Anti-Trump protesters, attendees clash at Washington ‘Deploraball’

Hundreds also demonstrated in New Zealand’s capital Wellington as well as in Auckland at the start of a day that will culminate with marches in Washington, where more than 200,000 are expected, and across dozens of U.S. cities.

Lisa Kinsella and her step daughter are among the many Canadians who travelled to Washington, D.C. for the protest.

“We’re not marching as an anti-Trump movement per se, we’re marching to protest the hate speech, the hateful rhetoric, the misogyny, the bigotry, the xenophobia and we want to present a united voice with women around the globe”, said an organiser Mindy Freiband. “Celebs hurt cause badly”, Mr Trump said early Sunday in a Twitter post.

Organizers for the Women’s March on Washington say they are expecting a few hundred thousand people Saturday to rally at the USA capitol and along the National Mall.

U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier and another woman wear their pink protest hats, symbols of the anti-Trump women’s march, as people gather prior to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, January 20, 2017.

Women’s March organizers estimated some 500,000 participants turned up in Washington on Saturday, about double their initial predictions.

America Ferrera was just one of several other A-list celebrities that joined in for the Women’s March.

While Trump won 42 per cent of the women’s vote in the USA, many worry that gender rights and other progress on women’s health, contraception and abortion could be chipped away.

He accused the media of attacks on the new president, saying “we’re not going to sit around and take it”.

If there was any doubt remaining, hundreds of thousands of women and men made clear that we are a nation in disagreement.

As the crowd gathers outside the National Museum of the American Indian, on the National Mall, NPR’s Sarah McCammon reports many marchers are chanting and carrying signs expressing support for abortion rights and LGBTQ rights.

Police chased a group of about 100 protesters who smashed the windows of businesses including a Starbucks, Bank of America and McDonald’s as they denounced capitalism and Trump.

Demonstrations unfolded at security checkpoints around the Capitol as protesters attempted to block people from getting through to watch the swearing-in ceremony.

That figure was lower than President Obama’s first inauguration in 2009, when 38 million viewers tuned in, according to Nielsen.