Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in Washington D.C. and in nearly 300 other US cities in the third annual Women’s March to protest against the policies of President Donald Trump and to stand up for women’s rights.

Organisers had hoped to see hundreds of thousands of attendees, the kind of turnout that made the first march held a day after Trump was sworn in as President on January 20, 2017, a seminal moment in the protest movement, reports The Washington Post.

The main event kicked off at Freedom Plaza near the White House, where the organisers set up a stage and the along Pennsylvania Avenue, which connects the White House to the Capitol.

Saturday’s event came a day after Women’s March leaders unveiled a 10-prong political platform that the group says will outline “realistically achievable” priorities, such as raising the federal minimum wage, addressing reproductive rights and violence against women and passing the long-dormant Equal Rights Amendment.

The march however, has stirred controversy due to links between some organisers and Louis Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam leader who has compared Jewish people to termites and called them “the mother and father of apartheid”, reports the Guardian.

Tamika Mallory, a Women’s March co-chair, was criticised after she posted a photo on Instagram of herself and Farrakhan, calling him “the GOAT” which stands for “greatest of all time”.

Another incident that caused controversy is when Vanessa Wruble, an original Women’s March organiser, in December claimed Mallory and Carmen Perez, a co-president, made antisemitic comments in a meeting.