Palestine, Iran, paedophilia, racism, misogyny, transphobia, corruption, climate destruction – there was a placard for all. The crowds that gathered in Dublin to protest the visit of Donald Trump had a pick ‘n’ mix assortment of grievances to air. “I have friends who volunteer for the Rape Crisis Centre,” said one protester, who wore a satirical T-shirt depicting Trump’s friends in despotic places, and a badge saying: “I believe her.” “I’m here in solidarity with women and I just hope it makes a statement,” said the protester, who asked not to be named in case it affected his job. “I think it does. When [Barack] Obama was here in 2011, 50,000 came out to College Green to hear him. With Trump, the only people on the streets are here to oppose him.” Holly Eustance carried a poster declaring: “Manatees Against US Imperialism”, a nod to the social media meme featuring the docile marine mammals said to love just about everything. So anything they don’t love must be really bad. Photograph: PA Photograph: Getty “It’s for all the species on the verge of extinction and threatened by Trump’s policies,” she said. “War and climate change destroy so much, and the economic systems Trump supports prioritise money for genocide, money for rockets to space and the interests of billionaires – not people or our planet.” Thirty political, protest and campaign groups and trade unions came together to organise Saturday afternoon’s demonstration. They put the number attending at 25,000 though it was likely much less. The crowd spread across more than a kilometre as they walked from the Garden of Remembrance to the Dáil. People Before Profit, the Social Democrats, Labour, Sinn Féin and the Green Party were among the banners carried while many marchers waved Palestinian flags and others held home-made placards.Photograph: PA Photograph: PA Trump may have brushed off questions from reporters about protests earlier in the day − musing that they were probably “friendly” – but the sentiments expressed were anything but. Many placards were profane, darkly humorous, or both, but their messages were deadly serious. One woman in a floral face mask asked not to be named for fear of repercussions. “I’m an American citizen with an American pension and I’m concerned about facial recognition software,” she said. A returned emigrant, she said she no longer recognised the United States she had grown to love and could not imagine returning to live there. “I hope the Irish Government hear what people are saying. I hope the American people somehow get to hear it too,” she said. “It feels important to stand up and say, Trump, you are not welcome here.” A group called Anti-Imperialist Action (AIA) were masked, with black clothes and dark glasses completing their uniform. As the main group of marchers reached Molesworth Street and songs and speeches were delivered from a platform outside the Dáil, the AIA group raised a US flag and burnt it before setting off firecrackers and chanting loudly against US troops in Shannon. Their action caught other groups and non-affiliated protesters by surprise but they dispersed quickly and attention returned to the speakers. Labour TD Ciarán Ahern lambasted the Government for “sycophancy” in facilitating the Trump “circus”, in return for US investment, describing its behaviour as “brown envelopes on a global scale”. Senator Alice Mary Higgins, a founder of the Irish Neutrality League, said Trump’s trip was a “grotesque pantomime that seeks to normalise his assault on decency and democracy”.