Demonstrators offer counterbalance to royal grandeur and flattery of US president at Windsor Castle.
Demonstrators have taken to the streets of London and Windsor to protest Donald Trump’s unprecedented second state visit to the United Kingdom, which human rights groups have condemned over US support for “the continuing genocide of the Palestinian people”.
Hundreds of protesters gathered at Portland Place in central London, near the BBC’s Broadcasting House, carrying banners reading “No to racism, no to Trump,” alongside smaller versions of the “Trump baby blimp” that became an icon of mass demonstrations against his first state visit in 2019. The protesters were also marching towards Whitehall and Parliament Square.
Other anti-Trump protests were also reported on Wednesday around Windsor Castle, located 40 kilometres (25 miles) west of central London.
Meanwhile, the UK government has rolled out the royal red carpet for the US president, holding meetings with US business executives and staging ceremonies designed to win favour from Trump on trade matters.
According to Al Jazeera’s Milena Veselinovic, official events were deliberately kept away from central London demonstrations “to spare Donald Trump the embarrassment of encountering a protest”.
Stop the War, one of the main organisers, said on X: “Genocide deniers not welcome! All out against Trump’s state visit! Demand US and UK stop arming the Israeli genocidal state!”
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign also encouraged Brits to speak up. “Trump’s deportations confirm he is a racist authoritarian at home and a warmongerer abroad. These are not things we should be honouring. Join us to demand our government cancel this visit.”
Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands, reporting from the protests, described them as “the counterpoint to all that flattery and pomp and grandeur that’s going on in Windsor at the moment”.
“There are no royal carriages here. There are no military parades. This is a very different England. This is the England of the left. It’s the England of Trades Unions. It’s the England of environmental groups and the Palestine solidarity campaign. And they say that Donald Trump is not welcome in this country.”
Challands said demonstrators accused the British government of honouring “a man who they say has basically been destroying human rights in the United States, destroying human rights around the world, denying climate change and enabling a genocide in Gaza”.
“They also point to him as basically the spiritual figurehead of a global far-right movement that is authoritarian and rolling back democracy,” he noted.
Despite efforts to cocoon Trump from demonstrations, hundreds of protesters from the Stop Trump Coalition gathered outside Windsor Castle. Thames Valley Police said four people were arrested on suspicion of malicious communications after they projected images of Trump and child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein onto the 1,000-year-old fortress.
Officers also spoke with the driver of a van carrying an advert that showed Trump alongside Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York jail in 2019. “No arrests were made, and no vehicles were seized,” police said of that encounter.
Trump’s visit comes as UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces political difficulties at home after he recently dismissed the UK’s ambassador to Washington, Peter Mandelson, following a backlash over the diplomat’s connection to Epstein.
Trump’s friendship with Epstein has also exposed him to damaging headlines in recent weeks.