SEATTLE – A massive, diverse crowd spanned the city's streets for miles Saturday during the "Womxn's March on Seattle."
Event organizers estimate that 175,000 people attended the peaceful march from Judkins Park to the Seattle Center. The turnout was significantly higher than the 30,000 people the group originally expected to attend.
Aerial video showed wall-to-wall marchers the entire length of the 3.8 mile route, and Seattle Police officials said it took more than three hours for the crowd to empty Judkins Park, where the march began. The crowd was largely quiet, except for occasional chanting and cheers.
The Seattle march, which organizers opted to spell with an "x," was one of several across the Northwest and one of hundreds that took place around the country and internationally -- the day after President Donald Trump was sworn into office. Many walked in protest of the controversial new U.S. leader and his platforms, but the messages they carried on signs varied widely.
While the Seattle march was Washington's largest, a crowd of 10,000 people marched in Olympia, according to Gov. Jay Inslee's Facebook page.
The marches, designed to show solidarity and sisterhood, followed the country's largest march in Washington D.C. Many Washingtonians traveled to the nation's capitol to participate.
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