Anti-Trump protesters, 'DeploraBall' attendees clash in Washington

Police keep back protesters outside the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

(Image credit: Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images)

last updated 20 January 2017

Police officers used chemical spray against protesters gathered outside the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Thursday night after they began throwing trash at Donald Trump supporters leaving the "DeploraBall," The Washington Post reports.

Several protesters raised their middle fingers at the supporters, the Post repots, and shouted "racist" and "Nazi." Other protesters were silent — one group projected phrases onto the side of the building, like "Bragging about Grabbing a Woman's Genitals" and "Impeach the Predatory President," and another inflated a giant white elephant with a banner that said "racism." Organizers of the DeploraBall, named after Hillary Clinton's description of some Trump supporters as "deplorable," said they had nothing to do with the white supremacist movement, although rumors swirled across social media that well-known members of the alt-right movement would be attending.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.