AFP, WASHINGTON: Hundreds of protesters demonstrating against Donald Trump clashed with guests leaving an event in honour of the new US president in Washington on Thursday, prompting police to use chemical spray on the crowd.The protesters, who heckled guests and shouted foul language at people leaving the “Deploraball”, also burned protest signs, creating a smoke-filled scene in front of the National Press Building, where the event was held.
Dozens of police, many in riot gear, were on scene, with some trying to help ball-goers, dressed in tuxedos and evening dresses, leave the area as demonstrators chased them down the street.
Although largely peaceful at first, the protest grew more ragged as the night drew on.
Several prominent members of the so-called “alt-right” movement reportedly organized or were to attend the event, held on the eve of Trump’s inauguration.
“They don’t care about diversity, they don’t care about different people, they don’t care about homosexuals, they don’t care about women, most importantly to me, anyway, as a woman,” protester Alex Christopher, who traveled to Washington from West Virginia, told AFP.
Brandon Bourg, a 22-year-old law student attending the “Deploraball” from Louisiana told AFP: “You know—First Amendment, freedom of speech, freedom to be violent, it’s good.”
“Violence solves things... but I mean, we’re the ones that won in the end,” he said.
The name of the event is a play on Hillary Clinton’s campaign statement criticizing half of Trump’s supporters as a “basket of deplorables.”
Trump will be sworn in as the 45th president of the United States Friday, with an estimated 800,000 people expected to gather on the National Mall to watch.
Small demonstrations have already popped up across the city center with protesters declaring Trump illegitimate. A much larger rally is planned for Saturday.
Another reports from New York adds: A-list celebrities joined several thousand protesters on the streets of New York on Thursday night to demonstrate against Donald Trump on the eve of the incoming Republican president’s inauguration.
Hollywood actors Robert de Niro and Alec Baldwin, Oscar-winning director Michael Moore and singer Cher were among those who joined the noisy gathering close to the Trump International Hotel on Central Park South.
A crowd of several thousand people thronged Columbus Circle and Central Park West, the boulevard outside the five-star hotel.
“Fight Trump every day” and “justice and civil rights for all,” read placards at the rally in the president-elect’s hometown, where a majority of people voted for his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in last year’s election.
Baldwin, who lampoons Trump in a regular slot on comedy TV show “Saturday Night Live” to rave reviews and repeated Twitter drubbings from the thin-skinned Republican billionaire, took to the podium to do his Trump impression.
“Are we going to have 100 days of resistance?” he said, revving up the crowd and switching to his regular voice. “Fantastic!” he hollered.
“He does not rule with a mandate,” Moore said in reference to Clinton’s win of the popular vote and Americans who voted for independent candidates.
“We are the majority. Don’t give up. I won’t give up,” he said.
“He will not last four years.”
De Niro also sought to inspire the crowd to not waver in their convictions.
“Whatever happens, we Americans, we New Yorkers, we patriots, will stand united for our rights and for the rights of our fellow citizens,” he said.