TEHRAN, Jun 4 -UK Labour 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.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) -Corbyn, who refused to attend Queen Elizabeth’s state banquet for Trump on Monday evening, said he will attend the protests and make speech to “stand in solidarity with those he [Trump] has attacked in America, around the world and in our own country.”
Labour Members of Parliament Diane Abbott and Emily Thornberry would also partake in the protests. The Liberal Democrats and the Green party have 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 have pledged a “carnival of resistance” where they would gather at Trafalgar Square from 11am to form a symbolic “Trump-free zone.”
Tuesday will also see the giant, orange inflatable baby Trump 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 also to fly their 20ft “Trump Baby” 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.
Elsewhere across the UK, protests are also planned in Birmingham, Stoke, Sheffield, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Chester, Leicester, Oxford and Exeter.
Trump downplays protests, hails eternal relationship with UK
The demonstrations began so after Trump touched down in London’s Standsted airport on Monday and boarded a helicopter to attend a welcome ceremony attended by the Royals in the Buckingham Place.
While the helicopter was chosen as a means of transport that would guarantee no encounter with protesters, some activists made sure Trump could still see them by projecting side-by-side images of UK approval ratings of Trump and his predecessor, President Barack Obama, on tall buildings.
They also projected an image of a baseball cap emblazoned with the USS John S. McCain warship onto a London building— a reference to reports that during Trump’s recent visit to Japan the White House had tried to hide the ship which was heavily damaged from a collision last year.
Marine One, which carried Trump and his wife Melania, flew above large crowds who held signs that read: “Stop Trump’s nuclear arms race” and “No to Trump, no to war, no to racism.”
Trump downplayed the protests, claiming in a tweet that that his London visit “is going really well” and all he had seen were “tremendous crowds of well wishers and people that love our Country.”
“Haven’t seen any protests yet, but I’m sure the Fake News will be working hard to find them. Great love all around,” he wrote.
During his meeting with queen, Trump praised the "eternal friendship" between London and Washington.
The queen said they were celebrating an alliance that had guaranteed the "safety and prosperity of both our peoples for decade.s"
Trump to meet May
Trump is scheduled to meet outgoing UK Prime Minister Theresa May for talks on a range of issues, including climate, post-Brexit trade and the ongoing dispute over Chinese telecom giant Huawei's role in developing UK's 5G network.
Trump and May will start attending a breakfast meeting of British and American business leaders.
After that, May, who will step down on Friday following her inability to take the country out of the European Union, will hold a meeting with Trump at Downing Street.
Accompanying May in the meeting will be senior officials such as Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, the Duke of York and Chancellor Phillip Hammond. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Trump's daughter, Ivanka, will be in attendance as well.
Source: presstv
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