Women lead huge rights protests across US, globe

Led by women in pink "pussy hats," hundreds of thousands of people packed the streets of Washington and other cities in the United States on Jan. 21 in a massive outpouring of defiant opposition to America's hardline new president, Donald Trump.

Roused by fiery speeches, the women sent out a resounding message of resistance and activism the day after Trump took office with a vow to roll back the policies of former president Barack Obama.

A tide of women and men - teens, pensioners, parents with toddlers on their shoulders - swelled into the streets around the National Mall for hours before flowing towards the White House in a determined show of unity.

"Women won't back down," "Women's rights are human rights" and "Thank you Trump - you turned me into an activist," read some of the thousands of handmade signs held aloft in the capital.

"I know that we can do better, we have to fight for the change we want to see," said Michelle Phillips, a 45-year-old recent American citizen, who told AFP she came to take a stand against what she called Trump's "platform of hate and bigotry."

Although the U.S. capital does not release crowd counts, organizers of the main protest, the Women's March on Washington, told AFP they estimated turnout at one million - quadrupling initial expectations - with some 600 sister protests held around the globe.

More than half a million people packed the streets of Los Angeles, according to police there, and similar numbers gathered in New York.

Some 400,000 marchers assembled in New York City, according to Mayor Bill de Blasio, though organizers put the number there at 600,000.

Other marches took place in Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, St. Louis, Denver and elsewhere.