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More than 1,000 rally and march in protest of Trump's victory

More than 1,000 people rallied near City Hall and then marched on Broad Street on Wednesday night to protest the election victory of Donald Trump.

Protesters begin their march north on Broad Street during an Anti-Trump Rally beginning on Thomas Paine Plaza (MSB) November 9, 2016.
Protesters begin their march north on Broad Street during an Anti-Trump Rally beginning on Thomas Paine Plaza (MSB) November 9, 2016.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer

More than 1,000 people rallied near City Hall and then marched on Broad Street on Wednesday night to protest the election victory of Donald Trump.

There was no sympathy expressed for the defeated Hillary Clinton by the mainly college-age crowd.

"Trump lies! Hillary cheats!" one man shouted from a bullhorn as the crowd gathered across the street from City Hall.

The local protesters joined thousands across the nation who took to the streets to express their disappointment or rejection of Tuesday's results. In downtown Oakland, Calif., demonstrators smashed windows and set fires early Wednesday, just hours after Trump was declared the winner.

And on Wednesday night, protesters gathered in such disparate locales as Seattle; Portland, Ore.; Chicago; Los Angeles; Boston; Austin, Texas; and outside the Trump Tower in New York City.

In Philadelphia, the protesters held up signs declaring "End White Supremacy," "End Islamophobia" and "Pussy Grabs Back" with the hashtag #NotMyPresident.

The crowd cheered speakers who espoused the campaign pledges of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I. Vt.), including forgiving all student debt. When the speeches ended, the protesters clamored for a march and started moving north on Broad.

There was a heavy police presence, but officers appeared caught off guard by the sudden surge. Motorists found themselves caught in the middle of the march. Instead of complaining, many honked in support.

One young man who shouted his support of Trump was spat on by a protester. Police kept the two apart.

Anti-Trump chants loudly echoed between the taller buildings as the marchers passed Temple University and then turned around to head back to City Hall.

For Daniel Berry, 19, a civil engineering major at Temple, this was his first protest.

"It's a pretty uplifting experience," he said as he marched. "I haven't been a big political person until this election.

"This is my first time voting. I'm angry that I had to choose between the two worst people," he added.

Lindsey Wilson, 26, of South Philadelphia, said it was important that the international community see that there are Americans unhappy with the results of the election. She said she was not surprised by Trump's victory because she is from rural western Michigan.

"I'm extremely disappointed in my adoptive state and my home state," said Wilson, who described herself as an unemployed farmer.

Wilson said she was all too familiar with Trump supporters.

"I've stared into their faces every day. I know them. These are my people," she said. "I think we get trapped in a bubble in Philly and think the rest of the world is like us."

Marty Harrison, 52, of Frankford, said the election showed the need for a new political party for the left.

"I was a Bernie supporter. I think we need a new party for the 99 percent," said Harrison, a nurse at Temple University Hospital.

Democratic Party leaders "have shown themselves to be incompetent," Harrison said. She voted for Green Party candidate Jill Stein.

When asked whether she was happy with her vote, she paused for a moment.

"I couldn't in good conscience vote for Hillary," she answered.

Harrison expressed frustration with being told she needed to vote for mainstream Democrats because "this election is so important" and her issues would be dealt with afterward.

If nothing changes, she said, in four years "our choices are going to be worse."

On Thursday morning, the words NOT MY PRESIDENT were found spraypainted on a wall at City Hall.

bmoran@phillynews.com

215-854-5983

@RobertMoran215