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Thousands of opponents of US President Donald Trump's administration have taken to the streets, decrying what they see as threats to the nation's democratic ideals. The disparate events on Saturday ranged from a march through midtown Manhattan and a rally in front of the White House to a demonstration at a Massachusetts Revolutionary War commemoration. Thomas Bassford was among the demonstrators at the re-enactment of the Battles of Lexington and Concord outside Boston.
The 80-year-old retired mason from Maine said he believed Americans were under attack from their own government and needed to stand up against it. Protesters hold signs during a parade marking the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. "This is a very perilous time in America for liberty," said Mr Bassford, who was with his partner, daughter and two grandsons.
In Denver, hundreds of protesters gathered at the Colorado State Capitol with banners expressing solidarity with immigrants and telling the Trump administration: "Hands Off." People waved US flags, some of them held upside down to signal distress. Protesters form the words "Impeach & Remove" in San Francisco.
Thousands of people also marched through downtown Portland, Oregon, while in San Francisco, hundreds spelled out the words "Impeach & Remove" on a sandy beach along the Pacific Ocean, also with an inverted US flag. Elsewhere, protests against Elon Musk and his role in downsizing the federal government were planned outside Tesla car dealerships. Tens of thousands of protesters take part in an anti-Trump protest across 1,200 locations in what is expected to be the largest single day of protest against Mr Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk.
Others organised more community service-oriented events such as food drives, teach-ins and volunteering at local shelters. The protests came just two weeks after similar nationwide demonstrations. Organisers say they oppose what they call Mr Trump's civil rights violations and constitutional violations, including efforts to deport scores of immigrants and to scale back the federal government by firing thousands of government workers and effectively shuttering entire agencies.
Some of the events drew on the spirit of the Revolutionary War, calling for "no kings" and resistance to tyranny. Boston resident George Bryant, who was among those at the Concord protest, said he was concerned the president was creating a "police state". He held a sign saying: "Trump fascist regime must go now!" Demonstrators protest against the Trump administration's immigration actions.
"He's defying the courts. He's kidnapping students. He's eviscerating the checks and balances," Mr Bryant said.
In Washington, Bob Fasick, a 76-year-old retired federal employee from Springfield, Virginia, said he joined the rally near the White House out of concern over threats to constitutionally protected due process rights, social security and other federal safety-net programs. The Trump administration, among other things, has moved to shutter Social Security Administration field offices, cut funding for government health programs and scale back protections for transgender people. "I cannot sit still knowing that if I don't do anything and everybody doesn't do something to change this, that the world that we collectively are leaving for the little children, for our neighbours, is simply not one that I would want to live [in]," Mr Fasick said.
A person waves a rainbow flag to protest against the Trump administration's actions against LGBTQIA+ people. In Columbia, South Carolina, several hundred people protested at the statehouse holding signs with slogans such as "Fight Fiercely, Harvard, Fight". And in Manhattan, protesters rallied against continued deportations of immigrants as they marched from the New York Public Library north toward Central Park and past Trump Tower.
"No fear, no hate, no ICE in our state," they chanted to a steady drumbeat, referring to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Marshall Green said he was most concerned that Mr Trump invoked the wartime Alien Enemies Act of 1798 by claiming the country was at war with Venezuelan gangs linked to the South American nation's government, even though a recent US intelligence assessment found no coordination between them. "Congress should be stepping up and saying no, we are not at war.
You cannot use that," the 61-year-old from New Jersey said..
