LONDON As millions of demonstrators prepared to join in the Womens March on Washington and sister marches across America on Saturday, protests were already underway in cities around the globe.

The rallies, held a day after U.S. President Donald Trump took his oath of office, aimed to promote gender equality and call for an end to the marginalization and discrimination of women.

In London, thousands of demonstrators filled miles of city streets as they marched toward Trafalgar Square. Carrying signs with slogans like a womans place is in the White House and singing anti-Trump songs, the crowd represented part of the outraged international reaction to the new U.S. president and his administration .

Some participants waited more than an hour in the cold to begin marching, but passed the time with chants and excited discussion about why the protest mattered to them.