Huge and orderly crowd greets Obama

WASHINGTON, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- Record-breaking and orderly crowds gathered in downtown Washington for the inauguration Tuesday of President Barack Obama.

By early estimates, 1.8 million people were on the National Mall and in nearby areas.

There were some glitches, including people who held hard-to-get tickets to seat sections and found that checkpoints had shut down by the time they arrived, The Washington Post reported. Park Police Chief Salvatore Lauro said that the entrances to the National Mall were closed earlier than planned because crowds had become dangerously large.

But police said there were no arrests as of early afternoon.

"Our biggest problems were medical calls and lost children," Lauro said.

Streets were almost empty as the crowds followed the suggestion to travel by bus, Metro train or foot. The Metro reported 545,603 riders by noon and said the daily number would almost certainly be greater than Monday's 886,681.

Some stations were closed temporarily because of the crowds. A woman who fell on the tracks at Gallery Place was pulled out of the way of a train by bystanders.