Hollywood stars protest at Trump Tower over Charlottesville comments

Mark Ruffalo, left, talks with Michael Moore outside Trump Tower in New York. Photo / via Twitter

Hollywood stars Michael Moore and Mark Ruffalo led protesters to Trump Tower on Tuesday (US time) after the president sparked outrage with comments about the deadly violence in Charlottesville.

Donald Trump has faced days of criticism from across the political spectrum over his reaction to Saturday's unrest in the Virginia college town, where a rally by neo-Nazis and white supremacists over the removal of a Confederate statue erupted in clashes with counter-demonstrators.

Doubling down on his initial response to the violent white supremacist rally, the president said at a press conference in his Manhattan skyscraper that there was "blame on both sides" after protests led to the death of a young woman.

I'm taking my audience over to Trump Tower!

Posted by Michael Moore on Tuesday, 15 August 2017

Moore, joined by Ruffalo, led the audience of his Broadway play to Trump Tower to protest against the president's comments.

On Facebook, Moore urged people to join him at Trump Tower after Tuesday night's performance of his one-man show "The Terms of My Surrender" to "nonviolently express our rage."

View this post on Instagram

Heading to Trump Tower for a candle light vigil for Heather Heyer who was murdered by an Alt Right American Nazi. Some of the comments below seem to reflect a kind of willful ignorance to who the Alt Right Neo Nazi movement is and what they believe. This is them in their own words. https://news.vice.com/story/vice-news-tonight-full-episode-charlottesville-race-and-terror

A post shared by Mark Ruffalo (@markruffalo) on Aug 15, 2017 at 7:01pm PDT

After the play, Moore was seen on a Facebook Live video leading a group of people to the tower, where the president is currently staying for the first time since his inauguration.

The two actors led the group in chants including "hey, hey, ho, ho, Donald Trump has got to go."

A crowd had already gathered outside Trump Tower as hundreds of people protested to denounce racism. They were surrounded by police officers to prevent clashes with a handful of Trump supporters nearby.

Protesters chanted: "We are here to stay, we are here to fight!"

"I would not have come here if I had not seen him say that on TV 20 minutes ago," said actor Jason David, 23.

It was the second day of protests after the president arrived at his residence on Monday.

"Feels good to be home after seven months, but the White House is very special, there is no place like it... and the US is really my home," Mr Trump said on Twitter.

Located on Fifth Avenue, Trump Tower houses offices, apartments and the headquarters of the Trump Organization, as well the president's triplex New York residence at the top of the 68-floor glass tower.

"I am terrified of what country we've become, the fact that white supremacists, Nazis, anti-Semites feel empowered by our president," said Lynn Gray, 68, who left banking to found her own company.

"He's destroying everything that our forefathers worked for."