US President Barack Obama believes in the right of Americans to protest the election of Donald Trump in a non-violent manner, but wants people to hear the message that “we’re Americans and patriots” before Democrats and Republicans, the White House says.

“It’s important for us to remember, a day or two after the election, that we’re Democrats and Republicans, but we’re Americans and patriots first,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters on Thursday.

“And that’s the message the president hopes that most people will hear.”

Police put up security fences around Mr Trump’s new Washington hotel and a line of concrete blocks shielded New York’s Trump Tower as students around the country staged a second day of protests over his election.

A day after thousands of people took to the streets in at least 10 US cities from Boston to Berkeley, California, chanting “not my president” and “no Trump”, fresh protests were held in Texas to San Francisco.

A Trump campaign representative did not respond to requests for comment on the protests but former New York City mayor and a high-profile Trump supporter Rudy Giuliani called the demonstrators “a bunch of spoiled cry-babies”.

EARLIER

Throngs of demonstrators have held marches across the United States to protest Donald Trump’s shock US presidential election victory, blasting his campaign rhetoric about immigrants, Muslims and other groups.

In New York, thousands of protesters filled streets in midtown Manhattan as they made their way to Trump Tower, while hundreds of others gathered at a Manhattan park and shouted: “Not my president.”

A demonstration of about 6000 people blocked traffic in Oakland, California, police said.

Protesters threw objects at police in riot gear, burned trash in the middle of an intersection, set off fireworks and smashed store front windows.

Police responded by throwing chemical irritants at the protesters, according to a witness.

Riots broke out in Oakland, California. Photo: Reuters

In downtown Chicago, 1800 gathered outside the Trump International Hotel and Tower while chanting phrases like: “No Trump! No KKK! No racist USA!”

Chicago police closed roads in the area, impeding the demonstrators’ path. There were no immediate reports of arrests or violence.

“I’m just really terrified about what is happening in this country,” said 22-year-old Adriana Rizzo, who was holding a sign that read: “Enjoy your rights while you can.”

.@abcnews this is what US democracy looks like pic.twitter.com/a06LQgelb9

— Michael Vincent (@MVincentOZ) November 10, 2016

In Los Angeles, protesters sat on the 101 Hollywood Freeway, blocking traffic as police in riot gear watched.

A rally and march drew more than 5000 people, many of whom were high school and college students, local media reported.

In Seattle, police said they were responding to reports of a shooting with multiple victims near the scene of anti-Trump protests. Police said the shooting was unrelated to the demonstrations.

Protesters rallied against Mr Trump’s campaign pledge to build a wall along the border with Mexico to keep out undocumented immigrants, and other policies they deemed racist.

Protesters make comparisons with Trump’s sentiments and Klu Klux Klan ideologies.

“I’m particularly concerned about the rise of white nationalism and this is to show my support against that type of thing,” Ms Rizzo said.

Hundreds also gathered in Philadelphia and Boston.

In the Texas capital Austin, about 400 people marched through the streets, police said.

A representative of the Trump campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the protests.

Thousands gathered in downtown Chicago chanting “No Trump! No KKK! No racist USA!”. Photo: Reuters.

Thousands gathered in downtown Chicago chanting “No Trump! No KKK! No racist USA!”

In his victory speech, Mr Trump said he would be a president for all Americans, saying: “It is time for us to come together as one united people.”

Earlier this month, his campaign rejected the support of a Ku Klux Klan newspaper and said that “Mr Trump and his campaign denounces hate in any form”.

‘Immigrants make America Great’

About 1500 California students and teachers also rallied in the courtyard of Berkeley High School, a San Francisco Bay Area city known for its liberal politics, before marching toward the campus of the University of California, Berkeley.

https://twitter.com/brookewylie/status/796544270945710080

Hundreds of high school and college students also walked out in protest in Seattle, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Oakland, Richmond and El Cerrito, California.

A predominantly Latino group of about 300 high school students walked out of classes in Los Angeles and marched to the steps of City Hall, where they held a brief but boisterous rally.

Chanting in Spanish “The people united will never be defeated”, the group held signs with slogans such as “Not Supporting Racism, Not My President” and “Immigrants Make America Great”.

Many of those students were members of the “Dreamers” generation, children whose parents entered the US with them illegally, school officials said, and who fear deportation under a Trump administration.

A demonstrator protests peacefully in downtown Los Angeles. Photo: Jason J. Cohn

“A child should not live in fear that they will be deported,” said Stephanie Hipolito, one of the student organisers of the walkout.

She said her parents were US citizens.

The demonstrations followed a night of protests in the San Francisco area and elsewhere in the country in response to Mr Trump’s victory against heavily favoured Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.