1000s to protest at US presidential inauguration

Thousands are to protest during US President Barack Obama’s inauguration ceremony, condemning the country’s policy towards drone strikes, guns, military spending and unemployment, among others.

At least six different groups are to demonstrate on Monday. The largest group, the Act Now to Stop War and End Racism Coalition, will protest along the Pennsylvania Avenue parade route where Obama will meet the citizens. The ANSWER Coalition estimates that several thousand will participate to protest against unemployment and demand justice.

“It’s to send a message to all politicians, not just the president but the senators, the congressmen, all the big business people that these are the problems, the problems of ordinary working people, that we need to be tackling,” said Eugene Puryear from ANSWER Coalition.

Another group, the Arc of Justice Coalition estimates about 400 protesters will gather in a park close to the White House and march towards the parade route during the ceremony, objecting the use of drones in military operations and social injustice.

“The goal of it is to bring attention to issues that have been ignored or minimized by the Obama administration and the Congress,” said Arc of Justice Coalition organizer Joan Stallard.

“We were carefully supportive four years ago because Obama represented the hope for important change,” continued Stallard, adding, “The expectation this time around is we’ve seen what happened and we can see that we need to get much more forceful in demanding the kind of America that we had been promised.”

Officials believe about 600,000 to 800,000 are to attend the presidential inauguration, about half of the number of attendees at the 2009 ceremony, which drew a crowd of 1.8 million, who witnessed the first black president being sworn in.