Photo: Hollywood celebrities join anti-Trump New York protest

“Fight Trump every day” and “justice and civil rights for all,” read placards at the rally in the president-elect’s hometown. (AFP)

A-list celebrities joined several thousand protesters on the streets of New York on Thursday night to protest against Donald Trump on the eve of the incoming Republican president’s inauguration.

Hollywood actors Robert de Niro and Alec Baldwin, Oscar-winning director Michael Moore and singer Cher were among those who joined the noisy gathering close to the Trump International Hotel on Central Park South. A crowd of several thousand people thronged Columbus Circle and Central Park West, the boulevard outside the five-star hotel.

Robert De Niro speaks onstage during the We Stand United NYC Rally outside Trump International Hotel & Tower on January 19, 2017 in New York City. (AFP)

“Fight Trump every day” and “justice and civil rights for all,” read placards at the rally in the president-elect’s hometown, where a majority of people voted for his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in last year’s election.

Baldwin, who lampoons Trump in a regular slot on comedy TV show “Saturday Night Live” to rave reviews and repeated Twitter drubbings from the thin-skinned Republican billionaire, took to the podium to do his Trump impression.

“Are we going to have 100 days of resistance?” he said, revving up the crowd and switching to his regular voice. “Fantastic!” he hollered. “He does not rule with a mandate,” Moore said in reference to Clinton’s win of the popular vote and Americans who voted for independent candidates. “We are the majority. Don’t give up. I won’t give up,” he said.

Marisa Tomei (AFP)

Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, issued a rallying cry for progressive politics and urged Americans across the country to rise up and make their objections to the incoming administration heard. “Donald Trump always liked to say he built a movement, well now it’s time for us to build our movement and that starts tonight and it’s all over the country, tonight, tomorrow and in the days to come,” de Blasio said.

He championed universal healthcare, protecting the world from climate change and preserving rights gained under the outgoing Barack Obama administration. “Look at the thousands here tonight and that is only the beginning,” he added.

Mark Ruffalo (AFP)

‘Would-be-dictator’ will fail: Soros

Billionaire George Soros on Thursday delivered a scathing assessment of Donald Trump, calling the US President-elect a “would-be-dictator” who is “going to fail”. Soros said Trump was “gearing up for a trade war” which would have “a very far reaching effect in Europe and other parts of the world”.

The “would-be-dictator... didn’t expect to win, he was surprised,” the Hungarian-born financier told an audience of business leaders and journalists at a Hotel in Davos where the World Economic Forum is being held.

“I personally have confidence that he’s going to fail... because his ideas, that guide him are inherently self-contradictory,” added Soros. US stocks retreated and the dollar fell against most currencies Thursday in the final session before Trump’s inauguration on Friday.

Source: Al arabiya