23 JAN 2017:  Crowds of of women – and men – celebrities and regular folk, many wearing pink ‘Pussy Hats’ flooded streets and city squares around the globe on Saturday, marching in solidarity as a show of empowerment and a stand against Donald Trump. Roughly 600 Canadians, most of them women, made the overnight trek on chartered buses from Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and Windsor, Ontario, to participate in the march. Others made their way to the US capital by car or plane.

Here’s a look at just some of the events that took place in the US, in Canada, and around the world:

New York

Demonstrators crammed the streets outside Trump’s Manhattan home, saying the new leader might live in New York, but he’s no New Yorker.

Trump was born and raised in Queens and lives in Manhattan, though the majority of the city and state voted for Hillary Clinton.

Thousands of protesters carrying signs that read: “Women’s rights are human rights” and “A woman’s place is in the resistance” funnelled past Trump Tower to thunderous cheers on Fifth Avenue.

Brooklyn resident Zakiyyah Woods, 32, said Trump doesn’t understand how the city’s working men and women struggle. “He definitely represents that one percent of New Yorkers who built this city for themselves,” she said.

Chicago

So many people turned out for the women’s march in Chicago that organizers had to cancel the actual march portion through downtown Chicago due to public safety concerns, instead extended a space at Grant Park that turned into a sea of people.

Dorothy DeCarlo, 69, who had burned her bra for women’s rights in college 50 years ago, said it was shameful that Saturday’s marches and rallies were even necessary. “I thought we took the bruises. I thought it was over,” she said.

Columbia, South Carolina

Several thousand women filled the Statehouse steps with signs like “Make America Think Again” and “You Can’t Comb Over Sexism.” They chanted “Black Lives Matter” and “Health Care For All” before walking around the capitol grounds and to a nearby business to plan for more protests.

Trump’s speech rekindled Rebecca Munnerlyn’s worst fears about the next four years. “The next war won’t be started by sinking a ship,” Munnerlyn said. “I fear it will be started by a bad tweet.”

Park City, Utah

Charlize Theron led crowd in a chant of “Love, not hate, makes America great” on Main Street in Park City.

Marchers there included many celebrities gathered for the Sundance Film Festival, including Chelsea Handler and Benjamin Bratt.

Trenton, New Jersey

Sarah Gospodar likened the chilly, damp rally at Trenton’s War Memorial to the civil rights marches of the 1960s, when people came together peacefully to effect change. “As a middle-aged black woman, I’ve seen a lot in my life – things that divided this country and things that united it,” the 53-year-old Ewing woman said.

“These issues we address today are things that should unite us. How can anyone be against equal pay and fair and equal rights for all Americans?”

Gospodar acknowledged she’s no Trump fan but said she will give him the chance to “show he really does want to make America great.”

Mary Morrisey, 35, of Trenton, said she didn’t mind demonstrating in the cold because it was an opportunity to make things better for people across the nation, especially LGBT people and minorities. “We may go about things differently, but we all want the same thing: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” Morrisey said.

CANADA

Canadian Contingent

Hundreds of Canadian women who carted signs and flags to the US capital for the massive rally for women’s rights were greeted Saturday with cheers and shouts of appreciation by Americans supporting the march.

As the group wound down the streets of Washington, DC – many wearing pink knit hats or carrying signs emblazoned with the maple leaf and the slogan “sisters of the north” –  residents came out onto their porches to offer words of encouragement, and in at least one case, free coffee.

Some American marchers expressed surprise that the group had travelled so far to take part in what’s been dubbed the Women’s March on Washington.

Many simply yelled “thank you Canada” as they spotted the women, and at least one shouted “take us with you!”

Many Canadian participants said they were spurred to act by Trump’s controversial comments during the election campaign.

Katina Binette drove from Montreal with four friends to show solidarity with the women’s rights movement in the US.

Binette said her group was concerned they wouldn’t make it after three of their friends were turned back at the border Friday night.

They were questioned for more than an hour and fingerprinted, she said. Border guards asked the three whether they were for or against Trump and their plans to take part in the march were taken as opposition, she said.

“It’s pretty surprising, they all had valid Canadian passports and no criminal record,” she said.

US Customs and Border Protection would not confirm the incident citing the Privacy Act, but it said in an email to The Canadian Press that the agency “strives to treat all travellers with respect and in a professional manner, while maintaining the focus of our mission to protect all citizens and visitors in the United States.”

Meanwhile here in Canada …

Marches were also taking place Saturday in many major Canadian cities as well as smaller communities.

“I did the 50s. We are NOT going back there,” read a sign carried by 87-year-old Cleo Corcoran, who said she has five daughters, 10 granddaughters and a great-granddaughter.

“Women are half the population and yet we are so often pushed to the back of the crowd,” she said. “Now we’ve got to come in front.”

GLOBAL REACTION

Paris

Several thousand people, including many American workers and students living in France, gathered in the Eiffel Tower neighbourhood in a joyful atmosphere.

They sang and carried posters with slogans such as “We have our eyes on you Mr. Trump” and “With our sisters in Washington.”  More than 40 feminist and anti-racist groups organized the Paris march.

London

Samantha Moyo, a 30-year-old Londoner, originally from Zimbabwe, was overwhelmed by the tens of thousands of marchers sardined into Trafalgar Square.

“I’m a black, immigrant bisexual woman, and the fact that women all over the world are standing up for what they believe in, and that I was invited to be on the front line, feels like a huge privilege,” she said after helping to lead a march that snaked through central London, stopping traffic at times.

Moyo said she was initially worried about Trump’s policies but has come to believe he will inspire resistance.

Police described the event as peaceful with no arrests.

Yangon, Myanmar

Dozens attended a “solidarity picnic” in Yangon organized by US expats including Alyssa Paylor of Colorado.

“We’re not able to have a march in this climate, so we wanted to just gather together in solidarity with our sisters and brothers marching in Washington and all across the world because of what we believe in,” said Paylor, 26. She is in Myanmar working for an organization called Mote Oo Education for Curriculum Development.

Paylor said Trump’s election and the United Kingdom’s Brexit vote served as a wake-up call.

“I think these things have energized a lot of people and made many people, especially women, very angry about what they may have to deal with in the coming years,” she said.

Athens, Greece

About 150 people gathered outside the US embassy, then marched peacefully through the city centre.

“We are in solidarity with the women in the United States,” said Petros Konstantinou, a Greek left-wing activist. “We stand against Trump because, for us, he represents war, sexism, racism and the greediness of multinationals.”

A few dozen people also protested outside the US Consulate in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, the country’s second-largest city. They unfurled a banner that read: “No to the planet ruler of war, racism, sexism and profit.”