Anne Searcy and Etha Williams attended the rally. Aram Boghosian for The Boston Globe/Globe Freelance

SOMERVILLE — People walked hand-in-hand, distributed carnations, chanted, sang, and shouted at Powderhouse Park on Sunday in a demonstration of opposition to President-elect Donald Trump’s statements about immigrants, Mexicans, Muslims, and women.

They gathered in a circle of more than 150, singing “We Shall Overcome” and carrying signs that read, “We stand together,” “Love trumps hate,” and “Nasty Woman since 2000.”

In the ring’s center, speakers exhorted the crowd to talk about their values with relatives on Thanksgiving, to support candidates who share their views, and to maintain the momentum their movement has built since Trump’s surprise victory in Tuesday’s election.

“We don’t have to lie down for this,” cried 45-year-old John, of Boston, who asked that his last name not be used because he fears for his safety. “Don’t say, ‘Oh, give him a chance!’ No!’ . . . I don’t care what it takes. Get up and fight every single day!”

The Somerville gathering was among a series of public demonstrations across the country that began Wednesday. Hundreds protested Sunday in Los Angeles and Philadelphia. In Trump’s hometown of New York, more than 1,000 marched.

Trump has said some of the marchers are “professional protesters, incited by the media.”

Alex Feldman spoke in full harlequin costume. The demonstrator, who goes by “the jester,” held a sign reading, “Cry, laugh, regroup!”

He told the crowd if they see someone being harassed, they should mock the persecutor with laughter. If that doesn’t work, he said, they should sit beside the victim to keep them safe.

At the circle’s edge, Cambridge resident Robin Gane-McCalla, 32, said that on Tuesday he had been confident in Hillary Clinton’s chances of victory.

“It was my birthday, so at least I had that,” he said. “Other people didn’t have their friends around them celebrating their birthday. They were just at home crying.”

Not everyone at the Somerville rally opposed the president-elect. On the edge of the crowd, Geoffrey Goldstein, of Fall River, held a large, black sign with white letters reading “Despair.”

Goldstein, 25, who said he goes by the nickname “pizza,” said the message was directed at Clinton supporters.

“I want these people to feel despair,” said Goldstein, 25, “because in their hysteria to defeat the great, racist white man, they supported one of the most corrupt, war-mongering . . . candidates of all time.”

Goldstein’s friend Teddy Horan, of North Easton, wore a baseball cap and a scarf reading “Trump. Make America Great Again. Horan, 35, said he came to the rally representing the alternative right, a far-right movement supportive of Trump.

Horan said those opposing Trump will change their minds “when people see that the economy’s better, when we’re not in five wars, and when people in government are held accountable.”

Cambridge resident Sue Downing, 57, argued with Goldstein, who called protesters “losers” and “turds.” She persuaded him to sit with her and talk privately.

“I feel like right now, as a mom, especially, I have to be the salve where I can, be the healing,” she explained.

Downing said she had seen disappointment in past elections.

“This is one is different,” she said. “This is really about who are ‘we’ in ‘we the people.’ ”

After speaking with Downing, Goldstein said he was unmoved by her effort to find common ground.

“I think people are largely governed by biology,” he said, “and I have too much testosterone to swallow all that [expletive].”

Correction: An earlier version of this report misstated the city where Sue Downing lives.