Protests continued throughout the U.S. on the sixth consecutive day following Donald Trump's surprise electoral victory, targeting both the president-elect's anti-immigration policies and factions of white supremacist support, as well as the leadership of Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, who is widely expected to be elected Senate minority leader to replace outgoing Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada.
Hundreds of high school students held a walkout in East Los Angeles, California, a diverse neighborhood with a large Hispanic population, demanding protection for the people they said were being targeted by Trump's supporters in the wake of his election. High school students from Portland, Oregon, and Silver Spring, Maryland, also staged walkouts today, protesting Trump's words and policies.
Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., at least 40 protesters occupied Sen. Schumer's office, according to Waleed Shahid, a spokesperson for #AllofUs, the group that staged the sit-in.
Shahid said that #AllofUs is composed of young men and women who participated in theOccupy Wall Street protests in 2011, as well as Black Lives Matter, climate activists, and organizers from Sen. Bernie Sanders' campaign for president. He said the protesters were concerned about Democrats collaborating with Trump, citing Schumer's ties to Wall Street as evidence that he was part of the same party establishment that lost the election to Trump.
Seventeen protesters were arrested in the hallway to Schumer's office today, according to Eva Malecki, the communications director for the U.S. Capitol Police. They were charged with a misdemeanor offense of "crowding, obstructing and incommoding," Malecki said.
Today's protests are building off a wave of rallies over the weekend, including the #HeretoStay march that began at Columbus Circle in Manhattan yesterday and then moved to Trump Tower, speaking out against the president-elect's hard-line anti-immigration policies.