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LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — More than two million people flooded the streets of US cities on Saturday in a peaceful day of women-led protests a day after the inauguration of President Donald Trump, according to estimates from march organizers.
At the main “Women’s March on Washington” organizers told AFP they estimated the turnout at half a million, with huge crowds joining sister marches around the country — and tens of thousands more marching worldwide.
It was not possible to independently verify the claim as the US capital does not release crowd counts. Metro operator WMATA told the Washington Post it had moved a record 470,000 passengers in the hours leading up to the march, a weekend ridership record.
More than half a million people also swarmed the streets of Los Angeles in one of the largest rallies by protesters, who fear that progress on gender equality, contraception and abortion could be chipped away under Trump.
LAPD spokesman Andrew Neiman said his department was still working on a crowd estimate but he told AFP it was certainly larger than a pro-immigration march which drew 500,000 in 2006.
The Los Angeles march’s organizers claimed a turnout of 750,000.
March organizers in New York also claimed a crowd count of half a million, tweeting: “This is what democracy looks like! Over 500k people are here at @womensmarch!”
The Chicago Tribune reported that 150,000 rallied in the city, although the figure was not confirmed by police.
And in Boston, local media cited Mayor Marty Walsh’s office as estimating the crowd between 135,000 and 150,000 people.
Huge gatherings were also reported in Miami, Denver and Seattle and Philadelphia, just a few of the dozens of sister marches planned around the country.
Tens of thousands more took to the streets of London, Paris and other cities in solidarity with the US marchers.
burs-ec/dw
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