"Thousands of intense and flamboyant demonstrators filled parts of downtown and lined several blocks of the inaugural parade route yesterday, welcoming George W. Bush to the White House with the largest inaugural protest since one during the Vietnam War.

"The right to free speech - though they were very rude to me verbally. I care not to repeat what they called me. The woman was most vocal" (Will Lyster, January 23, 2001).

There were a few arrests and some vandalism during a few brief scuffles with police but most protesters were peaceful. Several demonstrators were doused with pepper spray in one incident, and another was left bleeding in a separate confrontation. The most violent gestures directly aimed at the new president came when four green apples and a plastic water bottle were tossed in the direction of his limousine.

"Kids offering their feelings - these are protesters I like" (Will Lyster, January 23, 2001).

The styles and passions of dissent were almost as varied as the grievances, from opposition to the death penalty and advocacy for the environment to complaints about the election.

"This girl is at the age where she made up her own mind to protest her feelings" (Will Lyster, January 23, 2001).

While one contingent marched around the Supreme Court denouncing what was called racist disenfranchisement of voters, and another listened to speeches on electoral reform at Dupont Circle, thousands more filled Freedom Plaza, brushing past a line of Girl Scouts in yellow slickers to seize bleacher seats that had been reserved for Republican loyalists. From these $50 perches, as shocked members of the Presidential Inaugural Committee looked on, the protesters chanted: 'George Bush, racist murderer!'

"Three hip dudes at Dupont Circle in front of the American Atheists display - on their way to protest the 2001 Presidential Inauguration. The sign reads, "THIEF" (George Loper, January 20, 2001).

Many protesters were college age, but many were older. They roared in support of angry orators and laughed at more satirical displays.

"Illinois American Atheists member Jim Senyszyn as "Reverend Bush," in George Duhbya mask and fake gold cross chain holding a Bible with dollar bills protruding from the pages. Behind him [out of range of the picture] is a large blue banner which reads "Their Religion/Our Money/No Way!!" (George Loper, January 20, 2001).

During the long, wet hours, self-styled Radical Cheerleaders led chants about anarchy, a herd of environmentalists donned cardboard caribou headgear, and a woman bared her breasts to reveal an anti-Bush slogan.

At one point, when it began to hail, some on America's Main Street chanted: 'Hail to the thief.'

"These two demonstrators seem well prepared for their subway ride down to the Inaugural parade. Their signs read "Bush=Anti-Woman, Anti-Choice," "Ashcroft is a Racist Sexist Pig," and "The people have spoken. (All five of them). On the building to the far right hangs a sign out the window proclaiming "Hail to the Thief" (George Loper, January 20, 2001).

The day was a stark departure from the past. The largest previous demonstrations, in 1973, for Richard M. Nixon's second inauguration, took place largely removed from the president's sight.

This year, because of the success of antiabortion demonstrators who sued to win permits for the last inauguration, protesters were granted permits along Pennsylvania Avenue, and they resolved to show up even where they didn't have permits.

Organizers said they achieved their goal of making their presence unavoidable. Bush's reaction was impossible to know. Protesters on each block erupted in shouts and obscene gestures as the presidential motorcade proceeded by slowly. When the four limousines passed Freedom Plaza, some hands inside the limos could be seen waving.

'This great,' said Brian Becker, codirector of the International Action Center, a New York-based group that filled Freedom Plaza to voice its opposition to the death penalty and to racism. 'This is precisely the scene the Bush administration did everything to prevent. As they went up Pennsylvania Avenue, they didn't want to see thousands of placard-waving protesters opposed to his conservative policies, and we've done it.'

All Smiles: A Family of Three Off to Protest the 2001 Presidential Inaugural, Union Station, Washington, D.C.

Others were upset at such a display what is traditionally a day of national celebration.

Between the swearing-in and the parade, John Cosgrove, of Bethesda, tried to guide his wife through the chanting crowd to cross Pennsylvania Avenue to a reception. The retiree said he has been to almost every inauguration since Franklin D. Roosevelt's second in 1937. What he saw yesterday angered him.

'It's the worst I've seen,' he said. 'The inauguration used to be a celebration, a time to thank our outgoing president and incoming one.' The protesters, he said, 'are infringing, on my right to celebrate.'

The demonstrators said love of country animated them, too. 'I feel like Im doing my civic duty,' said Theresa Cassiack, 22, from New York City, who said she was concerned about free speech, women's rights, racial equality and gay rights. 'We're the check on the higher power.'

The day began early for protesters, in the streets well before Bush supporters. At 8:30 a.m., a few hundred met at 12th and G streets NW, then marched to 14th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, to the beat of homemade drums.

Dupont Circle, January 20, 2001

A boisterous crowd, of more than 1,000 assembled at Dupont Circle just before 10 a.m., chastising Bush for 'stealing' the election. At 10:30, city crews arrived to cut an effigy of Bush from a tree. Speaker Patricia Ireland, president of the National Organization for Women, told the crowd: 'Let them have the tree. We have all of Dupont Circle and we have the whole country. They just have the White House.'

Two large columns marched from the circle to reinforce those assembling on the parade route. Meanwhile, near the Supreme Court, Al Sharpton, Walter E. Fauntroy and other civil rights activists were holding a 'shadow' inauguration and parade, also attended by enthusiastic Green Party members, who boosted the crowd to more than 1,000.

Is This Democracy?

Atlantic City casino worker Scott Schuster drove down with 30 friends. 'People have been disenfranchised from voting for a long time, but this election made it so blatantly obvious,' said Schuster, turning up his collar against the rain. 'You just can't let that pass.'

Starting in the Shaw neighborhood at 14th and U streets NW, a 'Day of Outrage' March of nearly 100, organized by the New Black Panther Party, also headed for the parade route. Many of the Panthers wore shin guards, helmets and protective visors. 'We are not among friends,' said organizer Malik Zulu Shabazz.

The group's protest agenda included racial profiling, the death penalty and, especially, police brutality. 'If this country is about the truth like it says it is, and it isn't, then it would have allowed the recount so everybody could be satisfied that their vote was counted and their voice was heard,' said Renee Stout, 42, an artist from the District.

SUPREME INJUSTICE Presenting THE GEORGE W. BUSH PRESIDENCY A Rehnquist & Co. Production

As various columns converged on the parade route, protesters spread up and down the avenue, with the biggest mass - thousands - at Freedom Plaza. 'I think all the people here are pro-American,' said Michael Hernandez, 24, from Brooklyn, N.Y. 'What we are trying to do is bring back democracy'.

At the beginning of the parade route, near Fourth Street NW and Pennsylvania, was the Oral Majority, and many of the 50 members who rode a bus from Florida were protest rookies - people of various races and ages stirred to action by the election.

Florence Elion, a World War 11 veteran from Palm Beach, said she is a registered Republican and 'just not the type' to protest. 'It's heartbreaking to think that Bush was selected by the Supreme Court'" she said.

Not all demonstrators were anti-Bush. Farther along the route were 200 antiabortion demonstrators, most in their late teens or twenties.

Ana Fontana, 18, a student from Long Island, shouted, 'Babies are gifts, not burdens,' at the people walking along the sidewalk. She and the Rev. Patrick Mahoney, of the Christian Defense Coalition, said they wanted to bring the message to fellow parade goers as well as encourage a ban on abortion.

Fifty pro-Bush supporters demonstrated at the Supreme Court - but did not cross paths with Sharpton's march.

'Our eight years of national embarrassment ends in just a few hours,' said Chuck Muth, an editor of a conservative e-mail newsletter from Las Vegas, addressing the National Patriots March.

In one scuffle between police and demonstrators, members of the anarchist Black Bloc confronted officers at 14th and K streets NW. Two were arrested and a third bloodied by a police baton.

Protests at the U.S. Navy Memorial, 2001 Presidential Inauguration (Picture courtesy of Will Lyster, January 20, 2001).

At the Navy Memorial on Pennsylvania Avenue, more than 50 officers charged when several in the crowd began climbing the ship mast there and replacing Navy flags with a black and red anarchist flag.

NOW Rally at the U.S. Navy Memorial, 2001 Presidential Inauguration (Picture courtesy of Will Lyster, January 20, 2001).

National Organization for Women to Protest Inauguration on January 20 "Feminists will be out in full force at the Inauguration on January 20, reminding Bush, Cheney and the Cabinet nominees that we won't tolerate a roll-back of our rights," said National Organization for Women (NOW) President Patricia Ireland. "Bush's nomination of radical right-wing ideologues is an affront to the majority in this country who favor more progressive policies." Who: NOW President Patricia Ireland and other activists What: Presidential Inauguration Protest Where: Navy Memorial (Pennsylvania Ave, between 8th and 9th Streets, NW) Washington, D.C. When: Saturday, January 20 11:30 AM to 2:30 PM NOW President's Statement at 12:45 PM

The day of demonstrating, with police ever present, was an awakening for the many first-time protesters in town.

Their eyeglasses were fogged, their sensible coats muddy, but what really flustered, one group was the column of police officers assembling before them.

"I can't believe this - they're afraid of us?' said Carolyn King, a 54-year-old sales representative who decided two weeks ago to be a protester. 'I'm angry... I think if Gore did the same thing-not count all the ballots - I would still be out here.'

She flew from Grand Rapids, Minn., to meet her sister from Palm Beach County, Fla., who says she may have punched the wrong name on the ballot.

They met an old friend, Kathy Rais, 45, who took a bus from a Philadelphia suburb without her family's knowledge. 'This is my first protest ever,' Rais said. 'My family won't believe I did this'" (David Montgomery, The Washington Post, January 21, 2001).