Thousands protest Trump in US capital

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) – Thousands of demonstrators, mainly area students, flooded streets of the nation’s capital Tuesday to protest the country’s president-elect.

High school students staged the walkout in protest of Donald Trump and marched on Pennsylvania Avenue toward his recently opened hotel, located just blocks from the White House.

Persephone Charles said she was marching because "he's a racist and a sexist.

"I'm protesting Trump for everybody and every citizen, and everybody who is not a citizen's rights," she said.

"Donald Trump's campaign can't divide us," said Casey Redmond. "We're really here to spread positivity and let Donald Trump and his followers know he can't divide us."

The largely peaceful demonstrations for LGBT, women's and immigrant rights saw students go from Trump's hotel to Capitol Hill and the Supreme Court before they marched on the National Mall toward the Lincoln Monument.

Police projected the crowds to number 3,000.

The protest is part of larger nationwide demonstrations that have sprung up across America's major cities since Trump won the presidential election last week.

Many have decried the Republican's campaign rhetoric in which he targeted Mexican-Americans, blacks and Muslims.