Protest plans and security preparations ahead of Trump inauguration
OAKLAND, Calif. (KTVU) - A coalition of environmental groups launched a protest tour Monday night in Oakland called #Earth2Trump, starting a 16-city trek that will end with a mass protest in Washington DC at the inaugural ceremony of incoming President Donald Trump on January 20th.
The environmental protest is one of the many planned demonstrations that are tapping into a broad range of frustrations by those who opposed Mr. Trump.
Some three dozen law enforcement agencies are in charge of inaugural security, which could be challenging this year with hundreds of thousands of protestors expected.
"We're heading to Washington DC to take part in the historic mass protests that are going to happen on inauguration day January 20th and the Women's March the next day," said Valerie Love of the Center for Biodiversity, which helped organize the #Earth2Trump tour.
The tour organizers asked each person to put their message for the incoming President Donald Trump into a giant plastic globe as part of the protest against his policies.
"In his first 100 days he's promised to withdraw us from the Paris climate agreements. He's promised to fast track fossil fuel projects like Keystone XL,"
Love said.
"I came here tonight to learn about what is happening and not only just support the environment but also other causes also of concern to me to me about women's rights about citizen's rights," said Suzanne Kordesh of Oakland.
"I'm very concerned that people he's surrounded himself with will go and try to hurt or loosen legislation," said Arthur Townsend of Richmond
In Washington DC, police are accustomed to handling inaugural crowds, with more than 2 million people estimated to have attended President Obama's ceremony in 2009.
This year, more than 3,000 police, 8,000 national guard members, plus more than 5,000 active duty military are expected to help with security, according to the New York Times.
The National Park Service has reportedly seen a huge increase in permit requests, about 23, compared to just a handful in past inaugural years.
One of the biggest protests could be the Women's March in Washington set for January 21st with as many as 200,000 people expected.
"There is a large movement of people going from all over California going to DC," said Alison Mata of Oakland.
Mata says she and others are organizing local Women's Marches that day in cities nationwide, including San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose, which has generated interest from some 110,000 Bay Area residents.
"I thought it was really important to have something here to have something local for people who can't go to DC, for people who financially aren't able to, physically aren't able to," said Mata, who is organizing the Women's March in Oakland.
For more information on the protests:
www.Earth2Trump.org and www.womensmarchbayarea.org