Thousands take to streets in major cities to protest Trump election

Thousands of people coast-to-coast took to the streets Wednesday night to protest Donald Trump’s election, disrupting traffic, chanting anti-Trump slogans and some ending up in handcuffs.

From New England to heartland cities like Kansas City and along the West Coast, demonstrators bore flags and effigies of the president-elect, disrupting traffic and declaring that they refused to accept Trump's victory.

Some California cities saw heated tensions over Trump’s election. Thousands of protesters burned a giant papier mache Trump head in Los Angeles and started fires in Oakland intersections.

Los Angeles demonstrators also beat a Trump piñata and sprayed the Los Angeles Times building and news vans with anti-Trump profanity. One protester outside LA City Hall read a sign that simply said "this is very bad."

Late in the evening several hundred people blocked one of the city's busiest freeways, U.S. 101 between downtown and Hollywood.

Los Angeles police told CBS Los Angeles that at least 13 people were arrested in the protests.

In Oakland, several thousand people gathered in Frank Ogawa Palaza, police said, clogging intersections and freeway on-ramps. According to KTVU, police used tear gas to disperse protesters after an unlawful assembly was declared.

Oakland police said one protesters was cited and a small number of protesters were arrested on suspicion of disobedience.

A similar protest in Manhattan drew about 1,000 people. Outside Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in midtown, police installed barricades to keep the demonstrators at bay.

According to NBC New York, at least 60 people were arrested in the Manhattan protests.

“America is not voting for Donald Trump’s policies, which don’t exist,” one protester told the station. “They voted for sexism, racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism.”

Other protesters echoed “Not my president” chants, which had been heard in several cities across the U.S.

In Chicago, several thousand people marched through the Loop. They gathered outside Trump Tower, chanting “Not my president!” One resident Michael Burke said he believes the president-elect stands to divide the nation and stir up a deep-seated hatred. He added there was a constitutional duty not to accept that outcome.

Hundreds of protesters gathered near Philadelphia's City Hall despite chilly, wet weather. Participants — who included both supporters of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who lost to Clinton in the primary — expressed anger at both Republicans and Democrats over the election's outcome.

In Boston, thousands of anti-Trump protesters streamed through downtown, chanting "Trump's a racist" and carrying signs that said "Impeach Trump" and "Abolish Electoral College." Clinton appears to be on pace to win the popular vote, despite losing the electoral count that decides the presidential race.

In the Midwest, protesters gathered in Minneapolis, Omaha, Nebraska and Kansas City Missouri. The Des Moines Register also reported that Iowa’s capital city saw some people protest as well, though it was kept to small numbers.

Marchers protesting Trump's election chanted and carried signs in front of the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.

Media outlets broadcast video Wednesday night showing a peaceful crowd in front of the new downtown hotel. Many chanted "No racist USA, no Trump, no KKK."

Another group stood outside the White House. They held candles, listened to speeches and sang songs.

Dallas activists gathered by the dozens outside the city's sports arena, the American Airlines Center.

In Oregon, dozens of people blocked traffic in downtown Portland, burned American flags and forced a delay for trains on two light-rail lines. Earlier, the protest in downtown drew several Trump supporters, who taunted the demonstrators with signs. A lone Trump supporter was chased across Pioneer Courthouse Square and hit in the back with a skateboard before others intervened.

Many held anti-Trump and Black Lives Matter signs and chanted slogans, including "Misogyny has to go," and "The people united, will never be defeated."

Five people were shot and injured in an area near the protest, but police said the shootings and the demonstration were unrelated.

Back in New York, several groups of protesters caused massive gridlock as police mobilized to contain them under a light rain.

They held signs that read "Trump Makes America Hate" and chanted "hey, hey, ho, ho Donald Trump has got to go." and "Impeach Trump."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.