(CNN) Hundreds of thousands of people in the United States and around the world are joining marches Saturday to raise awareness of women’s rights and other civil rights they fear could be under threat under Donald Trump’s presidency.
The key focus of the day is the Women’s March on Washington, which organizers say could attract a quarter of a million participants.
The march, which began with a modest Facebook call in the aftermath of the November election, has grown into what could be one of the larger political demonstrations ever seen in the US capital.
But there are also more than 600 “sister marches” planned around the United States, with some of the biggest expected in Boston, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.
And women and men in cities around the world — including Sydney, Berlin, London, Paris and Cape Town, South Africa — are also marching in solidarity and in opposition to the values they think Trump represents.
A separate group of about 30 Trump supporters also held a rally in Sydney. The police physically restrained some of them, blocking them from entering the same area as the anti-Trump protest group.
Protest organizers in New Zealand’s capital, Wellington, said about 700 people turned out there for a women’s march. Marches were also held in Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin.
Big crowds turned out Saturday in dozens of cities across Europe, with marchers including men, women and children.
Protesters who gathered outside one of Rome’s most famous structures, the Pantheon, on Saturday morning carried signs such as “Yes we must” and “Women’s rights are human rights.”
Demonstrators also took to the streets of Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich and other cities in Germany.
Protesters also joined together to march in Nairobi, Kenya — the African nation that was home to former President Barack Obama’s father.
