Watch CBS News

Anti-Trump Protests Continue For A Second Weekend

CHICAGO (CBS) -- The angry rhetoric continues from Chicagoans unhappy with the outcome of the presidential election.

About 2,000 people marched Saturday from the Federal Plaza through the Loop to Wacker Drive and Wabash Avenue, across the river from the Trump International Hotel and Tower. WBBM's Bob Roberts reports.

The anger was expressed in chants, speeches and many hand-lettered signs.

One sign read, "Hate is not great." Another read, "Hope will never be silent." And a third labeled Trump appointees Steve Bannon and Jeff Sessions "racist nut jobs."

The Answer Coalition's John Beacham organized the rally and march. He rejects any attempt at bipartisanship so long as Donald Trump is president, and said the incoming administration will not be a friend to women, Muslims, gays and Hispanics.

"Trump is coming after us, sisters and brothers," Beacham said. "We need to build the kind of movement that isn't (just) about protest, but is about defense."

He followed that statement by asking if those in the crowd were with him, they answered with a resounding "Yeah."

Beacham said the president-elect should stay away from Chicago, "because he's not welcome here."

Another speaker said he was terrified not just for friends who are Hispanic, Muslim, transgender and gay, but for the earth itself.

The march route took the protesters past Macy's and other State Street stores between Monroe and Lake Streets. Some heckled the protesters or held out shopping bags toward them. Chicago Police officers on bicycles and on foot kept them separated, where necessary.

The same was true at the Wacker Drive rally site. One man listened to a woman speak on behalf of the Fight for Fifteen campaign, which seeks a minimum wage of $15 an hour. A half-dozen times he shouted, "Make them earn it."

The protest broke up after the last speaker finished at 2 p.m., but Beacham told WBBM, protests will continue on a daily basis. The Answer Coalition is attempting to raise money to send busloads of protesters to Washington, D.C., for Mr. Trump's inauguration Jan. 20.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.