Recent estimates from the New York Times cite 45th president Donald Trump’s 2017 inauguration crowd size at one third of the crowd that assembled for the women’s march in Washington. They estimate that the women’s protest garnered at least 470,000 attendees, versus the rough number of 160,000 that witnessed the inauguration of president-elect Trump. In addition, when comparing this year’s inauguration crowd to the turnout for former president Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration ceremony, the difference is more staggering; Obama drew roughly 1.8 million attendees to the aforementioned 160,000 that attended this past Friday, according to CBS News.

The public is seemingly more invested in national awareness marches and rallies; the women’s march crowd in Washington represents only one of a large pool of nationwide assemblies calling for the maintenance of civil rights and equality, environmental preservation, or simply a broader anti-Trump sentiment. The Los Angeles Times reported on January 21 that these broader protests revolve around the hateful rhetoric that in part fueled Donald Trump’s campaign, and the view that his inauguration speech was “not conciliatory” according to Jim Iacono, 54, a Los Angeles demonstrator.

Present concerns at both the level of the citizenry and elected officials in Congress involve President Trump’s cabinet choices amidst his inauguration; in recent days, Secretary of Education pick Betsy DeVos and potential EPA head Scott Pruitt, former attorney general of Oklahoma, have both been challenged by progressive senators such as Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. These senators have asked very direct questions pertaining to the management of government funds in the education system and Pruitt’s apparent indirectness as to his personal sentiments toward climate change and its cause (Senator Sanders repeatedly mentioned to Pruitt that a 97 percent consensus among peer-reviewed scientific journals indicates that human activity and fossil fuel use are chief causes of the climate crisis).

As for DeVos, Senator Warren pointed to her lack of perspective of the average American family trying to put their children through the higher education system; DeVos is the daughter-in-law of billionaire Amway founder Richard DeVos. Warren’s line of questioning exposed DeVos’ lack of personal experience with taking out student loans for either herself or her children. Warren emphasized in her questioning that there are solid laws on the books that can assist DeVos in curtailing “waste, fraud and abuse” in the education system; she also pointed to Donald Trump’s controversial Trump University as representative of the current problems with higher education as a profitable commodity.

Soon after the inauguration, there were reports, which included an article in Adweek, of modifications to the White House official website. Namely the omission of civil and LGBTQ rights, climate change and healthcare from the “Issues” section; sweeping changes for the Trump administration’s website. Raw Story reports that instead, these top issues from the Obama administration have been replaced with priorities that include “standing up for our law enforcement community” and “making our military strong again.”

The juxtaposition of Trump and Obama’s inauguration crowd sizes coupled with the nationwide activist assemblies appear to indicate national concern for America’s future. As recently as November, just after the election, ABC News partnered with survey firm SSRS to assess the reaction of Americans to Trump’s victory and America’s future. The results were clear: 46 percent of the respondents took a negative view. ABC indicated that they colored this responses with words like “scared,” “afraid” and “bleak.” 39 percent had a positive outlook, responding with the most commonly words “hopeful” and “optimistic” regarding the future of the country under President Trump. Fifteen percent of the survey respondents had uncertainty or a neutral reaction to the incoming Trump administration and its implications.

The 2017 inauguration, along with its crowd and the throngs of activism nationwide usher in 45th president of the United States Donald Trump and his administration. This event occurs in an era of national polarization and disillusionment with government. Accusations of Russian involvement in November’s election result and its implications for U.S. relations with the federation and leader Vladimir Putin only compound aforementioned concerns over Trump’s policy omissions and additions. This month’s inauguration and its crowd represents a precipitous time in American history, in which the future is uncertain and the risks severe.</s>WASHINGTON — The White House on Saturday accused the media of framing photographs to understate the crowd that attended Donald Trump’s inauguration, a new jab in a long-running fight between the new president and the news organizations that cover him.

In an unusual and fiery statement Saturday night, White House spokesman Sean Spicer lashed out about tweeted photographs that showed large, empty spaces on the National Mall during the ceremony Friday.

“This was the largest audience ever to witness an inauguration, period. Both in person and around the globe,” Spicer said in a brief statement. “These attempts to lessen the enthusiasm about the inauguration are shameful and wrong.”

Washington’s city government estimated 1.8 million people attended President Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration, making it the largest gathering ever on the Mall.

Aerial photographs showed that the crowds for Trump’s inauguration were smaller than in 2009.

Spicer’s rebuke followed a larger-than-expected turnout for women’s marches protesting Trump across the United States on Saturday, including at the flagship event in Washington, where a crowd of hundreds of thousands clogged the streets and appeared to be larger than those who came for Trump’s inauguration.

Spicer, who did not take questions from reporters, said spaces for 720,000 people were full when Trump took his oath.

He also said the National Park Service does not put out official crowd counts. “No one had numbers.”

Washington’s Metro subway system said 193,000 users had entered the system by 11 a.m. Friday, compared with 513,000 at that time during Obama’s 2009 inauguration.

On Saturday, Metro reported ridership of 275,000 at 11 a.m. as it struggled to handle the crowd converging on downtown Washington for the protest march.

Trump has long used the media as a foil during his unconventional climb to the White House. On Saturday, he blamed the media for making up his feud with the CIA over its investigation into Russian hacking.

Spicer also criticized a reporter who made an error in a pool report during a brief ceremony in the Oval Office on Friday. Earlier, Trump called out the reporter by name at the CIA headquarters.

“There’s been a lot of talk in the media about the responsibility to hold Donald Trump accountable, and I’m here to tell you it goes two ways,” Spicer said. “We’re going to hold the press accountable as well.”</s>WASHINGTON, D.C—Roughly half a million people of all ages, backgrounds and genders crammed into the nation’s capital a day after President Donald Trump took the oath of office—a demonstration that called itself the “Women’s March,” but protested the GOP agenda on healthcare, immigration and the rights of racial and sexual minorities.

Participants packed the center of the city so densely that little actual marching occurred. Instead, the crowd heard speeches from an array politicians, activists and entertainers.

All spoke against Trump’s proposals to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, create a registry of Muslim citizens and appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn decisions legalizing gay marriage and abortion.

Among them were national co-chairwomen: Arab-American activist Linda Sarsour, former Rev. Al Sharpton lieutenant Tamika Mallory and Carmen Perez, executive director of singer/advocate Harry Belafonte’s Gathering for Justice Group. Sarsour, executive director of the Arab-American Association of New York and founder and CEO of MPower Change, proclaimed that she was “unapologetically” Muslim-American, Palestinian-American and a Brooklynite.

“You are my hope for my community,” she told the crowd. “I will respect the presidency but I will not respect this president of the United States of America. I will not accept an administration that won an election on the backs of Muslims and black people and undocumented people and Mexicans and people with disabilities.”

The event kicked off with speeches on Independence Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets, then attendees, elected officials, celebrities and activities marched to the Washington Monument and the Ellipse. Demonstrators carried “GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN-DAMENTAL RIGHTS,” “Women Scientists Against Trump,” “I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change, I am changing the things I can’t accept” and “LOVE MAKES AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.” And they yelled and shouted, “Thank you Obama!,” “My body, my choice!” and “When they go low, we go high!”—the last an echo of former First Lady Michelle Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said that she came to the march to show support on behalf of women and elected officials. She also spoke about the need for Washington, D.C. to become the 51st state so it could receive more power and funds, and asserted that everyone should stand up for women’s rights.

“We women are more harshly, more frequently and profoundly criticized when we speak up for women and neighborhoods and families and public education,” Bowser said. “We need every woman and every man to speak up for us, too.”

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand credited Hillary Clinton with putting “65 million cracks in the hardest and highest glass ceiling”—that is, one for every vote she received.

“We want to be counted, we want to be heard and we are going to fight for what we believe in,” Gillibrand said. “Just as women stand down their own future at the impossible, we are not turning back.”

Congresswoman Maxine Waters and Sen. Kamala Harris of California, Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz—who resigned as chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee last year amid the first WikiLeaks email scandal—and Congresswomen Grace Meng, Yvette Clarke and Nydia Velazquez of New York were also in attendance.

Among the number of celebrities who spoke or sang included Michael Moore, Ashley Judd, America Ferrera, Scarlett Johansson, Alicia Keys, Janelle Monae and Jidenna. Millions of people took part in parallel rallies in cities across the nation.</s>Smoky Mountain News political reporter Corey Vaillancourt is in Washington D.C. for the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States. He spoke with WCQS's Matt Bush about what he's seen so far in the nation's capital, as well as what role the Western North Carolina Congressional delegation has in the inauguration. Many House Democrats have announced they will not attend the festivities in protest of president-elect Trump's tweets attacking Congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis. But the entire Western North Carolina delegation is Republican, so all will be attendance today.</s>According to the White House, Donald Trump’s inauguration crowd was the largest in American history. Trump also said that when he looked out from the podium, he thought he was looking at 1.5 million people. Is the size of the crowd at his inauguration the most important issue facing our country? Absolutely not. But Sean Spicer, White House press secretary, scolded the media for reports on the crowd size in his first press conference without taking any questions.

“Photographs of the inaugural proceedings were intentionally framed in a way to minimize the enormous support that had gathered on the National Mall,” Spicer said.

Spicer also said that Trump’s inauguration was the first time in history that the grounds were covered to protect the grass. The noticeable parts of this white covering were used by many on social media to gauge the crowd size compared to previous inaugurations. Spicer also said that magnetometers and fencing restricted hundreds of thousands of people from accessing the grounds as quickly as in other inaugurations. The only problem with those statements is they’ve been proven to be incorrect.

CNN’s Jim Acosta took to Twitter to report that not only did a Secret Service source tell him that no magnetometers were used on the National Mall, but that the same grass coverings were used at Obama’s inauguration. Oh, and what about the Trump inauguration crowd size being the largest in history? That’s also incorrect.

The National Park Service said in 2009 that Obama’s inauguration attracted the largest crowd in history to the National Mall. The Washington Post reports that 570,557 riders used the Metro system for Trump’s inauguration. Obama’s inaugurations in 2009 and 2013 saw 1.1 million and 782,000 trips.

According to a New York Times report, the crowd at the Women’s March on Washington was three times larger than the crowd at Trump’s inauguration. Marcel Altenburg and Keith Still, crowd scientists at Manchester Metropolitan University in Britain, analyzed photographs and videos taken of the National Mall before, during, and after both events. They believe that 160,000 people were at the National Mall in the hour leading up to Trump’s inauguration, whereas the Women’s March saw a crowd of around 470,000 people.

Kellyanne Conway, a senior aide to the president, was on “Meet The Press” on Sunday and was confronted about the incorrect statements Spicer made about the crowd size. Chuck Todd asked why Spicer would undermine the credibility of the White House press on day one.

“Don’t be so overly dramatic about it, Chuck,” Conway quipped. “Sean Spicer, our press secretary, gave alternative facts.”

“Alternative facts are not facts. They are falsehoods,” Todd replied.

The second day of Trump’s presidency was dominated by a debate on who had the largest crowd size: the Women’s March on Washington, or Trump’s inauguration. Conway’s slip of the tongue by uttering “alternative facts” would have been avoided if Spicer didn’t hold a press conference to challenge reports based on photographic proof. Were the viral side-by-side images taken unfair to Trump? Possibly. But does anyone truly care? Apparently, the White House sure does.

It’s been over two days since Trump was sworn in as president. There has been little talk about how Trump broke the contract with his voters. Trump gave a speech in the final weeks of his campaign laying out a long list of things he would accomplish within the first 24 hours as president.

He pledged to cancel every unconstitutional executive action signed by Barack Obama, cancel funds to sanctuary cities, initiate the removal of 2 million criminal illegal aliens, and suspend immigration from terror-prone regions around the world.

In the now broken contact with the American voter, Trump also promised to renegotiate NAFTA, announce the nation’s withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, label China a currency manipulator, and many more. But instead of holding a press conference to explain why Trump hasn’t fulfilled his campaign promises, or why he needs more time, Spicer unleashed a torrent of inaccurate claims about how the media misrepresented the size of the crowd at Trump’s inauguration.</s>Viewers can watch Donald Trump’s Inauguration Day protests live online and see the thousands of Americans who showed up to the nation’s capital to demonstrate against the 45th president.

The surprise Election Day win for Donald Trump led to spontaneous protests in dozens of American cities, and the demonstrations have kicked up again as Trump prepares to take office on January 20. The night before his being sworn in as America’s next president, Donald Trump was met with a massive protest outside of his Trump Tower in Manhattan, one headlined by celebrities including Mark Ruffalo and Michael Moore.

Those protests are increasing on January 20, and viewers who want to see the Donald Trump Inauguration Day protests live online will be able to follow along on streaming video.

There are many protest leaders sending live-streaming video to the internet, including the one below from a contributor to Independent Citizen News.

There were scattered demonstrations on Friday morning across Washington, D.C., CNN noted. At one point, close to 50 protesters sat down in the street in an effort to stop Trump supporters from reaching the ceremony.

The Inauguration Day protests had some different messages, including one group speaking up on behalf of immigrants.

“We’re here to take a stand against the ideas that Trump spouted throughout the course of this campaign — sexism, Islamophobia, his bigotry and nationalism,” protester Jed Holtz told CNN.

As CNN pointed out, many of the protesters didn’t just want to have their voices heard, they wanted to disrupt the event in any way possible.

Those who watch live video of the Donald Trump Inauguration Day protests will see a common theme to other protests this week. In New York, Thursday’s demonstration drew thousands who rallied around some key causes — fighting for health care, immigrants rights, and demanding action on climate change.

Others compared the protests against Donald Trump to large-scale demonstrations across the globe that ultimately toppled those in power.

“At this point, the only way to defeat Trump is mass resistance in the streets,” said Joan Hirsch, an organizer with Refuse Fascism, an anti-Trump organization. “Think Tahrir Square, think South Korea — that’s what needs to happen in this country.”

The protest in New York gained considerable media coverage, and even New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio showed up.

“Tomorrow, Donald Trump will have power but tomorrow, you will have power as well,” he told the crowd (via the New York Times). Donald Trump may control the agenda in Washington, but we control our destiny as Americans.”

The protests on Inauguration Day will be followed on Saturday by a nationwide series of Women’s Marches, including one in Washington, D.C., that has the potential to outdraw the inauguration itself.

Others are protesting Donald Trump’s inauguration more quietly, like the dozens of Congressional Democrats who opted not to attend. While not every one of them offered a statement or explanation, others were more vocal. Congressman John Lewis said he would not be in attendance, saying that he didn’t believe Trump was a legitimate president.

Those unable to watch the Donald Trump Inauguration Day protest live online will be able to see a full replay in the embedded video above.</s>On Friday, Donald Trump took the oath of office as our 45th president. We sent Scott Pohl and Kevin Lavery out to hear what local people thought of the ceremony.

The Republican Women's Federation of Michigan hosted a gathering to watch the events from Washington D.C. at the Sun Theatre in Williamston.

Meanwhile, we approached Trump foes on the Michigan State University campus to ask their thoughts on the inauguration of President Trump.</s>Get Boston Globe's Political Happy Hour newsletter , your afternoon shot of politics, sent straight from the desk of Joshua Miller.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump used his first full day in office Saturday to unleash a remarkably bitter attack on the news media, falsely accusing journalists of both inventing a rift between him and intelligence agencies and deliberately understating the size of his inauguration crowd.

In a visit to the CIA designed to showcase his support for the intelligence community, Trump ignored his own repeated public statements criticizing the intelligence community, a group he compared to Nazis just over a week ago. He also called journalists “among the most dishonest human beings on earth,” and he said that as many as 1.5 million people had attended his inauguration, a claim that photographs disproved.

Later, at the White House, he dispatched Sean Spicer, the press secretary, to the briefing room in the West Wing, where Spicer scolded reporters and made a series of false statements. He said that news organizations had deliberately misstated the size of the crowd at Trump’s inauguration Friday in an attempt to sow divisions at a time when Trump was trying to unify the country, warning that the new administration would hold them to account.

The statements from the new president and his spokesman came as hundreds of thousands of people protested against Trump, a crowd that appeared to dwarf the one that had gathered the day before when he was sworn in. The remarks were a striking display of invective and grievance at the dawn of a presidency, usually a time when the White House works to set a tone of national unity and build confidence in a new leader.

Instead, the president and his team appeared embattled and defensive, signaling that the pugnacious style Trump employed as a candidate will persist now that he has ascended to the nation’s highest office.

Saturday was supposed to be a day for Trump to mend fences with the intelligence community, with an appearance at the CIA’s headquarters in Langley, Virginia. While he was lavish in his praise, the president focused in his 15-minute speech on his complaints about news coverage of his criticism of the nation’s spy agencies and meandered to other topics, including the crowd size at his inauguration, his level of political support, his mental age and his intellectual heft.

“I just want to let you know, I am so behind you,” Trump told more than 300 employees assembled in the lobby for his remarks.

In recent weeks, Trump has questioned the intelligence agencies’ conclusion that Russia meddled in the U.S. election on his behalf. After the disclosure of a dossier with unsubstantiated claims about Trump, he accused the intelligence community of allowing the leak and wrote on Twitter: “Are we living in Nazi Germany?”

On Saturday, he said journalists were responsible for any suggestion that he was not fully supportive of intelligence agencies’ work.

“I have a running war with the media,” Trump said. “They are among the most dishonest human beings on earth, and they sort of made it sound like I had a feud with the intelligence community.”

“The reason you’re the No. 1 stop is, it is exactly the opposite,” Trump added. “I love you, I respect you, there’s nobody I respect more.”

Trump also took issue with news reports about the number of people who attended his inauguration, complaining that the news media used photographs of “an empty field” to make it seem as if his inauguration did not draw many people.

“We caught them in a beauty,” Trump said of the news media, “and I think they’re going to pay a big price.”

Spicer said that Trump had drawn “the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration,” a statement that photographs clearly show to be false. Spicer said photographs of the inaugural ceremonies were deliberately framed “to minimize the enormous support that had gathered on the National Mall,” although he provided no proof of either assertion.

Photographs of Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009 and of Trump’s plainly showed that the crowd Friday was significantly smaller, but Spicer attributed that disparity to new white ground coverings he said had caused empty areas to stand out and to security measures that had blocked people from entering the Mall.

“These attempts to lessen the enthusiasm of the inauguration are shameful and wrong,” Spicer said. He also admonished a journalist for erroneously reporting Friday that Trump had removed a bust of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. from the Oval Office, calling the mistake — which was corrected quickly — “egregious.”

And he incorrectly claimed that ridership on Washington’s subway system was higher than on Inauguration Day in 2013. In reality, there were 782,000 riders that year, compared with 571,000 riders this year, according to figures from the Washington-area transit authority.

Spicer also said that security measures had been extended farther down the National Mall this year, preventing “hundreds of thousands of people” from viewing the ceremony. But the Secret Service said the measures were largely unchanged this year, and there were few reports of long lines or delays.

Commentary about the size of his inauguration crowd made Trump increasingly angry Friday, according to several people familiar with his thinking.

On Saturday, he told his advisers that he wanted to push back hard on “dishonest media” coverage — mostly referring to a Twitter post from a New York Times reporter showing side by side frames of Trump’s crowd and Obama’s in 2009. But most of Trump’s advisers urged him to focus on the responsibilities of his office during his first full day as president.

However, in his remarks at the CIA, he wandered off topic several times, at various points telling the crowd he felt no older than 39 (he is 70); reassuring anyone who questioned his intelligence by saying, “I’m, like, a smart person”; and musing out loud about how many intelligence workers backed his candidacy.

“Probably everybody in this room voted for me, but I will not ask you to raise your hands if you did,” Trump said. “We’re all on the same wavelength, folks.”

But most of his remarks were devoted to attacking the media. And Spicer picked up the theme later in the day in the White House briefing room. But his appearance, according to the people familiar with Trump’s thinking, went too far, in the president’s opinion.

The president’s appearance at the CIA touched off a fierce reaction from some current and former intelligence officials.

Nick Shapiro, who served as chief of staff to John O. Brennan, who resigned Friday as the CIA director, said Brennan was “deeply saddened and angered at Donald Trump’s despicable display of self-aggrandizement in front of CIA’s Memorial Wall of agency heroes.

“Brennan says that Trump should be ashamed of himself,” Shapiro added.

“I was heartened that the president gave a speech at CIA,” said Michael V. Hayden, a former director of the CIA and the National Security Agency. “It would have been even better if more of it had been about CIA.”

Rep. Adam B. Schiff of California, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said that he had had high hopes for Trump’s visit as a step to begin healing the relationship between the president and the intelligence community but that Trump’s speech had dashed them.

“While standing in front of the stars representing CIA personnel who lost their lives in the service of their country — hallowed ground — Trump gave little more than a perfunctory acknowledgment of their service and sacrifice,” Schiff said. “He will need to do more than use the agency memorial as a backdrop if he wants to earn the respect of the men and women who provide the best intelligence in the world.”

Trump said nothing during the visit about how he had mocked the CIA and other intelligence agencies as “the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.” He did not mention his apparent willingness to believe Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, who is widely detested at the CIA, over his own intelligence agencies.

He also did not say whether he would start receiving the daily intelligence briefs that are prepared for the president. The agency sees the president as its main audience, and his dismissal of the need for daily briefings from the intelligence community has raised concerns about morale among people who believe their work will not be respected at the White House.

Since the election, hopes at the CIA that the new administration would bring an infusion of energy and ideas have given way to trepidation about what Trump and his loyalists have planned. But the nomination of Mike Pompeo, a former Army infantry officer who is well versed in issues facing the intelligence community, to lead the CIA has been received positively at the agency.

“He has left the strong impression that he doesn’t trust the intelligence community and that he doesn’t have tremendous regard for their work,” Mark M. Lowenthal, a retired CIA analyst, said of Trump. “The obvious thing to do is to counter that by saying, ‘I value you. I look forward to working with you.’”

“He called them Nazis,” Lowenthal added, referring to Trump’s characterization of the intelligence community. Lowenthal said Saturday’s visit should have been “a stroking expedition.”</s>On 20 January 2017, multiple media outlets began posting side-by-side photographs of the crowds at former President Barack Obama's 2009 inauguration and President Donald Trump's 2017 inauguration:



 Obama's inauguration set a record for attendance with an estimated 1.8 million people, as it was a historical event: he was the first African-American U.S. president to take office, and his first 2009 inauguration generated wide viewership worldwide.

While it may be hard to gauge the size of a crowd based purely on a photograph, CNN looked at other factors like weather and public transit ridership:

But the side-by-side images of Friday's ceremony alongside the 2009 inauguration of President Barack Obama show a significantly smaller crowd on the National Mall for Trump than for Obama. There is empty ground exposed in the Trump photos. The same spots were almost entirely covered eight years ago, when estimates at the time suggested 1.8 million people attended the inauguration. The images above do not capture people who might have viewed from the west side of the Washington monument. And there are some differences... When President Obama took the oath of office in 2009, conditions were clear with temperatures were in the 20s. Eight years later, temperatures hovered in the high 40s with intermittent rain. Another sign attendance for Trump's inauguration could be lower: Metro ridership. Per WMATA, the Washington area transit authority, as of 11 am, 193,000 trips had been taken on the city's subway system. At the same hour in 2009, that number was 513,000, according to WMATA. The same time for the second Obama inauguration saw 317,000 riders, and President George W. Bush's second inauguration saw 197,000 riders by 11 am.

The New York Times also noted that because the weather was overcast during Trump's inauguration, it will be harder to get satellite pictures of the entire crowd:

Some media reports cited organizers that pegged the expected crowd size for Trump's inauguration between 700,000 to 900,000 people — still a relatively large gathering.

However, in 2013, Obama's inauguration crowd was an estimated 1 million:

Meanwhile, the Interior Department was reportedly ordered to cease tweeting until further notice after an employee at the National Park Service used the official Twitter account to retweet a photograph taken by a New York Times photographer comparing the 2009 and 2017 crowd sizes.

The Park Service Twitter account then shared a second tweet from someone else with a message about climate change, civil rights and healthcare issues being removed from the Obama White House website. A government official familiar with the stand-down said the agency is investigating whether the retweets were purposeful, “errant” or “whether we’ve been hacked.” “They were not reflective of Park Service policy,” said the official, who requested anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the directive.</s>WASHINGTON (AP) – Protesters registered their rage against the new president Friday in a chaotic confrontation with police who used pepper spray and stun grenades in a melee just blocks from Donald Trump’s inaugural parade route. Scores were arrested for trashing property and attacking officers.

Several spirited demonstrations unfolded peacefully at various security checkpoints near the Capitol as police helped ticket-holders get through to the inaugural ceremony. Signs read, “Resist Trump Climate Justice Now,” ”Let Freedom Ring,” ”Free Palestine.”

But about a mile from the National Mall, police gave chase to a group of about 100 protesters who smashed the windows of downtown businesses including a Starbucks, a Bank of America and a McDonald’s as they denounced capitalism and Trump. Police in riot gear used pepper spray from large canisters and eventually cordoned off protesters at 12th and L streets in northwest Washington.

The confrontation began an hour before Trump took the oath of office and escalated several hours later as the crowd of protesters swelled to more than 1,000, some wearing gas masks and with arms chained together inside PVC pipe. One said the demonstrators were “bringing in the cavalry.”

When some crossed police lines, taunting, “Put the pigs in the ground,” police charged with batons and pepper spray, as well as stun grenades, which are used to shock and disperse crowds. Loud booms echoed through the streets about six blocks from where Trump would soon hold his inaugural parade.

Some protesters picked up bricks and concrete from the sidewalk and hurled them at police lines. Some rolled large, metal trash cans at police.

Police said in a statement that the group damaged vehicles, destroyed property and set small fires while armed with crowbars and hammers. Peter Newsham, the interim police chief of the Metropolitan Police Department, said the group caused “significant damage” along a number of blocks and that more than 90 people were arrested and charged with rioting.

Before Inauguration Day, the DisruptJ20 coalition, named after the date of the inauguration, had promised that people participating in its actions in Washington would attempt to shut down the celebrations, risking arrest when necessary.

Earlier in the day, as guests were going in to the ceremony, lines for ticket-holders entering two gates stretched for blocks at one point as protesters clogged entrances.

Trump supporter Brett Ecker said the protesters were frustrating but weren’t going to put a damper on his day.

“They’re just here to stir up trouble,” said the 36-year-old public school teacher. “It upsets me a little bit that people choose to do this, but yet again, it’s one of the things I love about this country.”

At one checkpoint, protesters wore orange jumpsuits with black hoods over their faces to represent prisoners in U.S. detention at Guantanamo Bay. Eleanor Goldfield, who helped organize the Disrupt J20 protest, said protesters wanted to show Trump and his “misguided, misinformed or just plain dangerous” supporters that they won’t be silent.

Black Lives Matter and feminist groups also made their voices heard.

Most Trump supporters walking to the inauguration past Union Station ignored protesters outside the train station, but not Doug Rahm, who engaged in a lengthy and sometimes profane yelling match with them. “Get a job,” said Rahm, a Bikers for Trump member from Philadelphia. “Stop crying, snowflakes, Trump won.”

Outside the International Spy Museum, protesters in Russian hats ridiculed Trump’s praise of President Vladimir Putin, marching with signs calling Trump “Putin’s Puppet” and “Kremlin employee of the month.”

More demonstrations were planned for later in the day. The “Festival of Resistance” march ran about 1.5 miles to McPherson Square, a park about three blocks from the White House, where a rally featuring the filmmaker and liberal activist Michael Moore was planned.

Along the inaugural parade route, the ANSWER Coalition anti-war group planned demonstrations at two locations.

Friday’s protests weren’t the first of the inauguration. On Thursday night, protesters and Trump supporters clashed outside a pro-Trump event in Washington. Police used chemical spray on some protesters in an effort to control the unruly crowd.

The demonstrations won’t end when Trump takes up residence in the White House. A massive Women’s March on Washington is planned for Saturday. Christopher Geldart, the District of Columbia’s homeland security director, has said 1,800 buses have registered to park in the city Saturday, which could mean nearly 100,000 people coming in just by bus.

Associated Press writers Alan Suderman, Matthew Barakat, Alanna Durkin Richer and Luis Alonso LugoÂ contributed to this report.
A crowd of over 500,000 gather in Washington DC, U.S., to advocate for women's rights and address the inauguration of Donald Trump (The New York Times) (L.A. Times)