NEW YORK (AP) – Thousands of protesters and heavy security were ready to greet President Donald Trump as he headed for his home in the city on Monday for the first time since his inauguration.
Demonstrators stood in pens that police erected across the street from Trump Tower in Manhattan and lined nearby blocks of Fifth Avenue by early Monday evening, hours before his expected arrival. So did a far smaller crowd of Trump supporters.
Some protesters carried signs with such messages as “impeach” and “the White House is no place for white supremacy” as chants including “not my president” and “love, not hate – that’s what makes America great” rose above traffic noise. Nearby, an inflatable, rat-like caricature of Trump stood by The Plaza hotel.
The Rev. Jan Powell, a retired minister of the United Church of Christ, carried a sign that read “No justice, no peace” as she stood opposite Trump’s signature tower.
She said she was bothered by the Republican president’s response to the white supremacist rally that descended into violence Saturday in Virginia. But “what bothers me the most is when folks like Trump try to silence our First Amendment right to free speech, either with violence or ‘fake news’ or hate speech,” Powell said.