Anti-Trump Protesters Parade Bloody Guillotine Through DC During Inauguration

Anti-Trump protesters paraded a bloody guillotine through Meridian Park in Washington, D.C., minutes ahead of President Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony Monday.

The guillotine, whose lunette reads “come get sum,” appeared alongside a number of anti-Trump banners, flyers and signs. The protesters’ messages ranged from declaring that “the people will defeat Trump’s billionaire agenda” to “all you facists [sic] bound to lose.” Another flyer claimed that “extreme heat is a climate disaster” ahead of the inauguration, which was moved indoors due to extreme cold.

One banner promised to “fight Trump’s agenda,” while promising to say “no to deportations,” “defend women’s and reproductive rights” and “stand with Palestine.”

The Meridian Park protest comes after the weekend’s “People’s March,” a successor demonstration to the much larger Women’s March following Trump’s first inauguration in 2017. The 2017 march, which boasted nearly half a million attendees, dwarfed the 2025 march, which police estimated had around 25,000 participants in the days ahead of Trump’s second inauguration, The Guardian reported. (RELATED): EXCLUSIVE: Local Police Departments Are Refusing To Help DC Secure Trump’s Inauguration

Two flyers reading “extreme heat is a climate emergency” and “all you facists [sic] bound to lose” sit atop a table in Meridian Park on Jan. 20, 2025. (Photo by the Daily Caller News Foundation)

Demonstrations during Trump’s first inauguration were characterized by widespread violence and civil disorder, with rioters destroying Starbucks and Bank of America storefronts, setting cars and trash cans ablaze and causing millions in property damage. Police arrested 217 demonstrators on charges related to rioting on Jan. 20, 2017, according to The Washington Post.

In contrast, Trump’s second inauguration prompted a much more tepid response, with no reports of widespread disorder or rioting in Washington, D.C.

It is unclear if any organization in particular fashioned the guillotine.

President Trump was sworn into office at noon Monday.

The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Hudson Crozier contributed reporting.

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