ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:
We're expecting hundreds of thousands of visitors to arrive next week for the presidential inauguration. Few are predicting the crowds we saw in 2009 at Barack Obama's record-setting event, but there is a lot of interest this year from Donald Trump's supporters and his critics. Reporter Patrick Madden of member station WAMU takes a look at how Washington, D.C., is getting ready.
PATRICK MADDEN, BYLINE: Along the Pennsylvania Avenue parade route, the viewing stands are going up. Hotels are booked. The city is preparing to welcome Donald Trump to the White House, and so are the demonstrators. Eugene Puryear is an organizer with the anti-war group, the ANSWER Coalition.
EUGENE PURYEAR: And the way I'm telling people is, look; Donald Trump is throwing a party. He's throwing a coronation. And I want to be here to crash it.
MADDEN: Earlier this month, the National Park Service approved the group's permits to protest alongside the parade route. This week, Puryear visited one of the spots at the Navy Memorial plaza.
PURYEAR: So what we're hoping this turns into on inauguration day is that this plaza is totally full with people - tens of thousands of people.
MADDEN: Figuring out how to handle the tens of thousands of expected protesters falls on the shoulders of D.C.'s police department.
CHIEF PETER NEWSHAM: Our No. 1 goal is to facilitate these First Amendment assemblies. That's what Washington, D.C., is all about.
MADDEN: This is interim police Chief Peter Newsham.
NEWSHAM: People are allowed to express their First Amendment rights and whether that be holding a sign or yelling, whatever way that you feel comfortable in doing it, as long as it's not illegal.
MADDEN: D.C.'s police department learned this lesson the hard way. The city's paid out millions of dollars to settle lawsuits for illegal mass arrests during demonstrations in the early 2000s.
Now the police department is considered a model for handling protests, which are frequent in the nation's capital. Officers go through specific training for First Amendment assemblies. Newsham says police will even work behind the scenes with organizers to coordinate how protests will go.
NEWSHAM: The organizers are generally satisfied with their experience when we have these demonstrations. And we don't think, you know, Inauguration Day will be any different.
MADDEN: What might be different this year is the sheer number of protesters coming to D.C., both for the January 20 inauguration and the women's march the next day. Twelve hundred busloads of protesters are expected for the women's march, three times as many as expected for the Inauguration itself. Of course supporters of Donald Trump will be on hand as well, and one of the more memorable events will likely be the DeploraBall.
JEFF GISEA: We Trump supporters appropriated that term and kind of made it a badge of honor and did it in, also, a little bit of a cheeky way.
MADDEN: This is Jeff Gisea, one of the organizers behind this bash for a thousand people that aren't attending one of the official balls.
GISEA: It sold out within a matter of hours. So that tells me there's something in the air. There's something happening. There's a nerve that we're hitting in the public.
MADDEN: The influx of Trump supporters and protesters may be a headache for security officials, but it's big business for D.C.'s local economy. Nowhere is that more evident than Jim Warlickâs presidential memorabilia shop, the White House Gifts store. It's packed with Trump merchandise, hats, key chains, signs and other souvenirs.
JIM WARLICK: We just got an item in today, which is a pen that you press the head of Trump, and he makes these great statements that he made during the campaign. I'll play one for you.
COMPUTER-GENERATED VOICE: (As Donald Trump) I will be the greatest president that God ever created.
WARLICK: Now, that's a humble statement, isn't it?
(LAUGHTER)
MADDEN: And protesters aren't waiting for Inauguration weekend, with some demonstrations kicking off tomorrow. For NPR News, I'm Patrick Madden, in Washington.