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Nappy pin securely in place, Trump baby blimp takes to the skies Trump protests: tens of thousands take to streets across UK
(about 5 hours later)
There were cheers as the Trump baby blimp – a six-metre (20ft) tall inflatable with small hands, a tiny mobile phone and a giant nappy – took to the air in Parliament Square on Friday morning, as a day of protest against the US president got under way. Tens of thousands of people poured through the centres of London, Manchester, Glasgow and Belfast on Friday, united in their rejection of the visit to Britain of the US president, Donald Trump, who admitted the protests had made him feel unwelcome.
The inflatable took to the air at precisely 9.30am outside the Palace of Westminster. Campaigners had raised more than £29,000 to pay for it and the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, had given permission for it to fly. There was a carnival atmosphere with music, dancing, the bashing of pots and pans and a forest of often witty, sometimes crude placards. The tone was set in London by a four-metre-high orange Trump baby blimp that was floated above Parliament Square, and placards with slogans such as “No Fan of Fake Tan Man”, “How Dare You Combover here” and “Free Melania”. But there was anger too at what many perceived as Trump’s racism, misogyny and climate change policy.
Hundreds of protesters and curious tourists watched the blimp rise, ushered by the self-styled “Trump babysitters” – who came together to take the demonstration to the skies. The former deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, and the current and former Labour leaders Jeremy Corbyn and Ed Miliband joined the protesters in the capital who numbered more than 100,000, according to the organisers of two marches that converged on Trafalgar Square.
About 15 minutes earlier there was excitement on the ground as two military helicopters passed overhead; the blimp was fully inflated but moored to the ground. “Quick, turn him around,” a cry went up, but organisers said he was not allowed to take to the air before 9.30am. If Trump had been in the helicopter and looking out of the window, he might have caught a glance of Baby Blimp’s behind. Corbyn attacked the US president for his comments on Thursday that Boris Johnson would “make a great prime minister”, saying it was “not his business who the British prime minister is”.
Sheila Menon, one of the Trump babysitters, said the protest was the perfect antidote to the misery created by president. “For me this is British political satire at it’s finest,” she said. “You can’t dismiss this as childish or offensive. It is a creative, safe and non-violent way to make a real political statement and hold oppressors to account.” Addressing a packed square, Corbyn said: “We are asserting our rights to democracy, our rights to freedom of speech and our rights to want a world that is not divided by misogyny, racism and hate.”
Trump babysitter Sheila Menon on the purpose of #BabyTrump #TrumpUKVisit pic.twitter.com/UqwcknRl1W Miliband tweeted a suggested response for Theresa May to use in her press conference with Trump:
As the blimp went up, a visitor told one of the organisers: “As an American it means so much to us that you have done this. Thank you so much.” Suggested press conference words “He and I do disagree on some things: his tearing of babies from their parents, his racist attacks on the London mayor, his lies, his admiration for dictators, and I tend to think his combover is an absurdity.”
The idea of the blimp originated with a group of friends and was put in motion by the London activist Leo Murray, who set up an online campaign with the hope of raising £5,000; the figure stands at £29,000 and counting. Murray has now said the money could be spent sending the inflatable to other places where people want to protest against Trump’s presence, and may make its way to Australia, where the US leader is expected to make a trip in November. Among the Americans who turned out was Michael Avenatti, the lawyer for the US adult film star Stormy Daniels, who alleges she had an affair with Trump. Avenatti said he was there to send a message to “our brothers and sisters here in the UK and around the world that ... there’s millions of Americans that are outraged by his conduct and by his behaviour.”
Tens of thousands of protesters are expected to take to the streets in London on Friday, with further demonstrations planned for this weekend in Scotland. At midday protesters gathered by the Women’s March at Portland Place began marching to a rally at Trafalgar Square. Another protest organised by Together Against Trump, which includes trade unions, Stop the War, Friends of the Earth, CND and Momentum, will meet at the BBC’s headquarters at 2pm, ending at 5pm in Trafalgar Square. In Soho in London, a group of house music DJs including A Guy Called Gerald performed on a giant sound system under the banner “No to Brexit, no to Trump, no to Theresa May”. The actor Laura Carmichael, who played Lady Edith Crawley in Downton Abbey, held an “End Violence Against Women” banner.
Many protesters had travelled a long way to attend: the Rev Nigel Sinclair had come from Leeds for the #TrumpBabyBlimp protest. “I wanted to make sure middle England was represented,” he said. “[Trump’s] politics are obscene, whether it is his treatment of women or immigrants, and I felt like I had to make the journey to take part. I think it’s fantastic. It’s a very British response to a horrible world leader.” Hundreds of protesters gathered outside City Hall in Belfast and thousands gathered at George Square in Glasgow.
The Reverend Nigel Sinclair had travelled from Leeds for the #TrumpBabyBlimp protest. “I wanted to make sure middle England was represented,” he said. “His politics are obscene and I felt like I had to make the journey to take part.” pic.twitter.com/yAb6IfURbx Among them were Roberta Logan, 32, and her sons Magnus, six, and Aidan, three. “It felt important to bring them today to teach them to stand up against things that are wrong,” Logan said.
DD Davis, a political artist, was wearing a Trump badge she made herself. “He is very interactive,” said Davis, demonstrating it. “When you stab him in the goolies his eyes light up.” There were tiny pockets of support. One man in a Trump 2020 T-shirt held a “Welcome President Trump” placard close to Parliament Square in London, and there were some Trump supporters in Windsor. A pro-Trump march in central London is planned for Saturday, which will join a rally in support of Tommy Robinson, the former leader of the far-right English Defence League, who is in jail for contempt of court. Scotland Yard is prepared for counter demonstrations. At the last such event, five police officers were injured when bottles and metal barriers were thrown at them.
She added: “Any political leader who expresses the hate he does has to be challenged. Whether we like it or not, he is the leader of the free world and he legitimises hatred – we have to try and counter that.” Trump did not come close to the protests himself, as he had a working lunch at Chequers with Theresa May and tea with the Queen at Windsor Castle, before a weekend of golf at two courses he owns in Scotland. Ahead of the UK visit, he said: “I guess when they put out blimps to make me feel unwelcome, no reason for me to go to London”.
Several protesters seemed worried about the Queen’s safety with the US president in Windsor, holding placards urging Trump not to grope her. Another implored her to “feed him to the corgis”.
“KEEP YOUR TINY HANDS OFF OUR QUEEN” #TrumpBabyBlimp #TrumpUKVisit pic.twitter.com/SMPEdHvKpN“KEEP YOUR TINY HANDS OFF OUR QUEEN” #TrumpBabyBlimp #TrumpUKVisit pic.twitter.com/SMPEdHvKpN
Holding up a handmade sign which said: “Keep your tiny hands off our Queen,” Joe Revill had taken the day off work to protest. “I felt I needed to be counted,” he said. “With his misogyny and racism he [Trump] is besmirching the institution of the presidency. He is tainting it and that will have a lasting damage.” Emily Darnell, 40, an executive assistant from Haywards Heath in West Sussex, made a banner that tipped its hat to Mary Poppins, reading: “Super Callous Fragile Racist Sexist Nazi Potus.”
“Trump is just a vile, vile man so I felt really motivated to come here,” she said. “I think it is really important that so many people are here so that he knows how Britain feels and how women feel about him. He is such a loser.”
At Oxford Circus in London, James O’Brien from Ireland was selling Donald Trump toilet paper, calling out: “The most satisfaction you can have in a toilet, kids.”
Anne Howard said she thought protester numbers had been bolstered by Trump’s “insulting behaviour” to Theresa May in his interview with the Sun published on Friday.
“To come to someone else’s country and be so unbelievably rude is unacceptable,” she said. “He was so patronising – ‘I told her how to do Brexit but she didn’t listen’ – like she is some little woman and not the prime minister. It sounds like so many men I’ve met in my life.”
Sam and Jemima Queen were marching with their seven-month-old son, Sidney. “We are marching for our children’s future and for the children Trump is separating from their parents,” said Jemima.
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