About 1,000 people gathered in Station North Thursday evening and marched to the Inner Harbor and then to the Ravens game at M&T Bank Stadium to show their dissatisfaction with Donald J. Trump winning the presidency.
They briefly formed a line to keep fans from reaching M&T Bank Stadium around the time the Baltimore Ravens game was set to kick off at 8:25 p.m. Stadium officials locked the gates for about three minutes as the protesters gathered outside, then reopened them as the crowd dispersed.
They chanted "not my president," "2-4-6-8, no to Trump and no to hate," and "immigrants are welcome here." Carrying signs saying "Trump is not our president," they marched down Charles Street as onlookers came out from restaurants clutching glasses of wine and giving the protesters high-fives.
The mood turned tense as the march passed Penn Station. A group of police blocked the ramp to Interstate 83 and handcuffed one person on the ground as protesters shouted at officers to let the man go.
Three people were detained during the protest, police said. Two of them, both men, were later released.
Stephanie Applegate, 25, of Lutherville, was charged with failure to obey a lawful order from a police officer, police said. She was transported to Central Booking for processing.
Applegate could not immediately be reached for comment on Friday.
Police moved FOX 45 reporter Keith Daniels and a photographer to another location out of concern for their safety when some crowd members gathered around the crew and asked them to leave, the station reported.
Iyana Wakefield, a marcher who teaches special-needs students in Baltimore, said she was "horrified" at how Trump has mocked disabled people.
"As a teacher, I'm supposed to protect my students and protect their rights," she said. "I'm petrified, I'm crying each day, I'm looking at my students and I'm horrified. I cannot image what the future is going to look like."
Kyra Evelyn, 24, another protester, said when she learned that Trump had been elected, she "threw up and called my mom."
"It's disheartening, and there's something that has to be done," she said.
Kaila Philo, a 21-year-old University of Maryland, Baltimore County student, came up with the idea for the march in the early hours of Wednesday morning, when it became apparent that Trump would win. She created an event on Facebook for her friends, but it quickly caught the attention of others, with nearly 2,000 saying they were interested in marching.
"We are just showing that this is going to be the next four years, it'll be four years of resistance," Philo said. "Tonight in particular is supposed to serve as a catharsis for Baltimore residents to let their anger out in a peaceful way."
The protest was one of many around the country on Wednesday and Thursday after the election of Trump. The president-elect took note, tweeting Thursday night: "Just had a very open and successful presidential election. Now professional protesters, incited by the media, are protesting. Very unfair!"
High-spirited high school students marched Wednesday and Thursday through San Francisco's downtown, chanting "not my president." They waved rainbow banners and Mexican flags, as bystanders in the heavily Democratic city high-fived the marchers from the sidelines.
In New York City on Thursday, about 100 protesters gathered at Union Square in Manhattan. They held signs that read "Divided States of America" and "Not My President" and "Let the New Generation Speak!!"
On Twitter, Trump supporters accused protesters of not respecting the process because it didn't work out in their favor.
"You're literally protesting against free democratic elections. Go live in North Korea, you absolute trash," one said.
"They're not protesting Trump, they're protesting democracy and the right to disagree with them. Isn't that fascism," said another.
On Wednesday, thousands demonstrated around the country, from New England to Kansas City to the West Coast. Flames lit the night sky in California cities as protesters burned a giant papier-mache Trump head in Los Angeles and started fires in Oakland intersections.
In Chicago, where thousands recently poured into the streets to celebrate the Chicago Cubs' first World Series victory in over a century, several thousand people marched through the Loop. They gathered outside Trump Tower, chanting "Not my president!"
Protesters also have marched in the Midwest, including St. Paul, Minn.; Omaha, Neb.; and Kansas City, Mo. And marchers chanted and carried signs in front of the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.
(www.baltimoresun.com)
