From Boston to Los Angeles, thousands of people rallied on Saturday to protest the presidency of Donald J. Trump, including his handling of the war in Ukraine, his stance on reproductive rights and the firing of federal workers.
About 300 protests, organized to commemorate International Women’s Day, were scheduled around the country. Some, like the one at Washington Square Park in Manhattan, attracted at least a few thousand demonstrators. Others, in smaller cities like Richmond, Va., Sarasota, Fla., and Port Angeles, Wash., drew more scattered interest. One in Madison, Wis., drew more than 120 people.
In New York City, protesters expressed outrage at Mr. Trump’s treatment of Ukraine’s president, restrictions on transgender rights and what they see as the tearing apart of the nation’s democracy.
Nancy Lewis, 80, attended civil rights demonstrations in Selma, Ala., as a teenager. Lauren Yoo, 26, had rarely protested before. Both were eager to join the crowd.
“A lot of women are feeling like they are going back in time, so I feel like it’s good to come out here and voice our concerns, and stand with all women,” Ms. Yoo said.
International Women’s Day is not as widely celebrated in the United States as it is in other countries. But organizers said that Americans eager to protest considered the occasion an appropriate time to rally. Women’s groups had taken the lead in coordinating the major protest that greeted Mr. Trump’s first inauguration eight years ago, called the Women’s March. Millions of Americans joined that 2017 protest, the largest single-day public demonstration in U.S. history.
Mr. Trump’s second inauguration faced a much more muted response, reflecting a shift in tactics and perhaps a more uncertain opposition.
The recent blitz of funding freezes, firings, executive orders and more has left many Americans looking for opportunities to demonstrate, said Rachel O’Leary Carmona, executive director of Women’s March, which organized Saturday’s rallies. The group was formed by some of the organizers of the 2017 march.
Participants in different communities focused on different concerns, such as the firings at the National Park Service or restrictions on abortion.
“What people are concerned about is everything, because there’s no aspect of these attacks that doesn’t touch everybody,” she said.
In Madison, some attendees carried signs supporting Susan Crawford, a liberal candidate for the Wisconsin Supreme Court who supports abortion rights. One attendee, Lynn McMahon, a 32-year-old engineer, said the State Supreme Court race is connected to a broader attack on women.
“Just sitting around on your couch and ‘slacktivism’ isn’t going to help, but coming out, talking to people, talking to your friends is what makes a difference,” she said.
For Ricki Sajbel, a 67-year-old former stay-at-home mother and a member of a group called the Raging Grannies of Madison, Saturday’s rally capped a busy stretch of activism.
“It is my fourth protest in a week,” she said.
Christina Lieffring and Ana Facio-Krajcer contributed reporting.
