Thousands join US women’s marches despite discord

WASHINGTON: Thousands of women marched Saturday in the US capital and across the country to convey a now-annual message opposing Donald Trump and supporting women's rights, but internal divisions appeared to steal some energy from the rallies.

In Washington, demonstrators arriving by car, bus or subway converged on the city's Freedom Plaza and marched defiantly past the nearby Trump International Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue. Many wore pink "pussy" hats to protest Trump's demeaning comments about women.

"We need to stand up for women all over the world -- for races, gender, sexual orientation," said Ann Caroline, 27, herself wearing a pink hat.

Some marchers carried posters portraying Trump as a Russian "puppet." Others decried his comments about women or minority groups, while many demanded his impeachment. Just blocks away, the president spoke to reporters outside the White House before traveling briefly to Dover, Delaware for a ceremony to receive the remains of four Americans killed in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group in Syria. He made no public comment about the marches.

As in earlier years, thousands of women joined demonstrations in cities across the United States, and around the world, though most turnouts appeared far short of the earlier women´s events.

In New York, several hundred people converged on Manhattan's Foley Square, near the Brooklyn Bridge. Many more took part in a separate march in Central Park organized by women angered by what they saw as the anti-Semitism of one women´s march leader.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the newly elected Democratic congresswoman who has emerged as a progressive favorite and a bugbear of conservatives, spoke at both New York rallies. "Last year we brought the power to the polls, and this year we need to make sure that we translate that power into policy," she said at the Central Park rally, to loud cheers. "That means we won´t let anyone take our rights away."

Among the protesters was Nydia Leaf, an energetic, pink-hatted 86-year-old taking part in her third women´s march. She told AFP she would "keep opposing Donald Trump and his policies. Look at what he´s done at the border, look at the shutdown -- every year there is a new atrocity."

In contrast to the 2017 march, which drew more than three million nationwide, and last year´s event, when hundreds of thousands rallied, Washington police said they expected perhaps 20,000 demonstrators this year.