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A SUV is lighted on fire along K Street near 13th Street after Donald Trump is inaugurated  in Washington, DC, on Friday, January 20, 2017.
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200 arrested as protests become violent in D.C.

Rebecca Droke/Post-Gazette

200 arrested as protests become violent in D.C.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Protests in the nation’s capital Friday were plentiful and passionate — with more than 200 people arrested — as Donald Trump took the oath as the new president, but authorities were able to contain the violence to an area blocks away from the parade route.

Similar demonstrations in cities across the country, including Pittsburgh, were more peaceful.

In Washington, there were small fires, smashed windows and hurled bricks during a daylong assault on the city. Throughout the afternoon and into the evening, police in riot gear clashed with protesters near Franklin Square in northwest D.C., firing off rounds of pepper spray to disperse crowds in more than 60 authorized protests.

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The tension started in the early morning, as several protest groups formed human barriers to block entrance to security checkpoints outside the parade route. It continued at Inaugurate the Resistance, a protest organized by the Answer Coalition that had an unexpectedly low turnout because of long wait times at the checkpoints. Pointing to a half-empty courtyard at the Navy Memorial site, organizer John Prysner blamed the Secret Service and inaugural committee, accusing them of trying to silence the protest’s message.

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“The extent of it is pretty egregious,” Mr. Prysner said. “We were hoping it would be a little easier. We had it planned to have a lot of space for people to come in, and the only reason this square isn’t completely filled is because of the people stuck outside.”

 

 

Several attendees complained of waiting more than three hours to get through security, especially at the main entrance to the resistance protest on 7th Street and D Street —which was shut down for long stretches of timewithout explanation.

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As Mr. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence passed the courtyard on the route, protesters chanted “Not my president!” and “Dump Trump!” Several in the crowd booed the police motorcade that preceded — chanting “Black lives matter” — and yelled at Trump supporters  seated in a special viewing area on the other side of the road.

Simon Stroh, a freshman at Penn State University, said he came to Washington to protest peacefully because the election impacted him.

“After the election, I cried my eyes out,” Mr. Stroh said. “It was just because Ii was thinking about how all the people I care about, the people I love, they’re affected by this. It really brought out a lot of emotion in me.”

Washington’s interim police chief, Peter Newsham, said his force was ready for the confrontations. “They began to destroy property, throw objects at people, through windows. A large percentage of this small group was armed with crowbars and hammers.” 

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Six officers suffered minor injuries, he said.

In Pittsburgh, Mayor Bill Peduto said authorities were monitoring demonstrations Friday and would be doing so again today.

“The police bureau has been following social media, as well,” he said. “I would say the most important thing is that everybody has a right that they're given when they're born as an American to express their political beliefs, but that right does not allow violence. As we watch and monitor, we're being cognizant of the fact that emotions may run high.”

Protesters in several Pittsburgh neighborhoods joined their counterparts around the nation Friday airing grievances against Mr. Trump. Gatherings in the city drew a small police presence but largely remained peaceful.

More than 100 people joined a protest led by Socialist Alternative Pittsburgh at Point State Park in Downtown, which later turned into a march through the Golden Triangle. The march lasted about an hour, and no arrests were made even though protesters were not licensed to walk in the streets.

In San Francisco, thousands formed a human chain on the Golden Gate Bridge and chanted “Love Trumps hate.” In the city’s financial district, a few hundred protesters blocked traffic outside an office building partly owned by Mr. Trump.

In Atlanta, protests converged at City Hall and a few hundred people chanted and waved signs protesting Mr. Trump, denouncing racism and police brutality and expressing support for immigrants, Muslims and the Black Lives Matter movement.

In Nashville, half a dozen protesters chained themselves to the doors of the Tennessee Capitol. Hundreds also sat in a 10-minute silent protest at a park while Mr. Trump took the oath of office. Organizers led a prayer, sang patriotic songs and read the Declaration of Independence aloud.

In the Pacific Northwest, demonstrators in Portland, Ore., burned U.S. flags and students at Portland State University walked out of classes. About 200 protesters gathered on the Capitol steps in Olympia, Wash., carrying signs that included the messages “Resist Trump” and Not My Problem.” Olympia police reported about 100 marchers causing traffic disruptions downtown, and protesters also marched in Seattle.

The confrontations in Washington, D.C.,  began an hour before Mr. 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. One said the demonstrators were “bringing in the cavalry.”

When some crossed police lines, taunting, “Put the pigs in the ground,” police charged with batons and pepper spray, as well as stun grenades, which were used to shock and disperse crowds. Loud booms echoed through the streets about six blocks from where Mr. Trump would soon hold his inaugural parade. Some protesters picked up bricks and concrete from the sidewalk and hurled them at police lines. Some rolled large, metal trash cans at police.

Later, they set fire to a limousine on the perimeter of the secured zone, sending black smoke billowing into the sky during Mr. Trump’s procession.

As night fell, protesters set a bonfire blocks from the White House and frightened well-dressed Trump supporters as they ventured to the new president’s inaugural balls. Police briefly ordered ball goers to remain inside their hotel as they worked to contain advancing protesters.

Police said they charged 217 people with rioting, said Chief Newsham, noting that the group caused “significant damage” along a number of blocks.

Before Inauguration Day, the DisruptJ20 coalition, named after the date of the inauguration, had promised that people participating in its actions in Washington would attempt to shut down the celebrations, risking arrest when necessary.

Trump supporter Brett Ecker said the protesters were frustrating but weren’t going to put a damper on his day.

“They’re just here to stir up trouble,” said the 36-year-old public school teacher. “It upsets me a little bit that people choose to do this, but yet again, it’s one of the things I love about this country.”

At one checkpoint, protesters wore orange jumpsuits with black hoods over their faces to represent prisoners in U.S. detention at Guantanamo Bay. Eleanor Goldfield, who helped organize the DisruptJ20 protest, said protesters wanted to show Mr. Trump and his “misguided, misinformed or just plain dangerous” supporters that they won’t be silent.

Black Lives Matter and feminist groups also made their voices heard. Outside the International Spy Museum, protesters in Russian hats ridiculed Mr. Trump’s praise of President Vladimir Putin, marching with signs calling Mr. Trump “Putin’s Puppet” and “Kremlin employee of the month.”

The demonstrations aren’t expected to end when Mr. Trump takes up residence in the White House.

A massive Women’s March on Washington is planned for today. Christopher Geldart, the District of Columbia’s homeland security director, has said 1,800 buses have registered to park in the city, which could mean nearly 100,000 people coming in just by bus.

The Associated Press and Post-Gazette staff writers Andrew Goldstein and Adam Smeltz contributed. 

First Published: January 21, 2017, 5:20 a.m.

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A SUV is lighted on fire along K Street near 13th Street after Donald Trump is inaugurated in Washington, DC, on Friday, January 20, 2017.  (Rebecca Droke/Post-Gazette)
A protester jumps on an SUV parked along K Street near 13th Street after Donald Trump is inaugurated in Washington, DC, on Friday, January 20, 2017.  (Rebecca Droke/Post-Gazette)
A woman climbs down from the top of a bus shelter as smoke billows from a SUV that was lighted on fire along K Street near 13th Street after Donald Trump is inaugurated in Washington, DC, on Friday, January 20, 2017.  (Rebecca Droke/Post-Gazette)
Protesters chant "Let them Go," before police pepper spray them at the intersection of 12th and L Street NW in Washington, DC, on Friday, January 20, 2017. Police were arresting protesters when another large group of protesters joined the crowd gathered at 12th and L St.  (Rebecca Droke/Post-Gazette)
Police chase down and arrest a protester along L Street after they tried to disperse a crowd gathered at the intersection of 12 St. and L. Street NW in Washington, DC, on Friday, January 20, 2017. Police used pepper spray and smoke bombs in an attempt to disperse the crowd.  (Rebecca Droke/Post-Gazette)
Police in riot gear brace themselves as bricks and sticks are thrown at them during a protest along K Street near 13th Street after Donald Trump is inaugurated in Washington, DC, on Friday, January 20, 2017.  (Rebecca Droke/Post-Gazette)
Police push back protesters after someone lighted an SUV on fire along K Street near 13th Street after Donald Trump is inaugurated in Washington, DC, on Friday, January 20, 2017.  (Rebecca Droke/Post-Gazette)
A crowd gathers around a garbage can fire lit by protesters at 13t and K Street NW in Washington, DC, on Friday, January 20, 2017.  (Rebecca Droke/Post-Gazette)
Rebecca Droke/Post-Gazette
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