WASHINGTON (CN) — Dozens gathered Monday to protest the soft opening of Trump International Hotel, just down the road from the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue.
The Answer Coalition, short for Act Now to Stop War and Racism organized the all-day demonstration outside the hotel, whose grand opening has been pushed to October.
Donald Trump meanwhile spent the morning hosting a campaign event in nearby Baltimore.
"The people of D.C. and the people of the country say no to Trump's rhetoric and policies of racism, of fear mongering and scapegoating against immigrants, the Muslim community, refugees," protest organizer Sarah Sloan said.
Another target of the protest, Sloan added, is the "sweetheart, 60-year lease" that federal agencies gave Trump to build the super luxury hotel at the old Post Office Pavilion.
Just outside the Justice Department, not far from the U.S. Capitol, the site of Trump's new hotel is a place of historic protest movements and expressions of free speech, Sloan said.
"The federal government worked to hand this property, that's public property, over to him, and they've even handed portions of this plaza," Sloan said.
"We are opposing of course this handover of public property to a private organization run by a racist, right-wing billionaire," she added.
The demonstration Monday comes six months after a Trump appearance at the hotel fueled a separate protest.
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