UK: Protests against Trump Continue, Corbyn to Address the Crowds

By Staff, Agencies

UK Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn is planning to join thousands of people who will stage nationwide protests against US President Donald Trump on the second day of his controversial state visit later on Tuesday.

Corbyn, who refused to attend Queen Elizabeth’s state banquet for Trump on Monday evening, said he will attend the protests and make a speech to “stand in solidarity with those he [Trump] has attacked in America, around the world and in our own country.”

Labor Members of Parliament Diane Abbott and Emily Thornberry would also partake in the protests. The Liberal Democrats and the Green party also confirmed their attendance and asked the public to join them.

As part of a security operation that has cost taxpayers over £25 million, hundreds of police officers were being deployed around London on Tuesday morning in anticipation of massive protests that were expected to attract over 250,000 people.

Police have barred demonstrations directly outside Downing Street by setting up road closures.

However, organizers of the Together Against Trump protest said they will take the crowds to the north end of Whitehall, where they would have a “clear view of the access to Downing Street.” They will then take an alternative route to Parliament Square.

The protesters pledged a “carnival of resistance” where they would gather at Trafalgar Square from 11 a.m. to form a symbolic “Trump-free zone.”

Tuesday will also see the giant, orange inflatable "Trump baby" blimp take to the skies again after its owners reached their fundraising target and permission was granted by the Greater London Authority.

The organizers will fly their 20ft blimp, which depicts a nappy-clad president holding a mobile phone over Trafalgar Square.

They will also roll out a 16ft talking robot of Trump, which repeats the president’s popular sentences while playing with a mobile phone on a golden toilet.

Also in attendance will be climate change activists, students, pacifists, trade union members and British families.

Similar protests are planned elsewhere across the UK, including in Birmingham, Stoke, Sheffield, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Chester, Leicester, Oxford and Exeter.