SBS has confirmed that Washington police have arrested 95 people over acts of vandalism committed on the fringe of peaceful citywide demonstrations being held against Trump's inauguration.
Just before the parade was due to begin, clashes broke out between 400 to 500 stone-throwing protesters and riot police, who responded with tear gas -- the second violent flare-up in the space of a few hours.
Earlier Friday, masked youths emerged from crowds of peaceful protesters to kick over trash cans and smash windows of stores, a bank and a fast food outlet.
Two police officers sustained minor injuries as the fast-moving group whipped down several main streets, just a few blocks from the White House.
An AFP reporter saw National Guardsmen donning riot gear, as black-masked protesters blocked traffic and set fire to trash cans -- chanting "Not my president" and "We resist President Trump."
As the 70-year-old Trump, his supporters and top dignitaries gathered on the National Mall for the swearing-in ceremony, throngs of anti-Trump protesters also converged on the US capital.
Most of the noisy protests -- including those by an array of anti-racist, feminist, LGBT, pro-immigration, anti-war and marijuana legalization groups -- were peaceful.
But a spokesman for the Washington police department said that "approximately 95 people" had been arrested for "vandalism and destruction of property."
WATCH: Protesters block entrance to Trump inauguration
'No fascist USA!'
"Unfortunately we had a small group that wanted to disrupt the inauguration," DC police chief Peter Newsham said in a video posted on the police Twitter feed.
"We have significant damage in a number of blocks in our city," he said, while adding: "It's a very, very small percentage of those folks who came here to peacefully assemble in our city."
Black-clad groups with anarchist and anti-fascist banners could be seen moving at speed on the outskirts of the main protests.
Marchers chanted: "No deportation, no KKK, no fascist USA!"
The front windows of local businesses including a Starbucks and a Bank of America were smashed to pieces, as well as the windscreen of a stretch limousine, with sidewalks littered with broken glass.
Police officers fire pepper spray at protesters during a demonstration after the inauguration of President Donald Trump (AAP) Source: AAP
Police vehicles were damaged and the two injured officers were attacked by members of the group trying to avoid arrest, police said.
Several demonstrators were carrying batons and other weapons, police said.
At least one protester was hurt and was seen receiving treatment for a head wound from paramedics.
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'Sad day' to be American
The majority of protests in the city were peaceful however -- whether people had come to register anger, dissent or dismay at Trump's election victory over Hillary Clinton.
A 27-year-old financial worker from Tampa Bay in Florida, who did not want to give his name for fear of retaliation by his employer, said he was fearful for the future.
"There is nothing to hope for except for grassroots efforts to oppose him," he told AFP.
Public interest lawyer Renee Steinhagen, 61, came down from New York to join the protests.
"I'm doing this to express resistance to the change that await us," she said.
"This administration seems more extreme than any other. This is a simple act of resistance. It's better than staying at home."
Groups of Trump supporters passed by the protests on the way to hail their hero, and some insults were thrown, but the two sides kept largely apart.
Protesters said they feared Trump would be an extremist president, taking a hardline approach on everything from immigration to gutting public services.
"It's a sad day to be an American," complained 26-year-old Colin Hernandez, a Washington resident who joined a gathering a block-and-a-half from the White House.
A rally leader on a megaphone intoned a prayer while protesters mingled.
"In the name of humanity, we refuse to accept a fascist America," she said.
A few blocks away, Trump's supporters chanted "USA! USA! USA!" as the Republican billionaire arrived at the Capitol to be sworn in as the 45th US president.
Europe protests
Terrifying, hideous, racist, atrocious and a "disgrace to humanity": Protesters around Europe pulled no punches in reacting to Donald Trump's inauguration as US president on Friday.
Around 500 activists gathered at the US embassy in London where placards urged Americans to "Dump Trump", whom they accused of being a "climate disaster".
Artist James Marriott, a supporter of opposition Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn, held a poster calling Trump "a disgrace to humanity".
"Trump is part of a substantial shift moving into something much more turbulent and frightening," Marriott told AFP.
"He represents the possibility that it is acceptable to be racist, sexist and homophobic."
Janie Trowell, a 53-year-old teacher, compared Trump to the wider populist movement sweeping across Europe in the form of Britain's Brexit vote and the rise of the far-right presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen in France.
"He is advocating hate, he is a scary and hideous macho white male.
In Germany, 200-300 protesters combined their opposition to Trump with their disdain for the country's right-wing AfD party, warning that such populists reminded them of the Nazis.
"White nationalism is so 1933", read one banner, while another said: "No to global Trumpism, no to the AfD".
In glacial conditions, the protesters marched from the AfD headquarters in Berlin to the Brandenburg Gate, a symbol of European unity.
They chanted a song about keeping Trump locked up in his namesake tower, adding: "this is called people power".
