Demos against Trump win turn violent

Protests in the United States against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s election victory have turned violent, as demonstrators across the country take to the streets for a second day.

Thousands of protesters on Thursday threw objects at police in Portland, Oregon, and damaged a car park, the Portland Police Department said on Twitter.

Some protesters sprayed graffiti on cars and buildings and destroyed shop windows, local media in Portland reported.

“Many in the crowd are trying to get anarchist groups to stop destroying property, anarchists refusing. Others encouraged to leave area,” the department said on Twitter after declaring the demonstration a riot.

As thousands of people marched, some vandalised shop windows, lit firecrackers and set waste bins on fire.

An estimated 4 000 protesters chanted “We reject the president-elect!”, with some throwing objects at police, prompting several arrests.

On the East Coast, protests occurred in Washington DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York, while on the West Coast demonstrators rallied in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Oakland in California besides Portland.

Dozens in Minneapolis marched on to Interstate 94, blocking traffic in both directions for at least an hour as police stood by. A smaller band of demonstrators briefly halted traffic on a busy Los Angeles freeway before police cleared them off.

Baltimore police reported about 600 people marched through the downtown Inner Harbour area, with some blocking roadways by sitting in the street.

Two people were arrested, police said.

In Denver, a crowd that media estimated to number about 3 000 gathered on the grounds of the Colorado state capitol and marched through downtown in one of the largest of Thursday’s events.

Hundreds also demonstrated in Dallas.

Thursday’s gatherings were generally smaller in scale and less intense than Wednesday’s, and teenagers and young adults again dominated the racially mixed crowds.

“Just had a very open and successful presidential election. Now professional protesters, incited by the media, are protesting. Very unfair!” Trump said in on Twitter on Thursday night.

Police pitched special security barricades around two Trump marquee properties that have become focal points of the protests – his newly opened Pennsylvania Avenue Hotel in Washington DC and Trump Tower, where he lives in Manhattan.

In the nation’s capital, about 100 protesters marched from the White House, where Trump had his first transition meeting with President Barack Obama on Thursday, to the Trump International Hotel several blocks away. At least 200 people rallied there after dark, many of them chanting “No hate! No fear! Immigrants are welcome here!” and carrying signs with such slogans as “Impeach Trump” and “Not my president”.

Trump supporters say the protesters are not respecting the democratic process.

As of Thursday, Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Party candidate, was leading Trump in votes nationwide 47.7 percent to 47.5 percent, but Trump secured victory in the Electoral College.

Meanwhile, president Barack Obama and his successor, Trump, have met at the White House, a day after the New York businessman was declared the winner of the country’s election.

Obama called Thursday’s 90-minute meeting in the Oval Office “excellent”, while Trump said he looked forward to receiving the outgoing president’s “counsel”.

“We now are going to want to do everything we can to help you succeed because if you succeed, the country succeeds,” Obama told Trump.

The two men, who have been harshly critical of each other for years, were meeting for the first time, Trump said. “I have great respect [for Obama],” he said. “The meeting could have, as far as I’m concerned, gone a lot longer. We discussed a lot of different situations, some wonderful, and some difficulties.”

Trump said he looked forward “to dealing with the president in the future, including counsel” and meeting with Obama “many, many more times”.

This meeting was important for two reasons. The big question everyone has been asking was whether the Donald Trump of the campaign trail is going to be the same Donald Trump in the White House.

This meeting is our first indication.

Donald Trump is not a man who lets go of grudges. It really got under his skin during the campaign trail that President Obama was campaigning for Hillary Clinton. He called him completely “unfit” for the Oval Office, so people were asking: “Is Donald Trump going to hit back?”

It turns out, no. He called Obama a very good man. He said he is going to ask him for advice in the future.

That was very important, to see how Donald Trump would behave in the Office.

The next important thing came from President Obama.

Huge portions of this country are frightened. Trump supporters are obviously really excited but [some of] those who were against Trump … are expressing actual fear. There are protests in the major cities all across the country. So President Obama is trying to send a message. Not only as the head of the Democratic Party, but as a very popular president to his followers, that it is over. It is time to try to help Donald Trump.

Throughout the election campaign, Obama had criticised Trump as unfit to serve as commander-in-chief.

Trump, on the other hand, spent years challenging the legitimacy of Obama’s presidency, suggesting that he may have been born outside the US.

But at least publicly, the two men appeared to put aside their animosity.

As the meeting concluded and journalists scrambled out of the Oval Office, Obama smiled at his successor and explained the unfolding scene.

“Here’s a good rule: Don’t answer the questions when they [reporters] just start yelling,” Obama jokingly said.

Later on Thursday, Josh Earnest, White House spokesperson, said: “President Obama came away from the meeting with renewed confidence in the commitment of the president-elect to engage in an effective, smooth transition.”

Trump and Obama did not resolve their differences, Earnest said, but based on their agreement on the need for an effective transition, “the meeting might have been at least a little less awkward than some might have expected”.

If Trump makes good on his campaign promises, he will wipe away much of what Obama has done during his eight years in office.

Trump, who will govern with Congress fully under Republican control, has pledged to repeal Obama’s signature health-care law and dismantle the nuclear accord with Iran.

First Lady Michelle Obama also met privately in the White House residence Trump’s wife, Melania, while Vice President Joe Biden prepared to see Vice President-elect Mike Pence later on Thursday.

Trump also met House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday.  After the meeting with his fellow Republican, with whom he was at odds during his campaign, he said that after his inauguration he will work very rapidly on issues like healthcare and immigration.

Speaking in Ryan’s office, Trump said: “We are going to lower taxes, as you know.”

He went to say: “I think we are going to do some absolutely spectacular things for the American people.”

Trump travelled to Washington from New York on his private jet, breaking with protocol by not bringing journalists in his motorcade or on his plane to document his historic visit to the White House.

Trump was harshly critical of the media during his campaign and for a time banned news organisations from his events. – AFP