PHOTOS: Women's March On NYC Sees Thousands Protest

NEW YORK, NY — Exactly a year after President Donald Trump's inauguration – which coincided with a federal government shutdown – thousands of women in Manhattan took to the streets on Saturday to protest Trump's administration, joining countless women and allies across the world who planned to march over the weekend.

The Women's March On NYC began at 11:30 a.m. at Columbus Circle and Central Park West, sending a massive crowd marching down Sixth Avenue towards West 45th Street. Looking up Fifth Avenue from 61st Street, the sea of marchers extended over 20 blocks.

"We are going to keep the pressure on," actress and activist Rosie Perez told the crowd. "Thank you to the women who came forward...who called out Mr. Weinstein and brought him down. We need to do the same for Trump."

"Si se puede," and "Yes we can," the crowd chanted in response to Perez's world.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who has opposed several of the Trump administration's policies, both in words and lawsuits filed in the courts, reaffirmed his support for equal pay and a woman's right to control her own body at the rally.

The protesters flooded the streets to show support for women, immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community, people with disabilities and people of color.

"Today I march for my brown sisters, for my white sisters, for my African American sisters, for my LGBTQ sisters, and for all of my brothers," Padma Lakshmi, the Top Chef host, told the crowd.

She also said she was marching for her mother and to honor her struggle. Lakshmi was born in India and moved to the U.S. as a child with her mother who immigrated after a “short but very turbulent arranged marriage."

"We have a president who has proven himself to be a habitual sexual harasser," Pete Miser, 46, a rapper who carried a sign that read "harass****" at the march, told Patch. "There's a basic need for justice."

Another marcher, 24-year-old Adrianna Mora, said she was there "to fight for freedom and justice and for immigrant rights."

One activist, John Adams, carried a kitchen table to show solidarity with domestic workers. One woman who traveled to the march all the way from Baltimore carried an Oprah sign.

Protesters chanted "hey, hey, ho, do Donald Trump has got to go," a chant heard regularly at protests targeting Trump. Some of the signs seen at Saturday's rally read "impeach Trump," "down with scary clowns," and "nasty women unite."

Young girls and teenagers were also among the many who flooded the city's streets.

"I think that even though I'm only 10, I still have a voice," said a girl named Mata.

Katie Landon, 16, from Long Island, said it was a good movement. "We need equal pay and mutual respect," Landon told Patch.

This is the second Women’s March On NYC — the 2017 rally drew 400,000 people into the streets of Manhattan one day after President Trump’s inauguration.

The march was born out of an impromptu Facebook invite — from a Hawaiian grandmother asking 40 friends to join her in a march on Washington — that went viral within days of Donald Trump's election, Vox reported.

New York City's march is just one of the many being held in every state in the nation on the one-year anniversary of Trump's inauguration.

The main protest is scheduled for Las Vegas on Sunday.

Photos by Kathleen Culliton/Patch