Thousands of anti-Trump protesters take to streets of U.S. cities

Demonstrators marched in cities across the United States on Wednesday to protest against Republican Donald Trump’s surprise presidential election win, blasting his campaign rhetoric about immigrants, Muslims and other groups.

In New York, thousands filled streets in midtown Manhattan as they made their way to Trump Tower, Trump’s gilded home on Fifth Avenue. Hundreds of others gathered at a Manhattan park and shouted “Not my president.”

In Los Angeles, protesters sat on the 110 and 101 highway interchange, blocking traffic on one of the city’s main arteries as police in riot gear tried to clear them. Some 13 protesters were arrested, a local CBS affiliate reported.

An earlier rally and march in Los Angeles drew more than 5,000 people, many of them high school and college students, local media reported.

A demonstration of more than 6,000 people blocked traffic in Oakland, California, police said. Protesters threw objects at police in riot gear, burned trash in the middle of an intersection, set off fireworks and smashed store front windows.

Police responded by throwing chemical irritants at the protesters, according to a Reuters witness.

Two officers were injured in Oakland and two police squad cars were damaged, Johnna Watson, spokeswoman for the Oakland Police Department told CNN.

In downtown Chicago, an estimated 1,800 people gathered outside the Trump International Hotel and Tower, chanting phrases like “No Trump! No KKK! No racist USA.”

Chicago police closed roads in the area, impeding the demonstrators’ path. There were no immediate reports of arrests or violence there.

An officer examines a vandalized police vehicle as demonstrators riot in Oakland, California, U.S. following the election of Republican Donald Trump as President of the United States November 9, 2016. REUTERS/Noah Berger
An officer examines a vandalized police vehicle as demonstrators riot in Oakland, California, U.S. following the election of Republican Donald Trump as President of the United States November 9, 2016. (Photo: REUTERS/Noah Berger)
Police arrest a demonstrator as protesters riot in Oakland, California, U.S. following the election of Republican Donald Trump as President of the United States November 9, 2016. REUTERS/Noah Berger
Police arrest a demonstrator as protesters riot in Oakland, California, U.S. following the election of Republican Donald Trump as President of the United States November 9, 2016. (Photo: REUTERS/Noah Berger)
A masked demonstrator gestures toward a police line during a demonstration in Oakland, California, U.S. following the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States November 9, 2016. REUTERS/Stephen Lam
A masked demonstrator gestures toward a police line during a demonstration in Oakland, California, U.S. following the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States November 9, 2016. (Photo: REUTERS/Stephen Lam)
A pile of burning garbage set by demonstrators is seen on Broadway during a demonstration in Oakland, California, U.S. following the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States November 9, 2016. REUTERS/Stephen Lam
A pile of burning garbage set by demonstrators is seen on Broadway during a demonstration in Oakland, California, U.S. following the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States November 9, 2016. (Photo: REUTERS/Stephen Lam)
Demonstrators run on Telegraph Avenue after police deployed teargas during a demonstration in Oakland, California, U.S. following the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States November 9, 2016. REUTERS/Stephen Lam
Demonstrators run on Telegraph Avenue after police deployed tear gas during a demonstration in Oakland, California, U.S. following the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States November 9, 2016. (Photo: REUTERS/Stephen Lam)

“I’m just really terrified about what is happening in this country,” said 22-year-old Adriana Rizzo in Chicago, who was holding a sign that read: “Enjoy your rights while you can.”

In Seattle, police responded to a shooting with multiple victims near the scene of anti-Trump protests. Police said it was unrelated to the demonstrations.

Protesters railed against Trump’s campaign pledge to build a wall along the border with Mexico to keep immigrants from entering the United States illegally.

Hundreds also gathered in Philadelphia, Boston and Portland, Oregon, on Wednesday evening. In Austin, the Texas capital, about 400 people marched through the streets, police said.

A representative of the Trump campaign did not respond immediately to requests for comment on the protests. Trump said in his victory speech he would be president for all Americans, saying: “It is time for us to come together as one united people.”

Earlier this month, his campaign rejected the support of a Ku Klux Klan newspaper and said that “Mr. Trump and his campaign denounces hate in any form.”

“DREAMERS” FEAR DEPORTATION

Earlier on Wednesday, some 1,500 students and teachers rallied in the courtyard of Berkeley High School, in a San Francisco Bay Area city known for its liberal politics, before marching toward the campus of the University of California, Berkeley.

Hundreds of high school and college students also walked out in protest in Seattle, Phoenix, Los Angeles and three other Bay Area cities – Oakland, Richmond and El Cerrito.

A predominantly Latino group of about 300 high school students walked out of classes on Wednesday in Los Angeles and marched to the steps of City Hall, where they held a brief but boisterous rally.

Chanting in Spanish “the people united will never be defeated,” the group held signs with slogans such as “Not Supporting Racism, Not My President” and “Immigrants Make America Great.”

Many of those students were members of the “Dreamers” generation, children whose parents entered the United States with them illegally, school officials said, and who fear deportation under a Trump administration.

“A child should not live in fear that they will be deported,” said Stephanie Hipolito, one of the student organizers of the walkout. She said her parents were U.S. citizens.

There were no immediate reports of arrests or violence.

Wednesday’s demonstrations followed a night of protests in the San Francisco area and elsewhere in the country in response to Trump’s victory against heavily favored Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

(Reporting by Noah Berger and Stephen Lam in Oakland, Timothy Mclaughlin in Chicago, Alexander Besant in New York, Curtis Skinner in Berkeley, California, Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Editing by Leslie Adler, Peter Cooney and Paul Tait)

Hillary Clinton healthy, ready to serve as US President – Doctor

In-depth medical records of U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton were released on Wednesday, showing her physical conditions are good.

“She continues to remain healthy and fit to serve as President of the U.S.,” said Dr Lisa Bardarck, Clinton’s personal doctor.

The former U.S. secretary of state fainted at a 9/11 memorial ceremony on Sunday and has since stayed home.

Bardarck said the former secretary of state suffered from a “mild, non-contagious bacterial pneumonia.”

The rest of the physical exam “was normal and she is in excellent mental condition,” Bardarck said in a letter to the media, saying that she examined Clinton several times this week.

“My overall impression is that Clinton has remained healthy and has not developed new medical conditions this year other than a sinus and ear infection and her recently diagnosed pneumonia,” she wrote.

The Democratic nominee is expected to return to the campaign trail on Thursday and due in several battleground states next week, said her campaign team on Wednesday.

Clinton’s Republican rival Donald Trump will also reveal the results of his own recent medical exam during a TV show set to be aired on Thursday, said a daily report by The Hill, a top U.S. political website.

A video of Clinton’s faint at Ground Zero on Sunday has returned the issue of health transparency to the central stage in the two candidates’ White Housebids.

Clinton was diagnosed with pneumonia two days before she fainted on Sunday but her campaign team had kept it quiet until the video was put online.

The September race is unexpectedly rough for Clinton. A series of national poll results showed that her lead over Trump has been narrowed since Labour Day.

Celebrities Come Out To Sign Anti-Trump Petition

About a hundred Hollywood actors and music stars, from Lena Dunham to Moby, have signed a petition against what they say is the “hateful ideology” of Republican White House hopeful Donald Trump.

“We are a coalition of artists who, today, are joining millions of Americans in our commitment to defeat the presumptive Republican nominee for president, Donald Trump,” the online pledge reads.

“We believe it is our responsibility to use our platforms to bring attention to the dangers of a Trump presidency, and to the real and present threats of his candidacy.”

Among others on board: actors Kerry Washington, Julianne Moore, Patricia Arquette, Jane Fonda and Woody Harrelson, and music stars Russell Simmons, Michael Stipe and DJ Spooky.

Keen to throw a spotlight on potential threats posed by Trump, they warned that the billionaire real estate mogul “wants to take our country back to a time when fear excused violence, when greed fueled discrimination, and when the state wrote prejudice against marginalized communities into law.”

US voters, the group said, should “use the power of our voice and the power of our vote to defeat Donald Trump and the hateful ideology he represents.”

Americans will vote for president on November 8.

Credit: Guardian