Thousands of students across the U.S. flood campuses, streets to protest election results

Students at universities across the U.S. have come out in droves to protest the presidential election results, which saw Republican candidate Donald Trump emerging victorious.

Not long after the announcement, students began gathering on campuses and city streets from the East Coast to the West Coast, waving placards and chanting “He’s not my president”.

According to USA Today, 55 percent of voters under 30 years old supported Hillary Clinton, compared to the 37 percent who said they voted for President-elect Trump.

Students at the University of Connecticut organized sit-ins across campus, while University of Massachusetts students gathered at the Goodell Building for Workplace Learning and Management with chants of, “Trump must go!”

Cynthia Barrales, a freshman at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), told the Daily Bruin: “It feels like we’re cheated somehow. He’s a horrible person that doesn’t deserve this title.”

Even high school students have joined demonstrations.

At Berkeley High School in California, over 1,000 students walked out of their classes and gathered in the school’s courtyard.

Speaking to The Independent, Berenabas Lukas, a 15-year-old student who took part in the protest, said that he felt less safe since Trump’s win.

“[Having] a president that doesn’t support Latinos or African Americans, who is racist, and who is going to run America for four years, maybe eight, is sickening,” he said.

But not all students are putting on displays of anger: some have opted to hold peaceful gatherings and spread messages of support, such as those at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, who organized a vigil early Wednesday morning and chalked “You belong here” and “Coexist” on the sidewalk.

Virginia Commonwealth University has also offered students and staff a safe space to gather and talk.

Yolanda Avent, Director of the university’s Multicultural Student Affairs Office, which had organized the space, told The Chronicle: “People have carved out pockets to talk, reflect, or give long hugs. The one consistent thing that I see is hugs.”

Image via the Associated Press

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