NYC 'Day Without A Woman': 13 Protesters Arrested At Trump Hotel

NEW YORK, NY — A wave of strikes, rallies, closings and other actions played out across the city Wednesday for "A Day Without A Woman," the latest effort by the Women's March On Washington organizers to push back against what participants see as a White House that doesn't respect women's rights.

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The day of action — which also fell on the International Day of Women — was meant to "spotlight the indispensable role women play in the daily functions of life in all of society, through paid and unpaid, seen and unseen labor," organizers said.

They encouraged participants to walk out of work; shop at independent, women- or minority-owned businesses; wear red in solidarity; and otherwise "disappear" in an attempt to draw attention to women's daily contributions to society.

Here's how the day went down:

Rallies

A "show of solidarity" was staged around noon at the southeast corner of Central Park, at Fifth Avenue and 59th Street. The NYPD estimated around 2,000 people attended.

Around 1 p.m., a few hundred rally-goers at the Central Park event began marching to the Trump International Hotel in Columbus Circle, where they said they would attempt to form a "human wall" around the building.

A group of around a dozen women — including well-known Brooklyn activist Linda Sarsour — tweeted a photo of themselves in the back of an NYPD van around 1:45 p.m., saying they had been arrested and were being driven to a nearby police precinct.

An NYPD spokesman confirmed that 13 demonstrators had been arrested at Columbus Circle. The spokesman said he did not know exactly why they'd been arrested but guessed it might have been for "disorderly conduct."

Here's a Twitter recap of the arrests from an Al Jazeera Plus reporter who was at the scene:

By 6 p.m., the NYPD still could not provide a reason as to why the protesters had been arrested. However, a police spokesman did say the 13 people arrested "will not be charged" with any crimes.

A crowd of supporters gathered outside the NYPD's 7th precinct on the Lower East Side late Wednesday afternoon, demanding the arrestees be released:

Another march began at 4 p.m. at Washington Square Park.

The crowd quickly grew into the hundreds, and was expected to reach the thousands by the time protesters began marching to Zuccotti Park at 5:30 p.m.

The 5:30 p.m. march to Zuccotti Park "will make some stops along the way, with performances in front of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory site, the Varick Street Immigration Detention Center, Stonewall, City Hall, the African Burial Ground and the former slave market, a financial institution funding the Dakota Access Pipeline, and others," organizers said.

Here's the full route:

• Washington Place (stop in front of Triangle Shirtwaist Factory)
• Greene Str. to Waverly Place
• Waverly Place
• Christopher Street (stop in front of Stonewall)
• 7th Avenue
• Varick Street (stop in front of the Immigration Court and second stop in front of Trump hotel Soho)
• West Broadway
• Duane Street (stop at the African burial ground
• Elk Street or Lafayette Street
• Reade Street
• Broadway

The women's caucus of the New York City Council also held an event on the steps of City Hall at noon. And NYC's first lady announced she would be among the city's "disappeared" women:

Closings

While the city's public schools were open for business — unlike some school districts in Virginia and North Carolina — some preschools and day cares said they will be affected.

The New School announced support for its participating female faculty members; said teachers would have "flexibility" in canceling classes; and asked professors not to count students absent if they miss class for the strike.

Some businesses across the city were also expected be closed or short-staffed Wednesday.

Art And Other Actions

On Wall Street, an asset management company installed a statue of a girl staring down the famous Charging Bull statue in Bowling Green Park, an evocative display that has drawn national attention.

The company, State Street Global Advisors, said the statue was meant as a warning for other companies in which it invests.

"In the event that a company fails to take action to increase the number of women on its board, SSGA will use proxy voting power to influence change — voting against the chair of the board’s nominating and/or governance committee if necessary," the company said in a statement.

The statue will be squaring off against the bull for at least a week, according to SSGA spokeswoman Anne McNally. And after that, McNally said her company is in "active conversations" with the city about extending the statue's permit to last a month.

"If the city wants to make it a permanent installation a la the charging bull, we're fully support of that," McNally told Patch.

Also on Tuesday night, the Statue Of Liberty's lights suddenly went out, which some believed was tied to A Day Without A Woman.

Alas, the National Parks Service said the temporary outage was "likely related to new emergency generator/Hurricane Sandy recovery project work."

Some women still found the explanation appropriate.

In the East Village, someone hung posters printed with the infamous transcript of misogynist comments Trump made on a leaked tape released just before the election.

Lead photo by Rob Kim/Getty Images Entertainment