Trump inauguration met with protests

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Trump inauguration met with protests
Police keep rioters on 13th St. and N St. from returning to Logan Square, the site of a riot earlier in the day. Philip H. DeVoe | Collegian

Washington, D.C. — Protesters at Logan Circle and 13th and K streets celebrated President Donald Trump’s inauguration Friday by breaking windows, damaging police cars, and igniting vehicles on fire. Metropolitan police managed to contain the rioters in small pockets around the city through the use of the Special Weapons and Tactics team and lines of policemen on motorcycles.

“Members of the group in a concerted effort engaged in acts of vandalism and several instances of destruction of property,” Washington, D.C., metro police said  in a statement. “More specifically, the group damaged vehicles, destroyed the property of multiple businesses, and ignited smaller isolated fires while armed with crowbars, hammers, and asps.”

The riots come months after President Barack Obama told Americans to stand together and support Trump and the peaceful transition of power.

“The presidency, the vice presidency is bigger than any of us,” Obama said in an address on Nov. 9. “We’re actually all on one team. We’re not Democrats first. We’re not Republicans first. We’re patriots first. We all want what’s best for this country.”

In the hours before the inauguration began, however, rioters damaged a McDonald’s and burned Trump signs before being subdued by police.

At around 4:20 p.m., rioters ignited a black limousine on 13th Street near K Street, and firefighters extinguished it by 4:23 p.m. While blocking spectators from the rioters gathered at Franklin Square and managing the flames, police fired tear gas deterrents into the crowds of rioters, according to a police officer on the scene.

 

A SWAT team member keeps crowds back as smoke from the burning vehicle blocks views of the street. Philip H. DeVoe | Collegian

By 5 p.m., the SWAT team and local police had blocked protesters from advancing east on K Street toward the Capitol.

At Franklin Square, rioters dressed in bandanas and goggles — both to conceal their identity and protect against tear gas — were smoking marijuana and listening to a band and several speakers, including a Native American woman who commended “standing up to the police state” and instructed them to “destroy the police.”

Peaceful protesters, on the other hand, marched and held signs in the Penn Quarter and Downtown, west and north of the White House. Most protesters spoke out against Trump’s statements toward women, while others expressed concern with his stance on the environment.

Jared Goldstein of Providence, Rhode Island, traveled with his son and daughter to speak out against Trump, as well as join the Women’s March on Washington on Saturday.

“I’ve seen a real hostility coming out of people since the election,” Goldstein told The Collegian.

His son, Sam, said he was a Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., supporter throughout the Democratic primary and general election and that he opposes Trump for similar reasons to his father’s.

“He is giving hate a megaphone,” Sam Goldstein said.

Jared Goldstein said he supported Secretary of State Hillary Clinton because she is competent, has experience, and has supported Obama’s healthcare and immigration platforms. He also said he just wanted to oppose Trump.

Eva Munt of the Bloomington, Vermont, area said she supported Sanders during the primary and Clinton for the general election. She, however, said she recognized Clinton’s faults.

“I have an issue with some of her dealings in money, that she was paid by Wall Street for speeches, for example,” Munt said.

Her friend Lynn Holbein, a Clinton supporter throughout both elections, said her issues with Trump emerge from his lack of character and temperament. She said his brash and blunt attitude toward America’s allies worries her.

“The leader of the free world shouldn’t act like that,” Holbein said. “Clinton, on the other hand, is even-tempered and smart.”

Lynn Holbein and Eva Munt (left to right) pose with their signs across from President Trump supporters waiting in line for entrance to the inaugural parade. Philip H. DeVoe | Collegian

Tia Ma and Kathleen McKee from Gainesville, Florida, were protesting in Penn Quarter, with signage reading, “We the people say not legitimate” and “Oval Office is for public servants.”

“I am also concerned about his business deals, and I don’t know that he really cut ties with his businesses,” McKee said.

Ma said her main issue is with Trump’s stance on the environment, especially his pick for the Environmental Protection Agency’s director, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt.

“Our planet is on the crux of a tipping point, and I am severely concerned about the state of the Earth,” Ma said. “President Trump doesn’t care enough and won’t be able to fix this problem.”

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