New York: Thousands of protesters lined the streets around Trump Tower late Monday, providing a resounding chorus of dissent as Donald Trump returned to his high-rise penthouse on Fifth Avenue for the first time as president.
Trump arrived by helicopter in lower Manhattan shortly before 9pm Eastern time and then made his way north in the presidential limousine for the roughly 6-mile (9.7km) drive to his soaring midtown building. Throngs of protesters, who had camped outside Trump Tower for hours, awaited his arrival, waving signs, chanting and marching, determined to make sure he heard their disapproval.
“Shame! Shame!” people chanted as his limousine arrived.
But Trump avoided a confrontation with the demonstrators. His presidential motorcade avoided Fifth Avenue and pulled up to Trump Tower after driving the wrong way on a one-way street.
A few hours after arriving in New York, Trump said he was happy to be home. “Feels good to be home after seven months, but the White House is very special,” he wrote on Twitter. “There is no place like it ... and the US is really my home!”
The president, a lifelong New Yorker, loves the city, but most residents do not love him back. The city did not vote for him in the presidential election, and its leaders have lined up against him as vocal opponents.
On Monday, protesters hoped to remind him of their longtime dissatisfaction and their fresh concerns about his presidency.
Richard Wilson, 48, who lives in Brooklyn, joined the crowd as the president arrived home, standing on his bicycle to see over the heads of other people. Wilson said it was the first demonstration he had joined against Trump during his presidency.
“This is like a tantrum,” Wilson said, describing the presidency. “Like the majority of the stuff he does.”
Many people said recent events that caused alarm — the deadly white nationalists’ rally in Virginia, Trump’s tepid condemnation of it, and his threats of “fire and fury” toward North Korea — had inspired them to show up.
“Every week it’s something new,” said Michael Wang, a 36-year-old artist and consultant in New York who was holding a sign outside Trump Tower that read, “Nuclear war is not a ratings game.”
The groups began to gather around 5pm, filling sidewalks and disrupting normal traffic near Trump Tower, erupting at times into clashes with police officers. Dozens of officers formed a single-file wall outside the building, and some unruly protesters were yanked from the crowd.
Three demonstrators were arrested on charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, police said.
A smaller demonstration began around 5pm outside the New York Public Library near Bryant Park. The protesters marched and chanted to Columbus Circle.
Heidi Dorow, a 52-year-old grant-maker, said that Monday’s protest carried more importance after the unrest in Virginia over the weekend.
“It’s important in these moments for white people to make a public stance against racism, against white supremacy, and be public and vocal about that,” Dorow said before joining the march though midtown.
The demonstrations Monday were largely peaceful, but some anti-Trump protesters clashed with the president’s supporters. As the two sides shouted obscenities, Magdalena Black, a critic of the president, struck up a brief but largely civil political conversation with David Casavis, 65, who was wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat.
“It’s not about economics; it’s about racism,” Black told Casavis about the president’s rise. Casavis said he disagreed, as a police officer approached and asked Black to clear the sidewalk.
“We’re having political discourse,” she told the officer, pleading with him to allow them to continue talking. He made her move.
The first time Trump visited New York City as president, in May, was brief. He ended up staying only about four hours, and he never set foot inside his Manhattan home. After his arrival Monday, he was scheduled to have a phone conversation with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan at 9:30pm, according to a schedule issued by the White House. Trump plans to remain in Manhattan until Wednesday, when he is to travel to his country club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Trump’s visit resulted in some street closings Monday afternoon around Trump Tower — 55th and 58th streets between Avenue of the Americas and Madison Avenue were closed to vehicle traffic, while a limited number of vehicles, like those making deliveries, were allowed onto 56th Street.
The New York Police Department placed a wall of officers in front of Trump Tower as a barrier between protesters and the entrance of the building. Behind them, 12 city sanitation trucks loaded with dirt were parked end to end to form a barrier on the south side of Fifth Avenue.
A space cordoned off by metal barricades stretched along Fifth Avenue from 52nd to 55th streets, occupying one lane of traffic. It was meant to be a holding pen for protesters, police said.
Merchants peddling pro- or anti-Trump items, who were once a fixture outside the building but had largely disappeared, were back Monday selling their wares. Bennett Weiss, 71, a retired jeweller from Newburgh, New York, was selling anti-Trump pins he had stuck onto a black umbrella. “It’s $2 (Dh7.35) each, three for $5 or free if they don’t have any cash,” Weiss said.
“If you want people to think you are a decent human being, wear an ‘Impeach Trump’ button,” he said to one passer-by.
The crowd outside Trump Tower tapered off after Trump’s arrival. The neighbourhood showed signs of returning to normal, with a group of teenagers pedalling on their bicycles on 57th Street moments after it reopened.
Protesters started to leave — but not for good.
“Welcome home!” one person yelled outside Trump Tower. “I’ll be back tomorrow. ”
