Former President Barack Obama formally opened his long-awaited presidential center in Chicago's South Side on Thursday, delivering a passionate defence of democratic values at a star-studded ceremony attended by three former presidents, world leaders and an array of A-list entertainers. Without naming his successor Donald Trump, Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama levelled pointed critiques at what they described as threats to American values, in a three-hour event that was livestreamed globally and watched by thousands gathered in a nearby park.

The $850 million Obama Presidential Center, located in historic Jackson Park on the shores of Lake Michigan, is described as the largest single investment in Chicago's South Side in a century — a neighbourhood where Obama and Michelle first made their home, where they married and where their daughters were born. Obama said he could not have imagined building it anywhere else.