A “massive” protest against US president Donald Trump will last for hours through London on the first day of his state visit to the UK. Buckingham Palace confirmed on Monday that the King is to host the controversial American leader at Windsor Castle from September 17-19, including a ceremonial welcome and a state banquet.
The trip will be Mr Trump’s second state visit to the UK – an unprecedented gesture for a US president – with his last one in 2019 seeing thousands of people turn out on the streets in London in opposition. A 20ft Trump baby blimp also took to the skies above Parliament Square, just as it did during a previous visit by the billionaire-turned politician in 2018.
The Stop Trump Coalition has yet to confirm whether the famous inflatable effigy, which depicts the US president as an angry baby in a nappy clutching a mobile phone, will make a reappearance. The original was donated to the Museum of London in 2021.
Other inventive creations by protesters in 2019 included a 16ft talking robot of Mr Trump sitting on a gold toilet, which said the phrases “No collusion”, “You are fake news” and “I’m a very stable genius” in audio of Mr Trump’s own voice; and Handmaids Against Trump – women draped in red with white hoods in homage to Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel about a crackdown on reproductive rights.
On September 17 – the first day of Mr Trump’s visit – demonstrators will assemble at London’s Embankment at 2pm and march to a 5pm rally at an as-yet-undisclosed location. Further protests, including one near Windsor Castle, are set to be confirmed once more details of Mr Trump’s visit is known.
Security is expected to be at peak levels for the American leader, who survived an assassination attempt last year. The Stop Trump Coalition’s spokesperson Seema Syeda said: “This will be a massive protest against Trump’s state visit.
“Trump and his authoritarian politics are not welcome here. Keir Starmer should not be rolling out the red carpet for Trump. They are already running scared. They have chosen the first possible date that stops Trump from being able to address Parliament.
“We know that Trump is deeply unpopular with the public. We mobilised hundreds of thousands of people against Trump during his first term, and he has only got worse since then.
“We are working at speed to bring together all the movements – for democracy, for equality, against climate change, for a free Palestine – to show our unity against Trump.”
The House of Commons will not be sitting at the time of Mr Trump’s visit as it will be in recess for party conference season, meaning the president will not be able to address Parliament as French President Emmanuel Macron did during his state visit last week. However, the House of Lords will be sitting.
‘If Keir Starmer won’t stand up to Trump, we will’
Nick Dearden, director of Global Justice Now which is part of the coalition, accused Mr Trump of being a bully and suggested there was a growing global resistance against him. “Trump is engaged in economic warfare against both friend and foe,” he said.
“He’s bullying countries, including the UK, to give in to the demands of American multinational corporations. And he’s taking his own country down an increasingly fascist path – crushing the rights of Americans, ignoring the courts, threatening the media and universities.”
Mr Dearden added: “Why on earth would we want to accord this man a second state visit? 78% of Britons have a negative view of Trump, and with good reason. If Starmer won’t stand up to Trump, we will – by taking to the streets as part of the growing global resistance against Trump and the oligarchs that surround him.”
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