2025 People's March People's March on Washington | |
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Part of Protests against Donald Trump | |
Date | January 18, 2025 |
Location | United States, mainly in Washington, D.C. |
Goals | "To protect progress, resist harmful policies, and fight for justice and equality. Women's Rights are Human Rights" [1] Women's rights, LGBTQ+ rights |
Methods | Protest march |
Official websites: PeoplesMarch.com |
The People's March [2] [3] [4] , also known as the People's March on Washington [5] , was a political rally that took place on January 18, 2025, two days before the second inauguration of Donald Trump as the president of the United States. Organized by Women's March, Abortion Rights Now, Sierra Club, Planned Parenthood, ACLU and National Women's Law Center, an estimated 50,000 people were expected to attend the People's March on Washington event. [6] [7] [8] [9] [ excessive citations ]
The goals of the People's March was to "help participants find a political home", adverting it as a “a day of joyful resistance, community building, and powerful action" and addressed topics such as women's rights, reproductive's rights, environmental issues, racial justice, LGBTQ rights, immigration, anti-militarism, climate change, and democracy, rather than focusing on Donald Trump. [4] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [ excessive citations ] Unlike the 2017 Women's March, the People's March was less significant and attracted less crowds than the previous marches. Similar to the other marches, the crowds were peaceful. [15]
In early-November 2016, following Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's victory as the president-elect of the United States over Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, Melissa Miotke created a Facebook event to protest a march in Washington. With others organizing similar events and many women signing up to protest, the Women's March on Washington was later established.
The first Women's March, which was also known as the Women's March on Washington, was officially held on January 21, 2017, the day after the first inauguration of Donald Trump as a worldwide protest. [16] The 2017 Women's March at that time was the largest single-day protest in U.S. history, which was surpassed three years later by the George Floyd protests. In the United States, the Women's March on Washington event drew in around 470,000 people, while over an estimated 3,267,134 and 5,246,670 people attended in over 408 rallies. The total worldwide participation for the 2017 Women's March was estimated to be over seven million. Similar Women's March events were held in the following years, including those in 2018, 2019 and 2020. However, the Women's March dealt with allegations of racism and antisemitism. [4]
Unlike the previous 2017 Women's March and its follow-ups, the event was rebranded to "People's March". [17] Penny Nance, the CEO of Concerned Women for America, was originally split on the decision of rebranding. [18] On a November 8 planning call, following Donald Trump's victory, Middleton referred to the People's March as "our big one" and wanted the march to overshadow his second inauguration, like those in 2017. [18] However, later on, the organizers wanted to "provide an entry point for people who feel inspired to do something after Trump won a second term" rather than copying the 2017 Women's March, with Middleton saying that "Saturday isn't an attempt to recreate the energy of the 2017 March". [19] Tamika's spokesperson stated that the managing director of the Women's March "sees the need for everyone to be included in the fight against what is coming". [18]
Tamika Middleton, the managing director of the Women's March, stated that calling the event the "People's March" is a response to attempts to "what they see as a "call to community" within their base". [17] [20] Middleton said that the 2025 People's March would "look like the 2017 version" and that many activists were "entering the new Trump era with feelings of exhaustion" and even "despair". [21] She explained that the reaction to Trump's second win "feel different" from 2017. [22] She also stated that the People's March was a group effort. [11]
In Philadelphia, several Center City streets were closed and parking lots were restricted for the People's March. [23] [24] In Washington, where the People's March on Washington was being held at, traffic was affected and several roads were closed. [25] The People's March was held under a heavy police presence to avoid clashes between the protesters and those who supported Donald Trump. [15]
On November 7, 2024, following Republican Donald Trump's second victory as the president-elect of the United States in the 2024 presidential election, which was previously announced the day prior, The Washington Post announced that the Women's March organization had planned a series of major protests in response to his projected win over Democratic presidential nominee and vice president Kamala Harris, taking place in Washington, D.C. on January 18, 2025. [6] The event began at Farragut Square, Franklin Square, and McPherson Square at around 10:00 a.m., before stopping at the Lincoln Memorial by 1:00 p.m. and hosting a two-hour rally until 3:00 p.m. [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [ excessive citations ] During the event, a Trump supporter walked in front of the crowd, stopping the march briefly, but police removed him. [15]
By January 17, 2025, the day before the People's March, 90,600 people were expected to attend approximately 350 marches throughout cities in the United States, including those in New York City, [31] [32] Boston, [33] Seattle, [34] Portland, [35] and Chicago. [36] [37] Internationally, protests were held in Canada. [38] In the United Kingdom, protests occurred in cities such as Manchester, Liverpool, and Plymouth. [39] [40] [41] Fast Company reported that 72,000 people had RSVPed for numerous rallies. [26] The Toronto People’s March took place in Toronto on the same day as the People's March. [42]
The People's March on Washington organizers expected the march to attract 50,000 attendees, [43] [44] significantly lower than the attendance of the 2017 Women's March. [2] [9] [14] [45] [46] [47] [ excessive citations ] Additionally, according to The Hill , leaders of women’s organizations had no interest in participating in the march. [48] Organizers did not "expect the same level of turnout as the 2017's Woman March" and said that "they do not see it as an indication that the movement is any weaker". [49] Several experts suggested reasons for the low numbers of the crowd, such as "possible fatigue". Analilia Mejia said “As many organizers, I’m focused on, what was it that kept so many of our community from participating? What was it that they didn’t hear? What is it that they need to engage on?”. [50]
Protests were held in the following U.S. cities:
Protests against Donald Trump have occurred in the United States and internationally since his entry into the 2016 presidential campaign. Protests have expressed opposition to Trump's campaign rhetoric, his electoral win, his first inauguration, his alleged history of sexual misconduct and various presidential actions, most notably his travel ban in 2017 and aggressive family separation policy in 2018. Some protests have taken the form of walk-outs, business closures, and petitions as well as rallies, demonstrations, and marches. While most protests have been peaceful, actionable conduct such as vandalism and assaults on Trump supporters has occurred. Some protesters have been criminally charged with rioting. The largest organized protest against Trump was the day after his first inauguration; millions protested on January 21, 2017, during the Women's March, with each individual city's protest taken into consideration, makes it the largest single-day protest in the history of the United States. Following Trump's victory in the 2024 presidential election, a new wave of protests was held in reaction to his second presidency.
The Women's March was a worldwide protest on January 21, 2017, the day after the first inauguration of Donald Trump as the president of the United States. It was prompted by Trump's policy positions and rhetoric, which were and are seen as misogynistic and representative as a threat to the rights of women. It was at the time the largest single-day protest in U.S. history, being surpassed 3 years later by the George Floyd protests. The goal of the annual marches is to advocate legislation and policies regarding human rights and other issues, including women's rights, immigration reform, healthcare reform, disability justice, reproductive rights, the environment, LGBTQ rights, racial equality, freedom of religion, workers' rights and tolerance. According to organizers, the goal was to "send a bold message to our new administration on their first day in office, and to the world that women's rights are human rights".
The DeploraBall was an unofficial inaugural ball event organized by GOTV group MAGA3X and held at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on the evening of January 19, 2017, to celebrate the victory and inauguration of Donald Trump. The event fomented controversy due to its alleged association with members of the alt-right, and triggered violent protests outside the venue while the event went on as scheduled inside. In addition to the MAGA3X event, the "DeploraBall" name has also been used to refer to additional events for Trump supporters in Washington, D.C., and other locations. The name is a play on Hillary Clinton's "basket of deplorables" comment made during her 2016 presidential election campaign.
The Women's March on Seattle was the Seattle affiliate of the worldwide 2017 Women's March protest on January 21, 2017. Newspapers including The Seattle Times said it was Seattle's largest protest march in history.
Numerous protests in opposition to Donald Trump took place during his candidacy then his presidency. The demonstrations were largely organized and made up of left-wing American citizens throughout the United States. Protests at times were attacked by Trump-supporters and sometimes violent towards Trump supporters.
The Tax March was a series of demonstrations held in more than 150 locations throughout the United States on April 15, 2017. The intent was to pressure U.S. President Donald Trump to release his tax returns.
"Not My Presidents Day" was a series of rallies against the president of the United States, Donald Trump, held on Washington's Birthday, February 20, 2017. Protests were held in dozens of cities throughout the United States. Demonstrations were also held outside London's Houses of Parliament.
There were several protests organized by the LGBTQ community against the policies of United States President Donald Trump and his administration.
The 2018 Women's March was a global protest that occurred on January 20, 2018, on the anniversary of the 2017 Women's March.
Protests against the Trump administration family separation policy are a reaction to the Trump administration policy of separating children from their parents or guardians who crossed the U.S. border either illegally or to request asylum, jailing the adults and locating the minors at separate facilities under the care of the Department of Health and Human Services.
During December 17–18, 2019, a series of demonstrations were held in the United States, in support of the impeachment of Donald Trump and his removal from the office of U.S. president. According to organizers MoveOn and Common Cause, more than 600 events were held. The rallies were called "Nobody Is Above the Law" and "Impeach and Remove", and December 17 was dubbed "Impeachment Eve", being held on the day before the House of Representatives' impeachment vote.
Beginning in early April 2020, there were protests in several U.S. states against government-imposed lockdowns in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. The protests, mostly organized by conservative groups and individuals, decried the economic and social impact of stay-at-home orders, business closures, and restricted personal movement and association, and demanded that their respective states be "re-opened" for normal business and personal activity.
Protests began in multiple cities in the United States following the 2020 United States presidential election between then-President Donald Trump and Democratic Party challenger Vice President Joe Biden, held on November 3, 2020. Biden won the election, receiving 81.3 million votes (51.3%) to Trump's 74.2 million (46.9%) and winning the Electoral College by 306 to 232. Biden's victory became clear on November 7, after the ballots had been tabulated. The Electoral College voted on December 14, in accordance with law, formalizing Biden's victory.
Supporters of Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States, held small-scale armed protests and demonstrations at U.S. state capitols in the five days leading up to the inauguration of Joe Biden on January 20, 2021, in opposition to the results of the 2020 United States presidential election, which continued after the failure of the violent January 6 attempt to overturn the election in Trump's favor. Pro-Trump groups failed to stage organized dissent or affect the transition of power in an environment of deterrence and heightened security.
The Justice for J6 rally was a right-wing demonstration in Washington, D.C., in support of hundreds of people who were arrested and charged following the January 6 United States Capitol attack. It occurred on September 18, 2021. The event attracted 100–200 activists. It was organized by a former Trump campaign staffer. The event was noted for extensive security preparations and concerns over possible unrest.
A series of ongoing protests supporting abortion rights and anti-abortion counter-protests began in the United States on May 2, 2022, following the leak of a draft majority opinion for the U.S. Supreme Court case Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which stated that the Constitution of the United States does not confer any reproductive rights, thus overturning Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court officially overturned Roe and Casey in Dobbs, resulting in further protests outside of the U.S. Supreme Court building and across the country, eventually to major cities across the world both in favor of and against the decision.