Protesters across US demand Trump release tax returns
New Delhi : Thousands of protesters took to the streets across the United States on Saturday to call on President Donald Trump to release his tax returns.
According to organisers, demonstrators came out in large numbers in about 200 cities, including a few outside the US, CNNMoney reported.
Images of tax protesters in cities including Washington, Philadelphia, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles and New York flooded social media.
Comedy writer Frank Lesser, whose tweet in January sparked the idea for the 'Tax March', said the participation in the nationwide marches proves that people want to see Trump's returns, Xinhua news agency reported.
Trump has said Americans "don't care at all" about his tax returns, but polls show 74 per cent of Americans say he should release them.
Many lawmakers, including some Republicans, have also called on him to make them public. And a petition demanding that Trump release his returns has garnered more than 1 million signatures.
For the past 40 years, every US President and presidential candidate has released tax documents.
Still, the White House has not indicated that Trump has any intentions of releasing his returns.
Trump has repeatedly said he can not release his tax returns because they are under audit, though many tax experts have said he is not barred from releasing the information during the audit.
"We march to demand that the President release his returns, as he has repeatedly promised, but failed, to do," the Tax March website reads.
"We march because it is in the best interest of the American people to know what financial entanglements and conflicts of interest our leaders have."
Much like the "Pussyhats" symbolised by the Women's March in January, the hallmark of this protest are giant inflatable chickens.
Organisers have nicknamed the march's symbol "Chicken Don".
On Saturday morning, chickens could be spotted on the steps of the Capitol building and outside the Trump Hotel.
Thirty-foot inflatable chickens, designed purposely made to resemble Trump, were also seen at the marches in New York City and San Francisco.
