NEW YORK: Tens of thousands of people around America took to the streets to protest the election of Donald Trump, the fourth straight day of demonstrations against the Republican president-elect. In New York, an estimated 25,000 people covered a 20-block stretch of Fifth Avenue outside Trump Tower, the 58-story skyscraper fortified by the New York Police Department and US Secret Service agents. Two people were arrested, both for trying to hop over a police barricade, a senior police official said. The charges against the two people weren’t immediately clear.
Demonstrators have converged on Trump Tower daily since Trump was elected last week. Saturday’s protest was the largest to date but also orderly, compared with earlier protests, the police official said. On Wednesday, police arrested 65 people, almost all for not following orders to stay out of the street. In Lose Angeles, about 8,000 people swarmed into the city’s downtown in one of the largest anti-Trump gatherings on the West Coast. Throngs of people - including many families and children- filled Wilshire Boulevard, a major city thoroughfare, for a slow planned march downtown. The protesters held signs with slogans that have become familiar in the past few days: “Not My President” and “Reject Hate.”
Some demonstrators wore safety pins - a gesture that has become a global symbol to the marginalized that they are “safe” with the person wearing the pin. Lose Angeles Police said four people were arrested for vandalism and one for “battery on a police officer” late on Saturday night. By then, most protesters had gone home. The “vast majority of Angelenos proved to the world you can speak your mind in a safe and respectful way,” an LA police department statement said on Sunday. Protesters also gathered in Oakland and California, but the crowd was significantly smaller than in the days immediately after the election, when hundreds of people rallied there.
“As someone that can’t vote, this is the most that I can do,” said 17-year-old Bridey Caramango, who has attended three protests since the election. Over the past few days, some demonstrators here left graffiti, broken windows, and burned trash bins in their tracks. Caramango denounced the protesters that come out for “the wrong reasons.” Caramango’s friend, Chloe Smith, 17, said attending this protest is a way for her to cope with the result of the election. “It feels empowering after feeling powerless,” Smith said. “Protests don’t accomplish anything, but at least it shows all the upset that’s been created.”
Late Saturday night, a small group of Trump supporters gathered around the President-elect’s star on Hollywood Boulevard’s Walk of Fame. The group, surrounded by American flags, attracted crowds of TV cameras and onlookers along the busy tourist strip. Trump’s supporters called for unity, and one asked people to “give him a chance” to govern. Trump’s star had been vandalized before the election when someone tried to pry it out of the sidewalk. Protests began around the country just hours after Trump’s election and have continued every night since, in some cases snarling transit and resulting in hundreds of arrests.
Though the largest protests have occurred in blue-state metropolises such as L.A., New York, Oakland and Chicago, there have been smaller demonstrations in red-state cities, including Dallas, Phoenix and Atlanta. Demonstrations also took place internationally. About 300 people protested Trump’s election outside the US Embassy in Berlin. In Mexico City, a group gathered at the city’s Independence monument, expressing concern about a possible wave of deportations.
For the most part, the protests in the US have been peaceful. But violence has flared in some cities as protesters confronted police, smashed windows and vandalized property. During a protest in Portland, Ore., a man was shot and injured after a confrontation with a driver. Police said they arrested two teens in connection with the shooting, but the motive for the shooting is unclear.
At a Saturday afternoon press conference, Portland Mayor Charlie Hales asked residents to stay home instead of protesting and said the movement had been taken over by “people who simply want to fight with police.” Hales listed a number of organizations that support liberal causes - such as the American Civil Liberties Union, the Sierra Club and Human Rights Campaign - and urged citizens upset with the election results to volunteer. “It’s time to get to work on the future that we want. That is difficult work,” said Hales, a Democrat.
Despite the pleas from city leaders to refrain from violent protests, dozens marched in Portland again. Police said protesters threw bottles at officers and attacked a film crew. By 11 p.m. local time, police had arrested 19 protesters. Train service was disrupted again, and some streets were blocked.
Trump to deport 3 mn US migrants sans papers
Trump will keep his campaign promise to deport millions of undocumented migrants from the United States, the US president-elect said in an interview, declaring that as three million could be removed after he takes office. “We are getting them out of our country or we are going to incarcerate (them),” he said.
“What we are going to do is get the people that are criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers, where a lot of these people, probably two million, it could be even three million,” Trump told CBS News. “We're getting them out of our country, they're here illegally,”he said.
Visits White House
Trump came to the White House in Washington on Thursday pledging to work with the outgoing President, and in surprisingly restrained and respectful remarks, even saying he will seek his counsel on important issues. The meeting was supposed to last only 10 or 15 minutes and we were only supposed to get to know each other, but it went on for over 90 minutes and it could have gone longer, Trump said in brief remarks, after recounting that they had never met each other but he had "great respect" for a "fine man." Arriving at the White House with his wife Melania, he was greeted by President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, who had a separate meeting with her counterpart. The 44th US President has promised a smooth transition to the 45th and in keeping with traditions and customs of American democracy, and he reiterated the pledge saying he was encouraged by Trump wanting to work with his team on the issues facing the country, and also wanted to make sure Trump and his wife feel welcome.
Indian judge on Trump's SC nominee list
Eight months after Sri Srinivasan missed out on becoming the first Indian-American judge in the US Supreme Court, another Indian has emerged in the running for the top judicial post. Amul Thapar, 47, a district court judge in the eastern American district of Kentucky, is among the nominees shortlisted for US Supreme Court by Trump. Thapar's name figured in Trump's second list of 21 individuals, announced on September 23. As 45th US president, the business tycoon will be in a position to nominate three SC judges. Venezuelan-born Federico Moreno, 64, who sits in the US district court of Florida, is the only other minority candidate shortlisted.
Bobby Jindal could be secy of health?
Bobby Jindal, a two-term Louisiana governor and the first Indian American to be elected as a state governor, is among the shortlisted candidates for Trump's Cabinet, a media report said. If appointed, the 45-year-old will be the first ever Indian-American to be included in the president's Cabinet and second ever to be elected to the US Congress. The Wall Street Journal said, Jindal is being considered for the position of secretary of health along with Ben Carson. Jindal did not respond to queries on his possible Cabinet position.
