LONDON — Tens of thousands of protesters are expected to flood the streets of London Tuesday in protest at President Donald Trump’s state visit to the United Kingdom.
It is the largest of more than two dozen anti-Trump protests planned around the U.K. this week.
“Let’s show him what we think of his divisive, hateful policies,” said the Stop Trump Coalition, which is organizing the event. “Trump and his politics aren’t welcome in the U.K.”
Flying above the demonstrators will be the Trump baby blimp, a 20ft inflatable depicting the president as a bawling infant in a diaper. This first took to the skies during the president’s working visit to the U.K. in 2018, which drew upward of 250,000 protesters.
As they did then, Brits are traveling from across the country today. Some 18 buses are listed on the official campaign website, ready to bring in demonstrators from as far away as Newcastle, in the north-east of England, and Swansea, west Wales.
They will start in Trafalgar Square at 11 a.m. local time (6 a.m. ET) before moving onto Downing Street, where the president will meet the prime minister at lunchtime, and then onto Parliament Square for a closing rally.
Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labour party and an outspoken Trump critic, will speak at the rally, having snubbed his invitation to the state banquet at Buckingham Palace on Monday night.
Elsewhere in Britain there are a constellation of other marches, from Glasgow to Exeter and from Sheffield to Belfast.
The campaigners accuse Trump of espousing “toxic politics” on climate change, women’s rights, racism and “corporate greed,” according to the Stop Trump Coalition. Blocs participating in Tuesday’s demonstration cover all these subjects and more.
After London, Trump will travel to Portsmouth and then Normandy, France, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the D-day landings. This will give the protesters an added grievance this year.
“It is an insult to all those who died fighting fascism that Trump, who has done so much to encourage fascists and the far-right, has been invited to the D-Day commemorations in Portsmouth,” said Together Against Trump, one of the other groups organizing the events.
As in most of Europe, Trump is widely disliked in the U.K. Just 21 percent of Brits have a positive opinion of him, compared with 67 percent negative, according to pollster YouGov.
By contrast, 72 percent of people in the U.K. have a positive opinion of former President Barack Obama, who had a state visit to the U.K. in 2011.
Trump ruffled feathers before Air Force One touched down on British soil, criticizing London Mayor Sadiq Khan and weighing into the ongoing race to be next prime minister.
