5,000 expected to attend women’s rally in Olympia

OLYMPIA — A rally that brought 10,000 people to the state Capitol last year to protest President Donald Trump and advocate for women’s rights is set to return to Olympia on Saturday.

The second Women’s March rally is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. Saturday on the Capitol Campus. Organizers estimate 5,000 people will show up. It’s one of roughly 200 rallies expected across the country Saturday, including events in Seattle and Aberdeen.

The first march, held shortly after Trump’s inauguration, brought large crowds to Olympia and elsewhere. More than 1 million people rallied worldwide, according to the Associated Press.

Organizers of the Olympia event say the group is demanding a “society in which women — including black women, native women, poor women, immigrant women, disabled women, Muslim women, lesbian queer and trans women — are free and able to care for and nurture their families, however they are formed, in safe and healthy environments free from structural impediments.”

The national group also has an agenda that touches on issues from abortion and access to contraception to minimum-wage laws and environmental policies.

On Saturday in Olympia, the march portion of the event — hosted separately by the advocacy group Olympia Embrace — will begin at 12:30 p.m.

Organizers say their route will take people from the Winged Victory monument on the Capitol Campus, down the nearby switchbacks to Capitol Lake and around the lake to Heritage Park.

An alternative route for people not able to complete the full march will head north on Columbia Street Southwest and eventually wind to Heritage Park.

There is no formal event in Tacoma, according to the Women’s March website.