Demonstrators gathered for People’s March in Center City ahead of Trump’s inauguration: ‘We need people to be engaged’

On a gray Saturday morning, two days ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s second inauguration, demonstrators gathered at City Hall to march against what the incoming administration might bring for reproductive rights, immigrants, and more.

“When they write the history books about this moment,” Councilmember Jamie Gauthier told the crowd, “let’s make sure that it isn’t just about Trump, but also how Philadelphians did not blink when they tried to take away our rights and our freedoms.”

At an organizer-estimated 700 participants, the 2025 People’s March kicked off at 10 a.m., with the Voices Rising Philly Choir welcoming demonstrators with songs inspired by protest music from the 1960s. A rebranded version of the Women’s March, which drew 50,000 people into Philadelphia’s streets amid Trump’s first inauguration in 2017, the People’s March might have been smaller than the first go-around, but no less important to participants.

Carrying an umbrella branded with “Bans off our bodies” messaging, Eileen Faust left her home in Pottstown early Saturday to catch a train to Center City. Reproductive rights, she said, were top of mind. Trump previously took credit for the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which ended women’s federal rights to terminate a pregnancy and returned regulating abortion access to state governments.

“My rights should be equal to a man’s,” Faust said. “Control of my body should be my decision, my choice — not the government’s.”

Trisha James, whose 5-year-old daughter, Silva, attended the march with her, concurred. On Saturday, the pair stood outside City Hall with a sign drawn by Silva that read, “For my future.”

“That my daughter has less rights than I had at her age is really heartbreaking,” James said. “We are here for her future, so she knows it’s in her hands and her hands only.”

Gauthier, meanwhile, said that while she may be “nervous about what the next four years will bring,” she was confident in the city’s ability to navigate potential challenges posed by the Trump administration.

“We are tough, we are gritty, and we have always come out on top,” Gauthier said ahead of the march. Philadelphia, she added, “is and always will be a sanctuary city,” which drew cheers from the crowd.

Sanctuary cities resist federal pressure to help deport immigrants, which has been a key point for Trump’s administration. Last month, a spokesperson for Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration told The Inquirer that a 2016 executive order codifying Philadelphia’s sanctuary status “remains in place,” but Parker has faced pressure from grassroots organizations for an emphatic embrace of that status.

“Our City Council has invested in our priorities: safe, stable housing, a clean environment, grassroots anti-violence programs, and a fair shot for everyone regardless of your race, your gender, your sexuality, your economic background, or your immigration status,” Gauthier said.

Cristina Nodal, a member of the immigrant community-focused nonprofit Make the Road Pennsylvania, said joining the march was a personal statement to say that “undocumented immigrants are here and shouldn’t live in fear.” Among her top concerns were the Trump administration’s proposal to rescind birthright citizenship, and whether Philadelphia’s sanctuary city status would be enough to protect vulnerable people.

“Even when they say we are a sanctuary city right now, we have to look after each other; we have to be there for each other,” Nodal said.

The Philadelphia People’s March was one of many planned for Saturday in cities around the country — including in Washington, D.C., which was expected to draw about 50,000 people. The reorganized, rebranded march, national organizers told the Associated Press, was designed to focus on a broader set of issues than the 2017 Women’s March, including LGBTQ rights, climate issues, and immigration.

The People’s March banner, said Women’s March managing director Tamika Middleton, represents an effort at reflecting the priorities of a larger coalition of organizations. Since 2017, the group has faced allegations including racism and antisemitism, as well as claims that it focused more on the voices of straight white women over women of color and the LGBTQ+ community, causing internal fractures and changes in leadership.

“We’re recognizing the necessity of having a really broad-based coalition that is bringing people in,” Middleton said. “We’re asking ourselves how we build a big tent that allows for the kind of multiracial, multi-class, multi-gender mass movement that can make a difference politically in the coming years.”

Rather than meet or exceed the number of participants in the 2017 Women’s March, which was reportedly among the largest single day of demonstrations in the country’s history, Middleton said the goal in 2025 was to bring in new movement members and energize voters.

Still, for Philly People’s March participant Julia Manning, who attended the Women’s March events from 2017 to 2019, the decrease in attendees this year could be cause for concern. The incoming administration, she said, stands to bring a hard four years, and as a result, she said, “we need people to be engaged.”

“That’s the most important thing with the resistance at this point,” Manning said. “Showing up looks different for everyone, but remember we find power in people.”

The Associated Press contributed to this article.