People assembling in New York for the 2018 Women’s March on Saturday. (AP)
Across the world, people were coming together and hitting the streets on Saturday -- the one-year anniversary of President Trump’s inauguration -- marching against his policies and in support of the #MeToo movement against sexual assault and harassment.
Protests in New York, Washington, D.C., and Rome were among the more than 200 such actions planned for the weekend.
As people gathered in Washington for demonstrations, House and Senate members remained on Capitol Hill this weekend in hopes of reaching a spending agreement and ending a nascent government shutdown.
President Donald Trump Tweeted midday Saturday showing his support for the Women’s March, encouraging participants to “celebrate the historic milestones and unprecedented economic success and wealth creation that has taken place over the last 12 months.”
In Rome earlier Saturday, dozens of activists gathered to denounce violence against women and express support for #MeToo. They were joined by Italian actress and director Asia Argento, who was one of the first women to come forward with allegations against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. (She alleged that the now-disgraced Hollywood producer sexually assaulted her in the 1990s.)
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People also gathered in Osaka, Japan; Frankfurt, Germany; and Kampala, Uganda, for boisterous demonstrations.
There were also demonstrations in locations as far-flung as Osaka, Japan; Frankfurt, German; and Kampala, Uganda. (AP)
Last year in Washington, at least 470,000 people attended the women’s march there and in the areas surrounding it, The New York Times reported. The rally was likely “the largest single-day demonstration recorded in U.S. history,” The Washington Post reported.
This year, organizers in New York said nearly 85,000 people had registered to march. Scheduled speakers included Ashley Bennett, a Democrat who was elected Atlantic County, N.J., freeholder last November. Bennett defeated Republican incumbent John Carman, who had mocked the 2017 women's march in Washington with a Facebook post asking whether the women would be home in time to cook dinner.
Women’s March Global, the organizers of last year’s march in D.C., said this year they would be holding a major rally in the Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas. Linda Sarsour, one of the four organizers of last year’s march, said they decided to hold the rally in Las Vegas because it’s a strategic swing state. The rally last year focused on people’s response to Trump’s White House win. This year’s rally will focus on voter registration, and on inspiring more women to run for public office.
Bob Bland, one of the organization’s national co-chairs, echoed Sarsour, stating that Las Vegas was a strategic place in which to hold the rally.
“It was more important for us to create an event somewhere strategic to reflect the work that needed to be done in 2018. And Nevada is an example of a battleground state that went for Hillary Clinton and went blue in 2016 for the first time,” she told NPR.
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In addition to the Women’s March co-chairs, Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood; Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev.; Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga.; Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas; Alicia Garza, co-founder of Black Lives Matter; and actress Marisa Tomei are slated to speak at the Vegas event.
This year, organizers in New York said nearly 85,000 people had registered to march in the state. (AP)
Peggy Taylor, a New York City tour guide, told The Associated Press she was discouraged to have to march again in order to get her point across.
"I'd be lying if I said that I'm not dispirited and discouraged over having to march yet again to register our opposition to this disastrous first year of the Trump presidency," Taylor said.
"I know that we have a long slog ahead of us to undo the damage that this man has inflicted,” she continued.
Ann Dee Allen of Wisconsin participated in the New York City protest.
“I feel differently about it this year,” Allen told The New York Times. “Last year, I just felt kind of angry and impassioned. This year, I feel like I’m in it for the long haul.”
Fox News' Madeline Farber and the Associated Press contributed to this report.