Across the world crowds are gathering along the streets on the one-year anniversary of President Donald Trump’s inauguration, marching against his policies and in support of the #MeToo movement against sexual assault and harassment.
Hundreds of activists gathered in Rome on Saturday to denounce violence against women and express support for the #MeToo movement. Italian actress and director Asia Argento, who made headlines after alleging in 2017 she had been sexually assaulted by Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein in the 1990s was also in attendance
In 2017 there were Washington, D.C rallies, and hundreds of similar marches created solidarity for those denouncing Trump’s views on abortion, immigration, LGBT rights and more. Millions of people around the world marched during last year’s rallies, and many on Saturday shared their views on all that happened over the last year.
Peggy Taylor, a New York City tour guide and Manhattan resident. stated “I’d be lying if I said that I’m not dispirited and discouraged over having to march yet again to register our opposition to this disastrous first year of the Trump presidency.” Last year, she felt “a kind of euphoria” walking through the city with hundreds of thousands of participants.
This year, “the hard reality of what lies ahead of us has sunk in,” she said. “I know that we have a long slog ahead of us to undo the damage that this man has inflicted.”
Linda Sarsour, one of the four organizers of last year’s Washington march, said “The rallies also laid the groundwork for the recent movement that brought a reckoning for powerful men accused of sexual misconduct,
“I think when women see visible women’s leadership, bold and fierce, going up against a very racist, sexist, misogynist administration, it gives you a different level of courage that you may not have felt you had.”