Women's March organizers arrested for creating human wall at Trump Tower during 'Day Without a Woman' protests

Police arrested the organizers of the Women's March on Washington and a handful of other protesters on Wednesday as more than a hundred women linked arms across the entrance of Trump Tower Wednesday during "A Day Without a Woman" protests marking International Women's Day in New York City.

Holding signs that read "C*nt Touch This" and "Pussy Grabs Back," a chain of women chanted while organizers Women's March leaders Tamika Mallory, Linda Sarsour, Carmen Perez and Bob Bland were taken away by police. They were among the 13 people were taken into custody.

The rally started near Central Park where the leaders from the Women's March rallied alongside a lineup of speakers before leading hundreds to the nearby Trump Tower building.

Many of the attendees were participating in the day's strike. Organizers encouraged female participants to strike from all labor, both paid and unpaid, in order to show the impact women have across the world.

The event drew some criticism, even from likeminded feminists, who complained that it excluded women who did not have the privilege or means to take a day away from work.

See scenes from the protest

But the women who participated explained that they joined to held send a message to American and world leaders.

"The goal of the strike today is to show the economic impact of women in the U.S. and also globally," Tabitha St. Bernard-Jacobs, the Youth Initiative Coordinator of the Women's March on Washington, told AOL News.

"We are striking because we don't have pay equity, we are striking because we deal with issues in the workplace and we don't get affordable health," she said. "We're here today to draw attention to these issues."

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Miriam Muhammad, an advisor for the New York district's House of Representatives, took off work Wednesday to be present as a "form of resistance against the patriarchal system and a fascist president."

"Our demands are for the president to acknowledge the importance of women -- that's why a lot of us are out of work today -- and to see our resistance as a call for justice and equality," she said.

Sandra Abraham, a legal assistant at a law firm near the Trump Tower, also skipped out on work to join the protest.

"I am standing here to demand that the current government hear our cries and respect us as women," Abraham said. "My demand is to be recognized as women and for the current government to know our importance and enact policy changes."

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Reports say up to a thousand women gathered in downtown New York to protest gender inequality. Women were even encouraged to exercise their power as a consumer and employee by taking the day off as shoppers and workers.

Similar rallies took place in other major cities across the U.S., including Chicago, Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles.