Hundreds of anti-Trump protesters march in Lower Manhattan

Josh Einiger Image
Saturday, January 21, 2017
Hundreds of anti-Trump protesters march in Lower Manhattan
Josh Einiger reports from Lower Manhattan.

NEW YORK (WABC) -- Several hundred people marched to Wall Street in protest Friday following the inauguration of President Donald Trump, and most had no idea Trump was among them -- a man impersonating the president, to be exact.

"This is such a tremendous protest," he said. "All these people, great Americans all of them I gotta say, are making a huge tremendous effort here to speak out against me."

It was a mix of dark humor and anger, and for some, outright denial.

"There's still absolutely ways that we can change this," said protester Elena Marti.

By and large, protests in the new president's hometown have been nowhere near as violent as in Washington Friday.

There was a brief scuffle in front of Trump Tower Friday morning when some City Council members sat down in the middle of Fifth Avenue to be arrested.

But among protesters, at least some reality has set in.

"He won the election so he is our president I will acknowledge that," said protester Olea Counts. "But that makes me kind of wonder and not just worried about Trump but also my fellow Americans cause I thought I knew them but I guess I didn't."

As for our Trump impersonator, his real name is Otis Brown.

"It's fantastically huge at parties I can tell you that," he said.

And after the divisive racial rhetoric of this toxic campaign, he heard the president's call for unity as a slap in the face.

"People are not convinced yet. Not even close. People still feel disenfranchised, they feel like they got a raw deal out of the whole situation," said Brown. "Yeah I can see why they feel angry and feel displaced."