Women's March organizers seek repeat of 2017's anti-Trump rally in Washington
Nov. 2 (UPI) - The Women's March movement, which turned out more than 1 million demonstrators in Washington, D.C., the day after President Donald Trump's inauguration 2017, is aiming to once again fill the capital's streets on Saturday, three days before the 2024 election.
The event on Jan. 21, 2017, was staged as a rebuke to Trump's swearing-in ceremony and resulted in one the biggest mass events in the District of Columbia's history, while simultaneous marches draw large crowds across the county and around the world, including 150,000 in Chicago and 125,000 in Los Angeles.
Participants demanded that abortion rights be protected while denouncing the Republican victor for his disparagement of women, minorities and immigrants.
This time, organizers say, they want to march before a presidential election involving Trump in hopes of swaying voters in favor of his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.
"On November 2nd, thousands of feminists will mobilize across the nation to show our collective power," the group said on its website ahead the scheduled 4 p.m. EDT rally and march from Freedom Plaza to the White House.
"Had enough people been ready for the fight for our families, our freedoms, and our futures in 2016, Donald Trump would have never been elected. We cannot repeat the mistakes of the past."
Women's March executive director Rachel O'Leary Carmona said the stakes are far higher now than seven years ago.
"Were on the the cusp of a new era in American politics," she told told ABC News on Saturday ahead of the march. "We have so much on the line. No matter where you're voting, we are in a choice between freedom and fascism."
Among the scheduled speakers are women's rights attorney Gloria Allred, nonprofit media entrepreneur Aisha Becker-Burrowes, bestselling author and astrologer Chani; Parkland, Fla., school shooting survivor Aalayah Eastmond; and racial justice organizer Tiffany Flowers.