Protesters demonstrating against the election of Donald Trump made their voices heard again Saturday — taking to the streets of New York for the fourth straight day.
A crowd of roughly 5,000 people gathered in Union Square around noon, their ranks rapidly growing and spilling out of the park.
Hand-drawn signs floated above the crowd, carrying messages like “Love Trumps Hate,” “Unacceptable,” and “Dump Trump.”
Chants of “black lives matter,” “popular vote,” and “America was never great” rang from the sea of dissenters.
Some protesters beat a rhythm on drums as police and news helicopters buzzed overhead.
Susan Simon, 61, of the Upper West Side, said she was dismayed at the election results.
“Donald Trump is so ill equipped,” she said. “He’s a serial liar, a sexist, he wants to hit the environment.
“It’s a dark day for America.”
Protesters march from Union Square to Trump Tower in Manhattan Saturday. (KEVIN C DOWNS/FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)
The mass of Trump opponents march through the streets of Manhattan toward the President-elect’s Fifth Ave. skyscraper, snarling traffic and confusing camera-wielding tourists.
Cops directed the group into a series of barricaded pens set up across the street from the high-rise as horns blared in the background.
Kristin Robie, 68, a doctor from the Upper East Side, said she will fight the Trump presidency every step of the way.
“We’ve got to fight whatever policies he puts into practice,” she said. “He’s despicable, but he was elected so I’m more concerned by the people who actually voted for him.”
The midday mayhem follows four evenings of similar outcry across the country.
On Wednesday night, the day after the election, police arrested 65 people after a massive crowd of 8,000 gathered outside Trump Tower to denounce the Donald.
Throughout the week, thousands also took to the streets of Miami, Atlanta, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Portland, Ore., to share their anger at Trump’s inflammatory and often deeply controversial campaign rhetoric about immigrants, Muslims and women.
The NYPD erected defensive measures surrounding Trump Tower.
“People have a right to protest as long as those rights don’t interfere with the right of other New Yorkers,” NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill said Friday. “As long as they stay within the law, we anticipate no major problems.”
Gail Gershon, 70, of Buffalo, said she came into the city Saturday to go to the Union Square market, but felt compelled to join the protest.
“Trump is the worst thing to ever happen to our country,” she said. “It’s good for people to get these feelings out.”
Cody-Ann Palmer, 27, of the East Village, held a sign reading "I won't pay my taxes either." Trump's victory, said Palmer, is a racist backlash against Obama's two-term presidency.
“This is a direct retaliation against Barack Obama. Racist people hated that he was the president for two terms,” she said. “They came out and made their voices heard. This is a backlash.”
During the demonstration, documentary-film maker Michael Moore made an unannounced visit to Trump Tower with a film crew in tow — hoping for a sit down with Trump. “We need to fight and do whatever we can to see that he does not take office on Jan. 20,” Moore said. “He is an illegitimate president. He does not have the vote of the people.”
Protests have been ongoing since the reality of a Trump victory set in early Wednesday. (SUSAN WATTS/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)
Nigel Farage, the head of the Brexit movement in England was seen being ushered up to meet with Trump.
In Los Angeles, several thousand people marched through downtown streets Saturday to condemn what they saw as Trump’s hate speech about Muslims, pledge to deport people in the country illegally and crude comments about women.
Jennifer Cruz, 18, said her parents have been in the United States illegally for 30 years, although her mother has spent years seeking citizenship.
She called the possibility of their deportation terrifying. “We talk about it almost every day,” she said. “My Mom wants to leave it in the hands of God but I’m not just going to sit back and not do anything. I’m going to fight for my parents, even if it kills me.” “He doesn’t realize all the families he’s hurting,” she said of Trump.
Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti told CNN Saturday that the “overwhelming majority” of protestors were students or citizens protesting for the first time. “This is really the voice of a new generation of Americans, saying that we want to do something about climate change, we want to unite this country, we stand for love and not division,” Garcetti said.
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