Demonstrations erupted in U.S. cities Wednesday and early Thursday morning in protest of Donald Trump's presidential victory, with high school and college students from coast to coast staging walkouts.
Thousands of protesters marched in the streets of New York City chanting, "Not my president," and "hey, hey, ho, ho Donald Trump has got to go," as they weaved through traffic toward the Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue. According to police, around 60 people were arrested by the end of the night.
Some of the protesters cursed out key battleground states that Trump had won to secure victory. Outside Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan police installed barricades to keep the demonstrators at bay. And at least 30 people were arrested at the two Columbus Circle and Trump Tower demonstrations, according to police.
Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago also saw thousands of anti-Trump activists gathered outside the building. Authorities say police have been stationed outside the hotel and condominium tower since it was apparent the Republican had defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Protesters also took to the streets of Boston, chanting "Trump's a racist" and carrying signs that said, "Impeach Trump" and "Abolish Electoral College." Thousands gathered on Boston Common before marching toward the Massachusetts Statehouse, with beefed up security, including extra police officers.
Hundreds of protesters gathered near Philadelphia's City Hall despite chilly, wet weather. Participants — who included supporters of Clinton and her Democratic primary challenger Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders — expressed anger at both Republicans and Democrats over the election's outcome.
Marchers protesting Trump's election as president chanted and carried signs in front of the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.
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Local media outlets broadcast video Wednesday night showing a peaceful crowd in front of the new downtown hotel. Many chanted, "No racist USA, no trump, no KKK."
Another group stood outside the White House. They held candles, listened to speeches and sang songs.
Earlier Wednesday, protesters at American University burned U.S. flags on campus.
Protests also were reported at a number of universities in California and Connecticut, while several hundred people marched in San Francisco and others gathered outside City Hall in Los Angeles.
Earlier in the day, hundreds of students from three Phoenix high schools walked out of class and marched to the Arizona Capitol building expressing anger and dismay at the election results.
A spontaneous gathering at the University of Texas campus sparked a walkout as hundreds of students left their classrooms to join demonstrators in a march through downtown Austin. Chanting, "out of your houses and into the streets," protesters waved hand-scrawled signs proclaiming Trump racist and anti-gay as they walked near the Texas Capitol — their number growing as they went.
In the northeast, more than 500 people, mostly students, faculty and staff, marched across the University of Connecticut carrying signs that read, "Make America Love Again," and "Immigrants are People Too."
Many expressed anger and disappointment, and said they plan to fight Trump's agenda, including his proposal to build a wall at the Mexican border and not letting Muslims into the country.
"Last night people across this country said I don't belong here, even though I was born and raised here," said Eeman Abbasi, a junior from Orange, Connecticut who is Muslim.
Protesters chanting, "we will not be silenced" and carrying signs that read, "He Will Never Be My President," gathered on the steps of the Massachusetts Statehouse.
The demonstrators, most hailing from Boston-area colleges, said they were shocked and disillusioned by Clinton's loss.
Meaghan Schaefer, a 19-year-old political communication student at Emerson College, said she was angry that the country was so close to seeing its first woman become president and that she lost to a man with no political experience.
The only major violence was reported in Oakland, California, during a protest that began shortly before midnight and lasted into early Wednesday morning.
Some demonstrators set garbage bins on fire, broke windows and sprayed graffiti at five businesses in the downtown area, police said. No arrests were made.
Thousands of demonstrators returned to Oakland's Frank Ogawa Plaza Wednesday evening. But the event was soon declared an unlawful by police after bottles, rocks and firecrackers were thrown at officers. Police used tear gas and flash-bang grenades to disperse a crowd that had swelled to over 6,000 people. At one point, protesters also set off fireworks in response to police attempts to move in.
In Oregon, dozens of people blocked traffic in downtown Portland and forced a delay for trains on two light-rail lines. Media reports said the crowd grew to about 300 people, including some who sat in the middle of a road. The crowd of anti-Trump protesters burned American flags and chanted, "That's not my president."
In Seattle, about 100 protesters gathered in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, blocked roads and set a trash bin on fire.
In Pennsylvania, hundreds of University of Pittsburgh students marched through the streets, with some in the crowd calling for unity. Campus protests also erupted at the University of Texas, the University of Connecticut, the University of California, Berkeley and other University of California campuses.
On Twitter, the hashtag "NotMyPresident" had been used nearly half a million times.
The Oakland protest grew to about 250 people by late Tuesday. Police Officer Marco Marquez said protesters damaged five businesses, breaking windows and spraying graffiti. No arrests were made.
A woman was struck by a car and severely injured when protesters got onto a highway, the California Highway Patrol said. Demonstrators vandalized the driver's SUV before officers intervened. The highway was closed for about 20 minutes.
Oakland is a hotbed of violent protest in the San Francisco Bay Area. Two years ago, demonstrators briefly shut down two freeways, vandalized police cars and looted businesses when a Missouri grand jury decided not to indict a white police officer in the fatal shooting of a black teenager in Ferguson.
Nearly 80 people were arrested after a night in 2010 that saw rioters use metal bats to break store windows, set fires and loot after a white transit police officer was acquitted of murder and convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the slaying of an unarmed black man.
Elsewhere in California, more than 1,000 students at Berkeley High School staged a walk-out and marched to the campus of the University of California.
