Protesters clashed with police - sometimes violently - on the streets of Washington D.C. on Friday as Donald Trump was inaugurated as the nation's 45th president.
Some 270 demonstrators were arrested throughout the day as multiple protests erupted throughout the city.
Police in riot gear blocked dissenters from accessing the inaugural parade route where Trump and his supporters were celebrating.
Many of the protesters were peaceful. But others - some wearing black hats and masks - left a trail of destruction behind.
Demonstrators hurled rocks and bricks at police, smashed storefront windows and lit trash cans and at least one car on fire, sending thick black smoke unfurling into the air. Police retaliated with pepper spray and stun grenades.
An Atlanta Journal-Constitution photographer and reporter were among those doused in pepper spray by police.
Six officers suffered minor injuries, according the city’s interim Police Chief Peter Newsham.
The confrontations began about an hour before Trump took the oath of office and escalated several hours later as the crowd of protesters swelled to more than 1,000, some wearing gas masks and with arms chained together inside PVC pipe.
Two blocks away from McPherson Square, where a large group held a planned, permitted and peaceful demonstration, a radical group set a limo on fire.
As police advanced, a group intervened to try to calm tensions and invoked the “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” gesture, a reference to Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager shot by police in Ferguson, Missouri.
Police responded by spraying mace, which hit the crowd and media covering the melee, including AJC photographer Hyosub Shin and AJC reporter Jeff Ernsthausen. Both emerged unharmed.
Ernsthausen said he was preparing to shoot video when he was struck.
“The moment I lifted my phone and pointed it at the scene, the mace hit me in the eyes,” Ernsthausen said.
Bystanders helped him flush the pepper spray out with water.
“My eyes were really burning,” he said.
The demonstrations drew a mix of people from around the country who said thet were inspired to trek to the nation’s capitol to voice their opposition to a president they say doesn’t speak for them.
Avery Raines, a 22-year old University of Georgia grad who participated in a protest against climate change on Friday, said that she and others like her weren’t there to halt access to the inauguration, but that they wanted to “let the administration know exactly what they’re going to be up against for the next four years.”
Andrew Vargo of Indianapolis was with his father Brad Butler and his aunt Sherry Stiver. The trio hoisted a three-part sign that read fascist.
“He doesn’t represent who we are as people or America as a whole,” Vargo said,
They listened to the inauguration through loudspeakers set up along the parade route.
Stiver said it made her “terribly sad.”
“I couldn’t believe this was happening. We wanted to be part of this demonstration,” she said.
Julia Moroles lives in Washington and joined the protests mid afternoon.
“Trump was the worst thing that could have possibly happened to America,” Moroles said.
She is half Mexican and and has been outraged about Trump’s comments about Mexico.
“It really breaks my heart,” said Morales, who was born in Minneapolis. “I don’t feel safe in my own country.”
Some D.C. residents were upset by the dark turn the day took.
Bill Wiggins works in the area and was disappointed at how violent things became. He confronted protesters who were kicking in a limo’s windows.
“There’s a right way and a wrong way to protest,” he said. “Washington is used to demonstrations. But destroy people’s property and that’s all anyone will remember, not your cause.”
About an hour later the limo was in flames.
In Atlanta, several hundred protesters marched to City Hall on Friday to voice their unhappiness with Trump's proposed plans to crack down on illegal immigration. They want Atlanta to declare itself a sanctuary city.
Demonstrations are expected to continue on Saturday with a large women's march slated to take place in Washington D.C. Another march is planned for Atlanta which will begin at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights and end at the state Capitol. U.S. Rep. John Lewis, who clashed recently with Trump, is set to address the Atlanta rally.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Jeff Ernsthausen and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
About the Author
