Thousands of women brave cold across the US to protest against Donald Trump

The third annual Women’s March has brought out thousands across the US to protest against the Trump administration despite freezing temperatures.

The Women’s March has returned as thousands braced cold weather, coping with an ideological split and reconfiguring its route due to the government shutdown.

The original march in 2017, the day after US President Donald Trump’s inauguration, drew hundreds of thousands of people. The exact size of the turnout remains subject to a politically charged debate, but it’s generally regarded as the largest Washington protest since the Vietnam era.

Organisers this year submitted a permit application estimating that up to 500,000 people would participate, but the actual turnout was expected to be far lower.

Parallel marches were planned in dozens of US cities, including New York.

The original plan called for participants to gather on the National Mall. But with the forecast calling for snow and freezing rain and the National Park Service no longer ploughing the snow, organisers changed the march’s location and route to start at Freedom Plaza, a few blocks from the White House, and head down Pennsylvania Avenue past the Trump International Hotel.

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This year’s march has been roiled by an intense ideological debate.

AP