WASHINGTON D.C.- Less than 24 hours after our nation swore in a new President, women, men, and children from all over the world gathered together to demonstrate their disapproval with the country’s current political state at the Women’s March on Washington D.C.

The Women’s March began with speeches and performances from celebrities and politicians who spoke out against the divisive, offensive, and dangerous political climate. Some highlights of the speakers included Ashley Judd, who eloquently recited “Nasty Women” written by Nina Donovan, Michael Moore, who called for action from the audience, and Scarlett Johansson, who got personal about Planned Parenthood.

Marchers, packed like sardines, watched the festivities taking place on the stage (or by a jumbotron since many were too far away) while frequently cheering or brandishing their creative posters. There was an abundant range of posters in the crowd, but the majority were displaying unrest with the new President and his administration. Whether the posters were attacking him directly, supporting a right or idea he opposes, or mocking something he said, it was clear that of hundreds of thousands of posters, none were in favor of the President.

As the crowd was getting anxious to begin moving, an important fact was revealed. The march organization had initially been granted a permit for 200,000 people to march; however, the crowd was estimated to be closer to 500,000 according to the Washington Post. Due to the amount of marchers exceeding the permit, the march had to be “canceled”, but that did not stop anybody from proceeding to flood the streets of D.C to the White House.

The actual march was planned to begin around 1:15pm, and by about 2:00, when the word spread by mouth that the official march was canceled, crowds began their own movement toward the National Monument and towards the White House. The permit for an organization can be taken away, but a citizen’s right to march can’t be; knowing this, people continued to march. The National Mall and its many side streets were swarmed with herds of pink hats and posters as the peaceful mob migrated.There was no pushing or shoving, rather poster complementing, picture taking, or rally jingle chanting.

As the herd reached the White House Ellipse, the massive size of the crowd was even more apparent than before, as everyone was in one central location. The grassy lawn was overflowing with marchers as even more were continuing on their way. Although many marchers intended to march directly up the the White House gates, the local police and Secret Service teams had the area blocked off at points farther away, stopping the crowd before they could reach their goal: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Marchers were neither defiant nor belligerent to the law enforcement about the barrier; instead,  they thanked them, and answered by sending a more silent and powerful message to the new leader of our nation. One by one, marchers placed their posters along the designated border of the White House and White House Ellipse, surrounding the president’s new home with some nice and some not-so-nice works of political art and creativity.

While there is no official head count to compare numbers, crowd scientists report that the Women’s March on Washington brought three times as many people to the National Mall as Trump’s Inauguration, according to the New York Times. The same scientists estimate a total number of 160,000 people attended the inauguration, and a minimum of 470,000 attended the Women’s March.

Contrary to what those numbers suggest, Trump and his press secretary, Sean Spicer, claimed that the media was falsely representing the inauguration crowd to make it seem significantly smaller than the Women’s March crowd . Spicer went as far as to say that the crowd Trump brought out  was the “ largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period”,  but he made that assumption with no concrete evidence and against the known information.

Whether or not the new President or his administration will admit it, the Women’s March on Washington is a symbol for the rise of political activism that will likely label the next four years.