Anti-Donald Trump protesters who aim to create "a major political crisis" at Trump's presidential inauguration kicked off their efforts Thursday night by filling a street outside a building where Trump supporters were attending a "DeploraBall."
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Demonstrators chanted "No Trump / No KKK / No fascist U.S.A," and shouted "Shame," "Fascist" and "Nazi pigs" at Trump supporters entering the event at the National Press Club building on F Street NW, a few blocks from the White House.
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"DeploraBall" takes its name from Democrat Hillary Clinton's remark during the 2016 campaign that half of Trump's supporters belong in a "basket of deplorables" -- a phrase that Trump backers quickly embraced as a badge of honor.
Many of Thursday night's protesters wore masks to partially cover their faces.
Some protesters threw objects and occasionally lit small fires, burning a "Make America Great Again" hat at one point. Police used pepper spray later in the evening, according to an NBC News report.
Multiple protestors were removed by police.
Pre-printed signs touted a refusefascism.org website, which says Trump's "fascist regime must be stopped before it starts" and envisions creating "a major political crisis, to which all the factions in the power structure would have to react."
Signers of a "call to action" on the website include Weather Underground co-founder and onetime Pentagon bomber Bill Ayers, Revolutionary Communist Party USA co-founder Carl Dix and others associated with the Revolutionary Communist Party USA.
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