<\/p>\n
US President Donald Trump hosted the largest US military parade in decades on his 79th birthday on Saturday, as protesters rallied across the country to accuse him of acting like a dictator.<\/p>\n
Trump hailed the United States as the \u201chottest country in the world\u201d after watching tanks, aircraft, and troops file past him in Washington to honour the 250th anniversary of the US army.<\/p>\n
But it formed a stark split screen with turmoil at home and abroad, as police used teargas to disperse protesters<\/a> in Los Angeles and US ally Israel traded<\/a> missile fire with Iran in a rapidly escalating conflict in the Middle East.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s parade on an overcast night in Washington came after tens of thousands of \u201cNo Kings\u201d demonstrators thronged<\/a> the streets in cities including New York, Philadelphia, Houston and Atlanta.<\/p>\n Trump largely avoided his usual domestic political diatribes in an unusually brief speech, and instead focused on praising the US army, saying that they \u201cfight, fight, fight, and they win, win, win\u201d.<\/p>\n The display of military might comes as Trump asserts his power domestically and on the international stage.<\/p>\n In his address to the parade, Trump sent a warning to Washington\u2019s adversaries of \u201ctotal and complete\u201d defeat, with the United States increasingly at risk of getting tangled up in Israel\u2019s conflict with Iran.<\/p>\n \u201cTime and again, America\u2019s enemies have learned that if you threaten the American people, our soldiers are coming for you,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n Trump had openly dreamed since his first term as president of having a grand military parade, of the type more often seen in Moscow or Pyongyang than Washington.<\/p>\n The last such parade in the United States was at the end of the 1991 Gulf War.<\/p>\n When it came, Trump stood and saluted on a stage outside the White House as tanks rumbled past, aircraft roared overhead, and nearly 7,000 troops marched past.<\/p>\n Troops and military hardware from different eras of US history passed by, with an announcer reeling off victories in battles with Japanese, German, Chinese and Vietnamese forces in past wars.<\/p>\n The army said it cost up to $45 million.<\/p>\n But while the crowd sang \u201cHappy Birthday\u201d and there were occasional chants of \u201cUSA! USA!\u201d, the atmosphere was less intense than one of the barnstorming rallies that swept Trump to power.<\/p>\n The White House said that \u201cover 250,000 patriots showed up\u201d for the event, without providing evidence. Communications Director Steven Cheung described the \u201cNo Kings\u201d protests as a \u201ccomplete and utter failure\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cNo Kings\u201d organisers said protesters gathered in hundreds of cities, with AFP<\/em> journalists seeing large crowds in several cities.<\/p>\n Organisers said they were protesting against Trump\u2019s dictatorial overreach, and in particular what they described as the strongman symbolism of the parade.<\/p>\n \u201cI think people are mad as hell,\u201d Lindsay Ross, a 28-year-old musician, told AFP<\/em> in New York, where tens of thousands of people rallied.<\/p>\n\u2018Happy Birthday\u2019<\/h2>\n
\u2018Display of authoritarianism\u2019<\/h2>\n