WASHINGTON — More than 1,000 people gathered near the Washington Monument on Saturday to rally at the March for Truth, calling for an independent investigation into alleged collusion between Russia and President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.

Organizers also used the occasion to celebrate the “resistance” movement against the Trump administration, and implored the crowd to stay involved for the long haul.

“We gotta keep up the fight, that’s all there is to it,” said Jon Lovett, a former President Barack Obama speechwriter and popular podcast host, who spoke at the D.C. rally.

Thousands more protested in more than 100 cities across the country, including Chicago, Pittsburgh and New York.

The chants at the D.C. march were clever and cumbersome, taking wonky and specific aim at what the protesters believe have been White House attempts to cover up its connections with the Russian government.

“The Rosenstein memo was phony, we want testimony from Comey!” the protestors chanted, criticizing Trump’s decision to fire the director of the FBI after requesting and receiving a recommendation from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

“That firing was abrupt, what are you covering up?” another chant went.

The participants carried signs that called for Trump’s impeachment and depicted Trump as a puppet being controlled by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Other signs were more cheeky, including one that said “Super Callous Fascist Racist Extra Braggadocious.”

Most people at the March for Truth in Washington traveled from D.C. and the surrounding suburbs, but a handful made an overnight trek from states farther away.

“I wanted to be part of the crowd, to make it larger and make a statement,” said Odell Buggs, a 53-year-old small business owner who traveled from Rochester, N.Y., with her two sisters. She also drove to the nation’s capital for the Women’s March, Tax March and Climate March. “Because if you make a statement in D.C., you make a statement to the whole country.”

Earlier in the day, a much smaller rally in support of Trump unfolded in front of the White House, where dozens gathered to applaud the president’s controversial decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement.

The organizers of that rally — the Fairfax County GOP and the Republican Party of Virginia — dubbed the gathering the “Pittsburgh not Paris” rally, borrowing a line from Trump’s speech Thursday announcing the withdrawal in which he said, “I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.” Rallygoers carried red and white “Make America Great” and blue and white “Promises Made Promises Kept” signs.

Nearby another group gathered to blast Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris accord. One gentleman carried a sign that said “Pittsburgh and Paris.”