LOS ANGELES — A day after Donald Trump’s election to the presidency, campaign divisions appeared to widen as many thousands of demonstrators — some with signs declaring “NOT MY PRESIDENT” — flooded streets across the country to protest his surprise triumph.

From New England to heartland cities like Kansas City and along the West Coast, demonstrators bore flags and effigies of the president-elect, disrupting traffic and declaring that they refused to accept Trump’s victory.

Flames lit up the night sky in California cities Wednesday as thousands of protesters burned a giant papier-mache Trump head in Los Angeles and started fires in Oakland intersections.

Los Angeles demonstrators also beat a Trump piñata and sprayed the Los Angeles Times building and news vans with anti-Trump profanity. One protester outside LA City Hall read a sign that simply said “this is very bad.”

Vishal Singh, 23, said he was disappointed with voters who supported a man he sees as anti-immigrant and anti-LGBT.

“I expected better of my electorate,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “I thought this country was different.”

Late in the evening several hundred people blocked one of the city’s busiest freeways, U.S. 101 between downtown and Hollywood.

More than a dozen people were arrested as officers in full riot gear walked the protesters off the freeway. In Orange County, about 10 people were arrested after three police cars were damaged during rallies in Santa Ana.

To the north in Oakland, several thousand people clogged intersections and freeway on-ramps.

Nearby in Berkeley, more than 1,000 students walked out of high school classes Wednesday, brandishing anti-Trump signs and Mexican flags. The students tweeted #NotMyPresident and vowed to unify.

In Chicago, where thousands had recently poured into the streets to celebrate the Chicago Cubs’ first World Series victory in over a century, several thousand people marched through the Loop. They gathered outside Trump Tower, chanting “Not my president!”

Chicago resident Michael Burke said he believes the president-elect will “divide the country and stir up hatred.” He added there was a constitutional duty not to accept that outcome.