US election: Trump protests wreak havoc on streets for third straight night
Updated
Another night of nationwide protests against Donald Trump's election have come to a head in Portland, where thousands marched and some smashed store windows, lit firecrackers and sparked a dumpster blaze.
Key points:
- Thousands again take to the streets to protest Trump victory
- Trump says "unfair" protests "incited by media"
- Trump supporters say protesters not respecting democratic process
Some 4,000 protesters surged into the downtown area late on Thursday night with chants like "We reject the President-elect!"
Officers began physically pushing back against the crowd that at times threw objects at them as midnight approached, arresting several people and using flash-bang devices and types of smoke or tear gas to force people to disperse.
After several orders to leave, police said officers used "less lethal munitions," such as pepper spray and rubber projectiles.
Live video footage showed officers firing what appeared to be the non-lethal items. It was not immediately clear if anyone was hit.
Numbers continued to dwindle through the night and as the early morning hours wore on, police announced to remaining clusters of protesters to immediately disperse or be "subject to arrest and the use of riot-control agents".
Around the country from New York to Chicago to California, in red states as well as blue, hundreds of demonstrators marched through streets, many for the third straight night though in somewhat smaller numbers.
Trump says 'unfair' protests incited by media
Mr Trump himself fired back late on Thursday, tweeting: "Just had a very open and successful presidential election. Now professional protesters, incited by the media, are protesting. Very unfair!"
But he later sent a second tweet saying he "loved" that the protestors had "passion for our great country".
In Denver, protesters managed to shut down the Interstate 25 highway near downtown Denver briefly Thursday night.
Police said demonstrators made their way onto the highway and traffic was halted in the northbound and southbound lanes for about half an hour.
Protesters also briefly shut down interstate highways in Minneapolis and Los Angeles.
In San Francisco's downtown, high-spirited high school students marched through, chanting "not my president" and holding signs urging a Donald Trump eviction.
They waved rainbow banners and Mexican flags, as bystanders in the heavily Democratic city high-fived the marchers from the sidelines.
"As a white, queer person, we need unity with people of colour, we need to stand up," said Claire Bye, a 15-year-old sophomore at Academy High School.
"I'm fighting for my rights as an LGBTQ person. I'm fighting for the rights of brown people, black people, Muslim people."
More protests outside Trump Tower
In New York City, a large group of demonstrators once again gathered outside Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue on Thursday night.
They chanted angry slogans and waved banners baring anti-Trump messages.
"You got everything straight up and down the line," demonstrator David Thomas said.
"You got climate change, you got the Iran deal. You got gay rights, you got mass deportations. Just everything, straight up and down the line, the guy is wrong on every issue."
In Philadelphia, protesters near City Hall held signs bearing slogans like "not our president", "trans against Trump" and "make America safe for all".
About 500 people turned out at a protest in Louisville, Kentucky, and in Baltimore hundreds of people marched to the stadium where the Ravens were playing a football game.
Hundreds of protesters demonstrated outside Trump Tower in Chicago and a growing group was getting into some shoving matches with police in Oakland, California.
As expected, the demonstrations prompted some social media blowback from Trump supporters accusing protesters of sour grapes or worse, though there were no significant counter-protests.
Trump supporters said the protesters were not respecting the democratic process.
As of Thursday, Democrat Hillary Clinton was leading Mr Trump in votes nationwide 47.7 per cent to 47.5 per cent, but Mr Trump secured victory in the Electoral College.
AP
Topics: us-elections, government-and-politics, federal-government, united-states
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