(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Thousands of people joined a protest against Donald Trump in London yesterday following the US president's controversial travel ban.
Organisers claimed 40,000 people took part, gathering at the US embassy in Grosvenor Square at 11am, before making their way towards Whitehall.
The protesters clutched banners reading 'Love Trumps Hate and 'Theresa the Appeaser.Another, parodying Trump's election slogan, read: 'Make America Think Again.
Organisations including Stop the War and Stand Up to Racism were involved in organising the event.
Activist John Rees, co-founder of Stop the War Coalition, said there were almost 40,000 people at the demonstration which showed that 'the Government has got a very, very big problem with the state visit. He said May had a choice to either 'insult the American president, or insult a majority of people in this country who don't share that president's views on practically any issue you care to mention. Rees added: 'He thinks one way about women, most people in this country don't share that view.
He thinks one way about Muslims, most people don't share that view.
'She's got a choice: she can either insult him, or us.
Rees also claimed that Theresa May had 'walked into a storm wholly bigger than she could imagine and urged her to 'disinvite the president.
The march was set up to condemn the travel ban, alongside the forthcoming state visit of Mr Trump to the UK.
One of Trump's first acts as president was to issue an executive order banning entry to the US for people from seven Muslim-majority countries.
A judge ruled against the president on Friday, blocking the ban nationwide in a move the White House is set to challenge.
Yesterday's protest was the third large scale demonstration in the capital since Trump's inauguration.
Kevin Courtney, NUT general secretary, told the crowds that Trump's policies were aimed at 'stoking up fear. He said that the 'fear and division was evident in schools and told the masses gathered: 'I'm here to say that every teacher should be involved in the campaign against Trump.
'We can fight Trump's policies, we can fight that division, Courtney added.
Dawn Butler, MP for Brent Central, told the crowds that May needed to 'understand the responsibility of the UK's relationship with the US.
She added: 'The answer isn't walls and the answer isn't bans.
The crowds marched down Park Lane — filling the length of the famous London street — and along Piccadilly towards Downing Street.
They chanted 'Donald Trump has got to go and 'No ban, no wall as they went.
Park Lane, Piccadilly, Pall Mall East, Haymarket and Trafagar Square were all closed off for the demo.
The prime minister invited the American president to visit Britain later this year during a recent trip to the White House.
Hours later, Trump introduced a 90-day travel ban on residents from seven predominantly Muslim countries — Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen — to stop 'radical Islamic terrorists from coming to America, sparking fury.
A petition calling on the government to prevent Mr Trump from making a state visit because it would cause 'embarrassment to the Queen has received more than 1.8mn signatures.
Downing Street rejected claims the Queen has been put in a difficult position due to the invitation and insisted the state visit would go ahead this year, but MPs will debate the matter later this month.
Since the ban was announced, there have been protests at several US airports where travellers were being held, including at least 2,000 protesters at New York's Kennedy International Airport, while thousands took to the streets of the UK amid anger over the ban.
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