Crowds protest Trump’s Inauguration: On Friday 20th January 2017 I was with a large crowd outside the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square all of us “appalled at the thought of a president who is a climate change denier, has a long history of racist and Islamophobic outbursts, has boasted of sexually assaulting women and has downplayed the severity of sexual violence.“
We stood in solidarity at a protest in solidarity with those protesting in the US who had called for protests around the world. This one had been organised by Stand Up to Racism and was supported by many other groups and individuals.
SUTR had set up a stage at the side of the Embassy in a corner of the square and invited a long list of the usual speakers, but the lighting made it difficult to photograph them, with strong lighting shining into the audience and the speakers largely in shadow. I soon gave up as I think they were all people I’d photographed many times and the protesters were far more interesting to me.
Among those protesting were members of the London Guantanamo campaign, some in orange jumpsuits, who have held regular monthly protests outside the embassy for around nine years.
Away from the SUTR bright lights it seemed very dark and I needed to work with flash. Both Trump’s name and his appearance are a gift to protesters as the pictures show.
It was good to see Charlie X as Chaplin back again from South Africa.
A group from the Campaign Against Climate Change had an illuminated banner with the message ‘Trump Climate Disaster’.
A woman held up a poster ‘Dear Queen, We’re sorry. Take us back? Love, An American‘.
To one side was a lone woman with a rosary and posters ‘God Bless Trump’. Nobody bothered her.
The statue of President Eisenhower was surrounded by protesters and I felt he looked less confident and happy than usual. Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in WW2, he had stood for president in 1952 against Taft who wanted to undo Roosevelt’s New Deal. But he had also considered using nuclear weapons in Korea and threatened China with them. Under his presidency we had a nuclear arms race, and he might have approved of Trump’s Nuclear Arms Race if not many of his other policies.
A woman holds a poster ‘WHEN ALL IS SAID AND ALL IS DONE WE HAVE BELIEFS, TRUMP HAS NONE’
F**k Trump
I left the Embassy protest to go to Trafalgar Square, where more radical groups were gathering for the F**k Trump protest.
But while the group with the large orange head moved down from the North Terrace into the main Square and ignored the Heritage Wardens order to leave, not a lot seemed to be happening.
Police came and talked with the protesters who largely simply ignored them too, but not a lot appeared to be happening.
I was feeling cold and tired and decided it was time to go home. Later I heard that police had made an unprovoked attack on the protesters.
More on My London Diary:
Crowds protest Trump’s Inauguration
F**k Trump
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