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Women's March Against Trump Planned in NYC on Same Day as D.C. Rally

By Nicole Levy | November 21, 2016 12:23pm | Updated on December 9, 2016 9:57am
 Women protest at an anti-Trump walkout last week.
Women protest at an anti-Trump walkout last week.
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DNAinfo/Ben Fractenberg

UPDATE: This article has been changed to reflect the event's new rally location and route, which organizers told DNAinfo New York was relocated after several meetings with city officials. 

If you wanted to join the "Women's March on Washington" the day after president-elect Donald Trump's inauguration but can't make the trip, there will be a similar protest closer to home.

A "Women's March in New York City" has been scheduled for the same day as the D.C. rally — Jan. 21 — starting in front of the United Nations headquarters in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza at 11 a.m., and is the "approved sister" march to the one in the nation's capitol, according to the event's Facebook page.

Participants will tentatively walk west on 47th Street to Fifth Avenue, then up to Trump Tower at 56th Street — where Trump lives now and has said he plans to continue to use for himself and his family during his time in the White House.

The route is contingent on the volume of attendees, event organizers explained in an FAQ shared with DNAinfo: if the crowd surges, marchers will first be directed south on Second Avenue, then west on 42nd Street before walking north on Fifth Avenue, as arranged in concert with the NYPD and the New York City Parks Department.

"Marching to the doorsteps of this tower to promote the advancement of equality and human rights for all women, minorities, and immigrants sends a clear message to the incoming cabinet that we are watching," event organizers Katherine Siemionko and Hayley Dwight wrote. "This march also sends a message to the millions of foreign onlookers that the United States of America is not racist, sexist, or anti-gay. We, its citizens, believe in equality and stand ready to fight for it!"

More than 7,200 New Yorkers have committed to attending the event on Facebook, with 20,000 more saying they're "interested." 

That's a small fraction of the 136,000 people expected to travel to D.C. for the Washington march the Saturday morning after the inauguration. Local groups are currently raising funds for women who can't afford the trip.

March locations in both D.C. and the Big Apple have been in a state of flux as organizers negotiate with city permitting officials; the New York City march was initially slated to rally in Union Square.

Expected participants who have signed up for the event on Facebook or Eventbrite will be assigned a staggered start time through those platforms because the total volume of marchers is anticipated to exceed Dag Hammarskjold Plaza's maximum capacity of 8,000.