CHICAGO _ Thousands of protesters angry over Donald Trump's election victory massed outside Trump Tower in Chicago on Wednesday evening before taking to downtown streets in an angry show of opposition to the president-elect.
Just before 8 p.m., one of several groups of demonstrators made its way to Lake Shore Drive at Jackson Drive and blocked traffic, marching north.
"No Trump, No KKK, No Fascists USA" and "Not my president!" were among chants shouted by the crowd earlier.
Chicago resident Audrey Lava, who is eight months pregnant, wiped away tears as she joined the protest outside the tower.
"I wanted to show my solidarity with people who are suffering," Lava said. "And I wanted to show the rest of the world that not everyone in this country supports a fascist."
The protesters at one point filled all six lanes of North Michigan Avenue. Along the way they received both honks of support from motorists and angry responses from Trump supporters.
"Build the Wall!" one Trump backer yelled at the crowd, referring to the former reality TV star's promise to build a wall on the Mexican border.
Michael Burke, a resident of Chicago's Edgewater section, said he believes the president-elect will "divide the country and stir up hatred."
"I think it's our constitutional duty to not to go quietly and accept that," he said. "The tower signifies everything that is ugly and boastful about this hateful man."
Kathryn Schaffer brought her 3-year-old daughter, Clara, to protest at Trump Tower.
"She's a little too young to understand all of this, but I don't know how I'm going to explain that the president of our country can say the things that he says," she said.
Schaffer said she stayed up all night after hearing the news that Trump had won. She said the president-elect is not a good role model for her daughter.
"The president is supposed to be a role model for children and somebody that they look up to. I feel like if I stand by my values, I can't be quiet for the next four years. I have to be a role model if our president won't be," Schaffer said.
Early on, about a half-dozen Trump supporters were allowed to stand in front of Trump Tower, while protesters were corralled across the street. Anthony Moreira, of Berwyn, waved an American flag and shouted at the anti-Trump protesters to accept the results and go home.
"You're weak," he yelled. "That's why you lost."
He said the protesters' grievances were baseless.
"Trump isn't a bigot," he said. "If you look behind the back doors you'll see blacks, Hispanics, Muslims and all kinds of people working for him."
Police kept close tabs on the protest. Some officers did little to hide their disdain for the protesters. One wore a large "Trump" button on his hat, while others traded taunts with the protesters.
"You know this is why Trump won," Officer Jason Lenski said after one protester asked where his KKK hood was. "Because people are sick of liberals."
The pro-Trump crowd also included Birgitt Peterson, who gained brief notoriety during the campaign when a Chicago Tribune photographer captured her giving a Nazi-like salute as she exited an aborted Trump rally in Chicago.
Waving a Trump sign and chanting "U-S-A," Peterson said she wanted to celebrate her candidate's victory.
"We knew he was going to win," she said. "They need to accept it."
