Women's March 2018: Hundreds of thousands of activists descend on downtown Los Angeles

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Hundreds of thousands of activists gathered in downtown on a brisk Saturday morning for the second annual Women's March Los Angeles.

The demonstration was one of several held in U.S. cities and across the globe, including New York, Chicago, Denver and Washington, D.C. It came one year after the first Women's March prompted massive crowds to take to the streets worldwide.

By 9 a.m., a sizable crowd assembled for a rally in Pershing Square, about an hour before the march's start time. Some 750,000 people turned out for last year's event in L.A.; at least 200,000 were expected on Saturday.

"I want equality for everybody," said participant Bre Edwards, of Santa Clarita. "I don't care what you are, where you come from. I want everyone to be equal and I think this will really take a step toward that."

Officials advised motorists to avoid the area during the event while encouraging attendees to take Metro. Additional subway trains were added to normally scheduled service, along with increased personnel and security.

"The largest consideration is going to be traffic,'' Los Angeles Police Department Assistant Chief Michel Moore said Friday. "We ask people to use the transit systems, bus and rail. We will have more than sufficient officers that will facilitate. We have no threats against this event."

At 10 a.m. Saturday, throngs of marchers set out from Pershing Square and headed about 3/4 of a mile northeast to Grand Park, where a second rally was underway.

"We are pleased to say there have been no issues to report," the LAPD said in an afternoon statement.

Meanwhile, President Trump tweeted that it was a "perfect day" for women to celebrate what he described as "unprecedented economic success and wealth creation" that's happened during his first year in office.

Take a look at various women's marches happening across the country.

"Lowest female unemployment in 18 years!" Trump added.

People participating in rallies and marches in the U.S. and around the world Saturday were in fact denouncing Trump's views on immigration, abortion, LGBTQ rights, women's rights and more.

The Associated Press and City News Service contributed to this report.