WASHINGTON – Linda Sarsour, a Muslim activist and a national co-chair of the Women’s March on Washington, told the crowds she stood before them as an “unapologetically Muslim-American.”

Hundreds of thousands of people poured into cities across different American cities to march in opposition to President Donald Trump, a day after the Republican took office, as sister demonstrations took place in cities across Africa, Asia and Europe.

Protesters held signs like “Women’s rights are human rights”, “Break down walls, don’t build them”, and “Hell hath no fury as a nasty woman scorned”, referencing the time Trump called his opponent, Hillary Clinton, a “nasty woman” during a debate.

Zahra Billoo, the executive director of the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) spoke on Saturday, January 21, at the Women’s March on Washington in the nation’s capital.

Although authorities in Washington, DC, do not release crowd counts, organizers told AFP news agency they estimated turnout at one million – quadrupling initial expectations – with huge crowds joining sister marches around the country.

More than half a million people also took to the streets of Los Angeles, according to police there, and a similar number gathered in New York. Other marches took place in Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, Denver, St Louis and elsewhere.

Demonstrations against Trump’s discriminatory rhetoric were also held in Australia, the UK, Germany, Japan and France, and others.