Thousands in London protest Trump’s visit
Photo courtesy of William Cohn
By: William Cohn
Thousands of protesters marched on Westminster yesterday to protest US President Donald Trump’s racist rhetoric, which they say has helped fuel racism in Britain.
The “Together Against Trump Rally”, put on by the Stop Trump Coalition, started in Trafalgar Square yesterday and had protesters marching up towards Parliament Square.
Ben Studd co-ordinates protests on behalf of Stand Up to Racism, a London-based group that acts against the spread of Islamophobia, racism and anti-Semitism. He said he was concerned about the United Kingdom entertaining Trump as a guest.
“It is a serious problem that he has been given the honour of a state visit,” Studd said. “We are taking to the streets to make sure that this does not go unopposed.”
A protestor with a sign at the anti-Trump rally in London this morning. Photo by William Cohn.
Studd’s group started the morning with an event in Trafalgar Square called “#MilkshakesAgainstRacism”. They burned an effigy of Trump’s border wall and then pelted a Trump dummy with milkshakes.
Besides opposition to Trump’s policies in America, Stubb is worried that his rhetoric is rubbing off on those in Britain who are looking to propagate racist agendas of their own.
“For us and the anti-racist movement, he is no ordinary US president,” Studd said. “We have had a rise in hate crimes in Britain over the last three years, which is continuing to increase, and at the sharp end of that is the Muslim community and migrants.”
Studd said this increase has led to violence against marginalised communities, something he personally witnessed during Trump’s visit last year.
“UKIP led a demonstration last July where they stopped a bus with a Muslim female bus driver whilst waving placards in her face, one saying ‘Trump welcome’,” he said. “Those participating had hats which read, ‘Make Britain great again’. It is very clear to us that the most vicious far-right street movements in Britain are inspired by Donald Trump.”
Sarah and Gaynor from Cumbria travelled to London to show their dislike of Trump. Photo by William Cohn
Anti-Trump activists got creative with signs and props to show their discontent with the American president and his visit.
One protester in the square, who goes by the alias Cha-Dog, is a mental health awareness campaigner based in the Midlands. He stood in Parliament Square and sold toilet paper rolls stamped with Trump’s face.
“Donald Trump represents fear, hate and division,” he said. “He is in charge of the most powerful country on the planet, so it is good that a lot of people have come to speak out against that.”
Meanwhile, Sarah and Gaynor from Cumbria came out to show that antipathy towards Trump in the United Kingdom cuts across different sectors of society.
“I am a knitter, Gaynor is a baker, and this is our way of protesting,” Sarah said. “We wanted to put a different spin on it. It is our way of saying that there is not one set of people that dislikes Trump [in Britain].”