Thousands attend Women’s March events in Tennessee; most in Nashville & Knoxville

Women’s March events in Tennessee, held in conjunction with similar rallies around the nation, drew thousands of participants, according to media reports. It appears the best-attended events were in Nashville on Saturday and Knoxville on Sunday.

“More than 15,000” people were on hand for a Saturday Nashville march that was “partly a demonstration in support of women’s rights and partly a protest against President Donald Trump’s handling of a number of social issues,” reports The Tennessean.

In Chattanooga, police estimated that the march drew about 3,000, according to WRCB-TV (with other media, including the Times Free Press, just reporting “thousands”).

The Memphis gathering drew “more than 1,000,” according to the Commercial Appeal. That’s about the same size reported for the Johnson City Women’s March by WJHL TV. In Bristol, the Herald Courier estimated about 100 persons attended the rally there.

The Women’s March in Knoxville was scheduled for Sunday instead of Saturday, drawing a crowd estimated at 14,000 by police, according to the News Sentinel.

A counter-demonstration by the white separatist Traditionalist Worker Party drew about 20 people on the opposite side of Market Street. Despite occasional raised voices and angry words, that event ended with no arrests.

And a few blocks away, about 700 people sang, prayed and voiced their opposition to abortion at the March for Life event at the Knoxville Convention Center.

Note: The original version of this post appeared before Sunday’s Knoxville event. It has been updated after the event.