Thousands gather in Washington to protest Trump inauguration

Is the goal to demonstrate you are an activist and to self-actualize, or is the goal to actually affect change

said Ezra Levin, the co-founder of Indivisible, a progressive group that emerged in 2016.

I think people are trying to figure out how to be strategic and what they can best do to help,

Hensley said

The novelty of mass mobilization has kind of worn off,

said Jamie Margolin, who previously led climate group Zero Hour

I think there was this sense of, at that point like, this is ridiculous. We are going to impact this. This is not going to last. People will rise up against this, and this will be a short blip on our way to a progressive future,

she said of the 2017 march

Sharon Lavigneamerican environmental activist (born 1950)

We saw all sorts of new people join the fight,

said Lavigne, whose organization Rise Saint James has long worked to block a petrochemical plant in Louisiana – and seen some major wins

Between 2016 and 2020, a new kind of politically-oriented protest really exploded,

said Stevie O’Hanlon, communications director for the Sunrise Movement

The march itself is not the end game,

said Tamika Middleton, Managing Director of Women’s March

My ancestors didn’t quit,

she said

Sometimes people don’t realize that authoritarianism is here until there’s an army tank rolling down Main Street,

he said

We can find new tactics they can’t shut down,

she said

The fact people are kowtowing to this man - their flags have his name on them, that’s never happened before in this country. It’s very disturbing.”

Hilary, from Boston, claimed

I cried when I saw the election results, I was in disbelief that we’re in such a country that’s built in such hate that we want to oppress people, we’re worried about trans children, and LGBTQ rights.”

With tears in her eyes she said

Because I’m fighting for rights for everybody to have the privilege that I have as a white woman.”

Asked why she was at the rally, she replied

Nothing that the Trump administration has ever said leads me to think that they take the problem seriously at all,

the 51-year-old from Greenbelt, Maryland, said

She was my maid while I was growing up in Birmingham, Alabama, and that’s me,

Jones says, pointing to the smiling girl in the photo

This is a new transformation – God has appointed Donald Trump and whether we like Biden or Trump, we have to honour that.”

One man in a MAGA hat carrying a large military-style backpack tried to provoke the crowd by placing himself at the front of the march but was escorted out by police as he told reporters

I was so busy that I didn’t actually sit down in front of a television to watch the results until almost 10 o’clock,

says Flowers, who was one of thousands of people protesting in Washington on Saturday ahead of Trump’s inauguration

I’m really concerned about the money they have used to purchase power and the rise of big data and intrusion into individual privacy,

she said

We’ve been fighting for years when really we should just be being kids instead of fighting for our basic human rights – and that’s just not fair,

she said

We won’t take the bait.”

Police intervened and separated him from the group peacefully as marchers chanted