Earlier this week, protests broke out across the USA following Donald Trump’s shock presidential victory. While many of these took place on the city streets (and were attended by tens of thousands of people), a smaller rebellion was taking place in the halls of the country’s high schools. According to various reports, students from California, Iowa, Washington and Arizona staged walkouts on Wednesday in a mass demonstration against the president-elect’s bigoted campaign.

The protests saw thousands of US teenagers – from both high schools and colleges – walk out of mid-morning lessons, with many brandishing placards reading “Love Trumps Hate” and “Not My President.”

“Everybody believes that this country is a free place, and yet people elect somebody who’s totally against that and wants to build a wall and wants to deport all these people,” explained Jennifer Gomez, a senior at LA’s San Gabriel High School. “We came here because we see it as ‘el país de las oportunidades’ – this is the country of opportunities.”

Results show that 55 per cent of people under 30 voted for Clinton, while just 37 per cent voted for Trump. The Republican was most popular with older voters, with 53 per cent of people over 45 choosing him as the next US president. This means that most young people are faced with a future they do not want.

“It’s shocking that America voted for this man,” said 16-year-old Berkeley junior Gabby Klein. “He’s a racist, a sexist, a xenophobe. It’s one step forward and two steps back. We had Obama and now we have Donald Trump and Melania. It’s disgusting.”

“I know we can’t change who we have as a president, but at least we can make him see that you’ve got to start changing how you act, how you move, how he interprets us, what he thinks of us, everything,” added junior Abigail Garcia.

However, while most are showing unity over the issue, intolerance is starting to surface. In Shashta High School, California, students have reportedly been handing out homemade ‘deportation letters’ to teens of different ethnicities. “White Power” chants were also caught on camera at York Tech High School in Pennsylvania, while racist slurs were written across the walls of Maple Grove school in Minnesota.

“As students and staff arrive at school today, we know there may be feelings of fear and anxiety, especially within our most vulnerable communities,” explained Los Angeles Unified School District President Steve Zimmer. “The District is providing additional support to those who need it.”