This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/04/trump-visit-mass-protests-to-be-held-in-london-as-baby-blimp-returns

The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 1 Version 2
Trump visit: Jeremy Corbyn to join mass protests in London Labour: we don’t think Trump deserves special honours
(about 1 hour later)
Thousands of demonstrators will line the streets of London to protest against the state visit of President Donald Trump on Tuesday. The shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry, has said a Labour government would engage in a businesslike way with Donald Trump but would not afford special honours to the US president.
The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, who refused to attend a state banquet on Monday evening for the president, said he will join crowds to “stand in solidarity with those he’s attacked in America, around the world and in our own country”. Speaking before Tuesday’s mass demonstration in London, which will be addressed by the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, Thornberry said: “A state visit is an honour and we don’t think this president deserves an honour.
41-gun salutes and a Twitter tirade: Donald Trump arrives in UK “The truth is he has tried to close borders with Muslim-majority countries, he is caging small Mexican children, he has grabbed women and boasted about it. He is a sexual predator, he is a racist and it’s right to say that – we need to think about when is it our country got so scared?” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Thornberry said Corbyn’s attendance at a state banquet for the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, was a different situation.
“When you have a close friend and they’re going wrong, you are more likely to be adamant with them and clearer with them than someone who has not been as close a friend and someone you are trying to build a relationship up with,” she said.
Thornberry, speaking earlier on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, said Labour would not refuse to engage with Trump but said it would do so without pomp and ceremony.
“When I become foreign secretary, I hope that what he will respect and understand is a certain amount of strength and an ability to be able to say what it is that you think and not be bullied and kowtowed and shouted over. And say Britain is a friend of a America, you are going wrong,” she said.
She called the government’s attitude “pusillanimous, it’s too weak, it doesn’t stand up to him” and said the president “undermines the world order” in a way that was hugely risky.
“We’ll talk to him but not in front of the Queen. We’d have a business meeting,” she said.
Thornberry said she had written to Buckingham Palace to pre-emptively decline an invitation to the state dinner hosted by the Queen at the palace on Monday night, which Corbyn also declined to attend.
“I didn’t want to embarrass the palace by them sending an invitation and me saying no. So I wrote and pre-empted it,” she said.
“The Queen invited the president over on the advice of the prime minister. That advice was wrong. I’m not saying that he should not come and have business meetings, I’m not saying we shouldn’t talk to him but the things I want to say to President Trump I probably shouldn’t say in front of Her Majesty. We would end up having an argument.”
A huge police and security operation was under way on Tuesday morning, with protesters barred from demonstrating directly outside Downing Street and road closures in place.A huge police and security operation was under way on Tuesday morning, with protesters barred from demonstrating directly outside Downing Street and road closures in place.
Organisers of the Together Against Trump protest have billed the day a “carnival of resistance”, with demonstrators gathering at Trafalgar Square from 11am to declare a “Trump-free zone”.Organisers of the Together Against Trump protest have billed the day a “carnival of resistance”, with demonstrators gathering at Trafalgar Square from 11am to declare a “Trump-free zone”.
The giant, orange inflatable baby Trump blimp will take to the skies again after its owners reached their fundraising target and permission was granted by the Greater London Authority. Demonstrators will not be permitted to march past Downing Street as part of Whitehall will be closed off, the Metropolitan police confirmed on Monday afternoon. Organisers had initially planned to demonstrate outside the entrance to Downing Street as Mr Trump held talks at No 10.
Organisers plan to fly the 20ft blimp depicting a nappy-clad president clutching a mobile phone for two hours from 10am over Trafalgar Square. A 16ft talking robot of Trump sitting on a gold toilet was also expected to make an appearance. Theresa May, who is hosting Trump as one of the final acts of her premiership, will not hold a one-on-one bilateral meeting with the president but will host Trump in Downing Street on Tuesday for a series of events, including a press conference later in the afternoon.
The protesters will include Handmaids Against Trump – women who will be draped in red with white hoods in homage to Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel about a crackdown on reproductive rights. She will insist the relationship between the US and the UK is “a great partnership, but one I believe we can make greater still”.
Climate change activists, students, pacifists, trade union members and families will also gather. The two leaders will jointly host a business breakfast with US and UK firms, highlighting the claimed benefits of a post-Brexit bilateral free trade deal. Trump has tweeted that a “big trade deal is possible once UK gets rid of the shackles”.
Labour’s Diane Abbott and Emily Thornberry confirmed their attendance, while the Liberal Democrats and Green party are appealing to members of the public to join them. About 250,000 anti-Trump activists gathered when he flew into the UK in July last year for his first visit as US president.
The TUC general secretary, Frances O’Grady, and Mark Serwotka, head of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS), will also speak at the rally.
Oi Trump: a short history of penis protests
Demonstrators will not be permitted to march past Downing Street as part of Whitehall will be closed off, the Metropolitan police confirmed. Organisers had initially planned to demonstrate outside the entrance to Downing Street as Trump held talks at No 10.
Crowds will stop at the north end of Whitehall with a “clear view of the access to Downing Street”, and proceed to Parliament Square by an alternative route. The Met said a “barrier plan” will be in place across part of Whitehall just north of the Women’s War Memorial.
Scotland Yard said: “Protesters will not be marching past Downing Street at any point. This is a multi-faceted security operation, and whilst the Met has a responsibility to ensure the right to peaceful protest, this needs to be balanced with the complex requirements of this policing plan.”
About 250,000 anti-Trump activists gathered when he flew into the UK on 13 July last year for his first visit as US president.
Elsewhere across the UK, protests are also planned in Birmingham, Stoke, Sheffield, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Chester, Leicester, Oxford and Exeter.Elsewhere across the UK, protests are also planned in Birmingham, Stoke, Sheffield, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Chester, Leicester, Oxford and Exeter.
41-gun salutes and a Twitter tirade: Donald Trump arrives in UK
Oi Trump: a short history of penis protests
Donald TrumpDonald Trump
Trump administrationTrump administration
US politicsUS politics
Foreign policyForeign policy
Theresa MayTheresa May
Jeremy CorbynJeremy Corbyn
Share on FacebookShare on Facebook
Share on TwitterShare on Twitter
Share via EmailShare via Email
Share on LinkedInShare on LinkedIn
Share on PinterestShare on Pinterest
Share on WhatsAppShare on WhatsApp
Share on MessengerShare on Messenger
Reuse this contentReuse this content