Inside the thousand-strong protest outside Trump Tower: 'We'll be back everyday until he gets the message'

'We have a legitimate f**kface for president and I can't stand it.'

Trump Tower sits somewhere between Prada, Armani and Gucci in New York's Manhattan. On Wednesday night, the shutters were down on the designer shops and garbage trucks filled with sand, police officers and barricades were out to separate the president-elect's New York home and campaign base from the thousands of angry protesters outside.

The crowd was extremely young, extremely diverse and extremely angry - and every one of them promised they weren't going anywhere. As chants of "Donald Trump's a piece of s**t; he is not my president" rang out, protesters vowed to be back "tomorrow, and the next day and the next day... until he gets the f**king message".

New York didn't vote for Trump, and the protesters The Independent spoke to tonight were keen to point out the majority of their country hadn't either. For the first time in 15 years, and in perhaps the most important election for many more years, a Democrat had won the popular vote but lost the all-important electoral college.

Laura, an immigrant to the US (3.21 on FB live video), explained: "Whatever hole of emptiness this election left in me is now filled with anger."

"I became a citizen last year. This is my first election as a citizen... Now we have a legitimate f**kface for president and I can't stand it. It pisses me off." Her message to Donald Trump? "Just die, I guess."

While any desire for violence was mostly talk, the anger was palpable among the protesters. At the first sign of trouble the crowd burst into chants of "peaceful protest". Instead they were worried about possible violence from Trump supporters.

Thousands of anti-Trump demonstrators protest outside Trump Tower with a Donald Trump pinata after marching from Union Square in New York City (Tolga Akmen/LNP/REX/Shutterstock)

Colin, a 25-year-old New York native and gay man, arrived at the protest dressed as Harry Potter and holding a poster calling on Dumbledore's Army to unite against Trump. The crowd loved the costume, chanting "use your magic, Dumbledore," but he had a serious message behind the sign. "I'm a gay man - me and my boyfriend are fearing for our lives," he told The Independent. "With this election comes the possible takeaway of all my civil liberties."

Much of the crowd was just as fearful as Colin. As Bianca (7.38), the daughter of immigrants explained, "My mum grew up in Northern California. She didn't speak English until she was seven. Kids would tie her down, throw rocks at her and tell her to speak English. I'm seeing that type of behaviour popping up in articles now... I refuse to let another generation of kids go through that bulls**t.""