Nation and World briefs for January 21

Melee near Trump’s parade route as police and protesters clash

WASHINGTON (AP) — Protesters registered their rage against the new president Friday in a chaotic confrontation with police who used pepper spray and stun grenades in a melee just blocks from Donald Trump’s inaugural parade. Scores were arrested for trashing property and attacking officers while a burning limousine sent clouds of black smoke into the sky during Trump’s procession.

Several spirited demonstrations unfolded peacefully at various security checkpoints near the Capitol as police helped ticket-holders get through to the inaugural ceremony. Signs read, “Resist Trump Climate Justice Now,” “Let Freedom Ring,” “Free Palestine.”

But about a mile from the National Mall, police gave chase to a group of about 100 protesters who smashed the windows of downtown businesses as they denounced capitalism and Trump. Police in riot gear used pepper spray from large canisters and eventually cordoned off protesters at 12th and L streets in northwest Washington.

Two uniformed police officers suffered “minor injuries from coordinated attacks” as protesters fled the scene, according to a statement from the Metropolitan Police Department.

The confrontation began an hour before Trump took the oath of office and escalated several hours later as the crowd of protesters swelled to more than 1,000.

Gambia’s defeated leader finally agrees to cede power

BANJUL, Gambia (AP) — Gambia’s new president declared late Friday that “the rule of fear” ended, while word emerged that longtime leader Yahya Jammeh was finally stepping aside under the threat of a regional military offensive.

In neighboring Senegal, where Adama Barrow sought refuge after winning last month’s presidential election, a government official confirmed Jammeh agreed to leave.

Jammeh has refused to accept his loss to Barrow, who was inaugurated Thursday at Gambia’s embassy in Senegal. The leaders of Guinea and Mauritania met with Jammeh on Friday to try to persuade him to cede power.

The Senegalese government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to talk to reporters, said final arrangements for the agreement with Jammeh were still being worked out.

Jammeh, who first seized power in a 1994 coup, offered to step aside once before during the current crisis — only to change his mind later.

Obama exits voicing optimism for future

WASHINGTON (AP) — Closing out a barrier-breaking chapter in history, former President Barack Obama left the White House on Friday much the way he entered it eight years ago: insisting Americans have reason for optimism despite the national sense of unease.

He was gracious to President Donald Trump to the end, warmly welcoming his successor to the home where he raised his daughters. Yet to those fearful about Trump’s presidency, Obama suggested it would be a mere blip.

“This is just a little pit stop,” Obama told supporters just before departing Washington. “This is not a period, this is a comma in the continuing story of building America.”

Obama leaves the national stage as a widely popular figure, with his poll numbers approaching 60 percent. He’s being replaced by the least popular president in four decades, polls show — a reality on display in Trump’s low-key inauguration. On the National Mall, far fewer showed up than the throng that attended Obama’s 2009 inauguration, and some protesters downtown hurled bricks and broke windows in a show of defiance. Many others demonstrated peacefully.

Left unspoken in Obama’s final hours was the unpleasant reality that his successor has pledged to reverse much, if not most, of what he accomplished. That has raised the prospect that Obama’s major lasting legacy may be as a cultural icon: the first black president, who ushered the country into a new era in which gays can marry, marijuana is legal in more places than ever and white people will soon be a minority.