Hundreds of thousands of protesters have joined demonstrations across the UK against Donald Trump today – which kicked off with a giant Trump baby balloon being flown over Westminster.
The stunt was followed by rallies and marches, which took place in London, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow as part of a ‘carnival of resistance’, aimed to build a wall of noise against the US president’s four day visit.
Both the current and former Labour leaders Jeremy Corbyn and Ed Miliband and former deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg joined hundreds of thousands of protestors as the Women’s March London and the Stop Trump march both converged on Trafalgar Square.
Nearly every police force in England and Wales has contributed to protect Trump from protests and potential terror threats – the biggest mobilisation since the 2011 riots – consisting of thousands of officers.
The ‘carnival of resistance’ on Friday comes after Trump dropped a bombshell in an interview in The Sun newspaper on Thursday night, warning Theresa May that her soft Brexit plan will “kill” any future US trade agreement, a possible deal that was meant to form the centrepiece of his visit to the UK.
In a press conference on Friday afternoon, he rowed back from his criticism of May and her Brexit plans as he heaped praise on the prime minister in front of gathered reporters at Chequers.