Donald Trump has been officially sworn in as the 45th president of the United States in a grand ceremony at the US Capitol in Washington DC. Trump took the oath of office after the swearing-in of Vice-President Mike Pence.
“From this day, a new vision will govern our land,” Trump said during his strong opening remarks soon after being sworn-in.
Before his opening address, Trump’s 35-word oath happened in front of the Capitol Hill with 1500-odd strong high-profile crowd in attendance. Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee who Trump beat to win the US election, was present with her husband and former US President Bill Clinton at the ceremony. Outgoing president Barack Obama and previous president George Bush were also among the attendees.
Nearly 900,000 people, many of them from across America, are believed to have descedned on the US Capital to witness the event. The oath taking ceremony is scheduled to be followed with a presidential parade, with the historic day concluding with a series of balls.
The inauguration of Trump also saw massive protests around the Capitol, with a wave of protests also happening across America and which began in the morning
According to news reports, there were calls for demonstration to stand in solidarity with “women, immigrants and religious minorities including Muslims”. All of these groups during some point in the campaign were at the receiving end of Donald Trump’s criticism, insults and other offensive statements.
In the lead-up to Trump’s successful presidential bid, the 70-year billionaire rallied millions of Americans around his slogan of “Making America Great Again”. Among some of his controversial campaign pledges, he has vowed to build a wall along US’ southern border with Mexico and put a ban on Muslim immigration.
