City officials protest GOP presidential nominee outside Trump Tower

Monday morning was off to a roaring start outside of Trump Tower, where local officials, including Public Advocate Letitia James, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and other prominent women’s activists, gathered to protest the GOP nominee’s reported sexual misconduct and harassment.

Dozens of protesters carrying bright yellow signs with black lettering reading “Trump demeans women” chanted together outside Trump’s Fifth Avenue building.

“We cannot and will not allow Donald Trump or any other person to turn the clock back on all the progress that we have made as women,” James told the group. “We stand together because we are tough, we are resilient, we have come together, we are caring and we want to be treated with respect.”

Since the beginning of his campaign, Trump has faced sharp reproach for his views of women, his focus on their appearances and his demeaning language.

More recently, accusations of sexual assault have flooded the media following the release of a “hot mic” “Access Hollywood” moment in which he describes his penchant for kissing and grabbing women by the genitals without their consent.

Approximately 10 women have come forward in the last week alleging that Trump had harassed or assaulted them; among the accusations is a People magazine journalist who said Trump pinned her against a wall and stuck his tongue in her mouth when his wife Melania left the room.

On Monday morning Trump continued to denounce the accusations on Twitter.

“Can’t believe these totally phoney stories, 100% made up by women (many already proven false) and pushed big time by press, have impact!” Trump tweeted Monday morning.

“We are here to protest Donald Trump bragging about sexual assault,” said Terry O’Neill, the president of the National Organization of Women. “We are here to give a message, loud and clear, to Mr. Donald Trump. We will not tolerate his talk about sexually assaulting women. We will not tolerate his talk insulting women and demeaning women.”

A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll gives Democrat Hillary Clinton an 11 point lead over Trump.