Women’s march

Thousands of women were gathering yesterday in the US capital and across the country for their 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 as they prepared to march defiantly past the nearby Trump International Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue. “We need to stand up for women all over the world -- for races, gender, sexual orientation which are often misunderstood,” said Ann Caroline, 27, herself wearing a pink hat. Some marchers carried signs portraying Trump as a Russian “puppet.”

Other placards decried his comments about women or minority groups, while some demanded his impeachment. Just blocks away, the president spoke to reporters outside the White House before travelling briefly to Dover, Delaware to console family members of four Americans killed in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group in Syria. Trump was to return to Washington for a 4:00 pm (2100 GMT) announcement about border security and the partial government shutdown affecting the country.

As in earlier years, women were expected to join demonstrations in cities across the United States, and around the world. In New York, several hundred people had converged on Manhattan’s Foley Square, near the Brooklyn Bridge, by late morning. Among the protesters was Nydia Leaf, an energetic, pink-hatted 86-year-old taking part in her third women’s march.