the Earth crying,” said Elodie Huttner, 52, “about the climate-denial president.”
A protest march of more than 50 people started around 9 a.m. in front of the Department of Energy building near the Mall and then snaked through largely closed-off streets to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Rallies have been planned all over the country all weekend, cresting with a women’s march in Washington on Saturday.
Shouting “Our land,” and carrying signs that read, “Resist!” and “Protect!” the protesters said they were pressing for basic environmental protections and improved housing for the poor. Despite the disruptions, some in Washington were able to find moments of normalcy.
“We’re here to call attention to Trump’s connections to companies that make money off of ruining people’s water,” said Hannah Jones, one of the marchers. Molly Schwizer, 52, a government employee who had the day off, left the quiet neighborhood in northwestern Washington where she lives to check out the chaotic and heavily policed streets of downtown, where protesters vied with Trump supporters.
Ramah Kudaimi, 30, who sits on the board of the Washington Peace Center, helped organize the protest opposing Mr. Trump’s proposed immigration policies. She said those policies would destroy a number of communities and would hurt groups like Muslims and transgender people. “I wanted to see what this was all about,” she said, motioning toward Saks Off 5th, the discount branch of the New York department store.
“It’s important from Day 1 of Trump’s administration that we make clear that we are going to be disrupting his agenda,” she said. “When communities are under attack, we are going to fight back.” “And,” she added, “I had some shopping to do.”
The dissent started early. By midafternoon, she had seen all she had wanted to see of the protesters (“they should clean up,” she said) and the Trump supporters (no comment — she does have a government job, after all). Also, it was raining — and so it was time to shop.
From the coasts, from the Midwest and the Maryland suburbs, the protesters came and trudged beneath a spitting rain toward a celebration they were powerless to stop but desperate to at least interrupt: the presidential inauguration of Mr. Trump.
They hauled signs: “Reject, Resist,” “Putin’s Orange Puppet,” “Rage, Rage Against the Dying of Our Rights.”
They chanted — “We are a peaceful protest!” — but by late morning, several shop windows in downtown Washington had been shattered, the air filling with a spray deployed by the police.
Others encountered officers in riot gear and crowd-dispersing sprays that burned in their eyes — the sprays’ contents spreading to restaurant workers at a refreshment booth nearby.
Along several access points, the protesters hoped simply to put themselves in the way, locking arms.
“This is our right,” said Mica Reel, 21, who took part in an attempted human blockade near an inauguration entrance, “to stand here.”
Mr. Trump was sworn in around noon. The resistance was already well underway.
Across the city — and with rallies planned throughout the country all weekend, cresting with a massive women’s march in Washington on Saturday — the demonstrations simmered in the hours before Mr. Trump was to take office.
Near the Capitol South Metro station, 52 middle-school students, bused in from Massachusetts, wore matching blue hats and held red pom-poms.
“We have a pretty split group of supporters and nonsupporters,” said Anna Baboval, a seventh-grade geography teacher. “But they’re all pretty excited to experience history.”
A teenager approached Ms. Baboval. “Would it be bad if I bought a pin with a swear on it?” he asked.
“Please don’t do that,” she said.
Other protest literature was more subtle. Kenneth Harringer, 54, a tax preparer from Silver Spring, Md., held a sign rendered in Russian, citing the country’s interference in the election. Its message: “Not My President.”
“Google Translate,” Mr. Harringer said.