In a show of solidarity with the D.C. Women’s March, between 80,000 and 100,000 women, men, and very nasty children and babies marched on London. The March started in front of the U.S. Embassy on Grosvenor Square and ended with a rally at Trafalgar Square.

For us, the day started with a train ride from Cambridge packed with people preparing for the March, including a purple pram decorated with a sign that read: “Such a Nasty Baby.”

The beginning of our March, on the train from Cambridge to London. Photo courtesy of @queencharlot.

The short tube ride from King’s Cross to Oxford Circus, a few blocks away from the March’s starting point, was so full that exiting the station happened at a snail’s pace.

Our de facto March commencement, at the Oxford Circus underground station.

A pair of older women led everyone waiting to get out of the underground in a rendition Solidarity Forever, the union anthem set to the tune of the Battle Hymn of the Republic.

The crowd waiting for the start of the March.

Crowds backed up more than two blocks away from the March’s designated start.

Some very British signs.

The atmosphere of the London march was jovial and inclusive, with speeches by comedian and co-founder of the Women’s Equality Party Sandi Toksvig as well as Labour MP Yvette Cooper. Notable attendees included London mayor Sadiq Khan, writer and comedian Caitlin Moran, Hamilton creator Lin Manuel Miranda, and Sir Ian McKellen.

The March was so successful that nearly two hours after the rally’s scheduled start time demonstrators were still pouring into Trafalgar Square.

As readers of this site already well know, it is important to keep up the momentum of this global movement, and ensure it materialises into action. Women, however, have never had the privilege of being off the clock, and I am confident now is no exception.

We are grateful to the women of yesterday. We are proud of the women of today. We want more for the women of tomorrow.

Shoutout to a less covered Women’s March: that of Lexington, KY, which included the mother of this very proud author, and 5,000 others

The crowd at the close of the Lexington, KY Women’s March.

My husband and I flew to DC the day before the march on a plane packed full with other march-goers.  Friends who stayed in Vermont participated in the Sister March held on Saturday in the state capitol, Montpelier, where the State police estimate there was a crowd of nearly 20,000 — in a town whose total population is just over 7,500.  Check out two of my favorite photos from that march, here and here.

In DC: Saturday morning began with a pre-march gathering hosted for Vermont march-goers by Senator Patrick Leahy and Marcelle Leahy at the Mott House, on Capitol Hill.  The overflow crowd was more than double the number originally anticipated. Our other Senator, Bernie Sanders, addressed the yuuuuge march in Montpelier.

With Senator Pat Leahy at pre-march event he and Marcelle hosted on the Hill.

Then it was off toward the rally site.  Photos of a ceremony held before the rally, just outside the main entrance to the Museum of the American Indian:

Yes indeed!

We then moved toward the rally site, except that it was so crowded it was impossible to get anywhere near the audio speakers, so we did not hear a single speech. We were surrounded by over 500,000 of our new best friends though.

Spirits were high, the crowd massive, and the signs poignant.

The iconic 1971 photo of Gloria Steinem and Dorothy Pitman Hughes . . .

. . . and a re-creation commissioned by Pitman Hughes for Steinem’s 80th birthday celebration

The march itself began in the early afternoon.  The crowds were so massive that they filled not just the avenue designated as march route, Independence Avenue, but the entire length of the Mall, all of Constitution Avenue, and all of Pennsylvania Avenue further north. I have participated in large demonstrations before, but none so overwhelmingly large that an entire section of a city becomes the march route.  En route and at the end:

“Women’s rights are human rights.”

?

We reached the designated end of the march — the Ellipse by the White House — and stayed there for a while as more marchers arrived and others left. We then began to head back to Capitol Hill to join a post-march gathering with colleagues.

As we started back along Pennsylvania Avenue, we turned headlong into a sea of marchers who were still coming and had not yet reached the end point. To get a better view, we climbed onto the bleachers still in place from the previous day’s parade.

What we saw took our breath away.  By now it was 4:00 PM, and the streets were packed solid with marchers still heading toward the White House.

Further along our walk back to the Hill, we met up with President Lincoln outside the DC Court of Appeals, where departing marchers were leaving message placards.

Also in Berlin, Germany, women, men and children came together to show solidarity with the protesters in Washington DC. It was a gathering rather than a march, and with only a little over 500 participants attendance was relatively low compared to other sister marches taking place all around the world – but to use Shakespeares words: “And though she be but little, she is fierce.”  And the message sent was loud and fierce: Together, we rose our voices and stood up not only for women’s rights, but for equality, diversity and justice for all humanity. Colorful signs and pink hats lightened up the grey winter day also in Berlin and sent a sign of hope, empowerment and support from the German capital.

The gathering place couldn’t have been more symbolic: We met in front of the Brandenburg Gate in the heart of the city, just outside the doors of the US embassy. The Berlin wall used to stand on the other side of the Gate, a stone’s throw away from where we met, dividing the city into east and west for more than 25 years. For many Germans, especially those Berliners who have experienced the harm and dismay caused by the Berlin wall, it is inconceivable that a man became the US president who wants to build a wall to divide one nation from the other. Thirty years ago almost to the day one of Donald Trump’s predecessors, Ronald Reagan, stood on the other side of the Brandenburg Gate from where we gathered yesterday and urged the then leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to tear down the wall that divided Berlin. In his speech the then US president emphasized that it is the destruction of walls, not their construction, that “advance[s] dramatically the cause of freedom and peace” and leads to liberalization and prosperity. By citing Martin Luther King’s famous words, some of the protesters send the message in the other direction yesterday, demanding to “Build Bridges, Not Walls”. Powerful protests under the same heading took place all over the world over the past days. Let us hope that the message is heard and that a recurrence of harm similar to the one that was caused to the city of Berlin and the German people in the past century can be prevented.

Berliners have another story to tell when they think about the history of the US-German relationship: In 1963 John F. Kennedy underlined the United State’s support for West Germany by declaring that he was a Berliner, thereby encouraging West Berliners not to lose faith in the wake of the construction of the Berlin wall. Yesterday, the people in Berlin expressed their support for all those vulnerable and in fear because of Trump’s presidency. Aside from unquestioned support for justice and the rights and dignity of every human being, the Berlin people made clear that President Donald Trump, with his current demeanor, is not a Berliner.

Photo Credit: Robert Klages

Photo Credit: Robert Klages

Photo Credit: Reuters

Total geeks.

Of all the things that Kate, Emma, and I saw in our hours of marching – a very slow couple miles, sloshing in rain boots – it was the sign at right that excited us most. The woman seemed surprised when we asked her if we could take a photograph. We explained:

“We’re international lawyers. Treaties matter to us.”

And thus we commemorated the woman’s tribute to Native Americans.

That was just one group represented at today’s march through downtown Atlanta. It began at the city’s 2-1/2-year-old Center for Civil & Human Rights. Then it went past Phillips Arena (home of the NBA Atlanta Hawks), the Georgia Dome (set to host tomorrow’s NFC championship, when the Atlanta Falcons plan to #RiseUp against the Green Bay Packers), and the Falcons’ new home, a still-under-construction nest of glass and steel called the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. It ended, as depicted at top, at Georgia’s Capitol, the aptly named Golden Dome.

Besides Native Americans, an array other groups were represented in countless signs, many of which had been sheathed in plastic against the morning downpour.

Especially prominent were felines and feline references, and more pink than you’d find in a Pepto-Bismol factory.

Families and friends (old and new) marched, all together.

Then, with a replica of the Statue of Liberty standing by, they listened to speeches by an array of community leaders – not least, U.S. Rep. John Lewis, the civil rights icon in whose 5th District the march occurred.

Organizers said 63,000 came to Atlanta, making it the city’s largest-ever march. They joined literally millions, including ‘Grrls (even non-marchers) in D.C., Sydney, and Philadelphia. Cymie’s crowd count has been eclipsed by the news that 2.5 million are said to have marched around the world.

Time now to convert good feelings and firm resolve to concrete action.

Unlike Diane & Beth, I am a “marcher.” I marched to protest the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and countless times for marriage equality and LGBT rights. Heck, I even organized a “food not bombs” campaign in college and spent hours stuffing envelopes with carefully-measured scoops of rice that students could send to President Bush in the White House.

Then I became a lawyer. I haven’t marched much lately because, like them, I’ve felt I could better serve in a different capacity. But today, the marcher in me was reawakened. Though I wasn’t in D.C., walking the streets of Martin Luther King Jr.’s hometown felt like a great close second. The parade route was so incredibly American: we gathered at the Center for Civil and Human Rights, then marched along, past the Coca-Cola and CNN headquarters (where the crowd went wild chanting “not fake news”), and ended at the State Capitol in front of a miniature replica of the Statue of Liberty. At 63,000 strong, it was the largest march in Atlanta’s history.

Today was the first day since the election that I’ve felt truly empowered. It must have been the great company. Besides a tremendous number of energetic Atlantans, I had the pleasure of marching with my colleague and friend, Emma Hetherington, newly-minted Clinical Assistant Professor at Georgia Law (you go Grrl!), and my professor, mentor, colleague, and friend, Diane Marie Amann (see photo below: she’s hard at work documenting for the blog).

I wish every day could be a march day. It feels good to stand up and be counted.

Vive la résistance!

Hope these snapshots give readers a sense of the diversity and love on display at the Women’s March in Philadelphia today.  We had girl power, unicorn power, and even Rodin’s thinker weighed in.  Vive la resistance!

Unicorns for Women’s Rights!

Make America Think Again!