VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – To chants of “not my president” and “f@#$ Trump”, thousands of protesters packed into the streets of New York, Chicago, Seattle and other major cities across the United States last night, refusing to accept Donald Trump as their president-elect.

Flames lit up the sky in Oakland as fires were started in intersections and a giant papier mache Trump head was beaten at a demonstration in Los Angeles, where riot police had to remove several hundred people blocking a freeway.

“There was quite a large crowd outside Trump Tower as well,” says Cam MacMurchy, a former reporter with NEWS 1130 who is visiting New York City.

“New York is known to be quite liberal and obviously the election hasn’t gone down well in this city. There was as many as a thousand people marching from 14th Street all the way to Trump Tower and there were crowds in front of the Trump International Hotel at Columbus Circle last night, a lot of them chanting slogans at the president-elect who was holed up inside with his staff,” he tells NEWS 1130.

Despite the tension and anger in many other cities, MacMurchy says the crowds in New York City were relatively calm.

“It definitely wasn’t an ominous feeling. I think there was some anger and some concern in the crowd but it was a real mixed bag in terms of who was there and what their issues were. A lot of the chanting was about the fact that it appears Hillary Clinton won the popular vote,” he explains.

The crowds began to gather at Union Square in New York and didn’t start to dissipate until close to midnight.

“When I left there were still a few hundred people lingering outside Trump Tower, which is heavily secured. There is secret service there this morning and the building is surrounded by police, so it’s hard for people to get close to the entrance.”

Protesters are expected to gather outside the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Vancouver later today as well.

A Facebook page is calling for a demonstration from 4:00 PM – 8:00 PM downtown.