Contrary to President Donald Trump's claim on Thursday that "they like me a lot in the U.K.," he was immediately met with angry and rowdy protesters as he arrived in London to meet with Prime Minister Theresa May ahead of larger demonstrations against the president expected to draw tens, if not hundreds, of thousands into the streets nationwide on Friday.
Anti-Trump Britons gathered outside the U.S. ambassador's residence and Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, with protesters holding signs reading "No to Racism, No to Trump" and "Trump Not Welcome."
While expansive efforts to shield the president from public dissent have been underway, with workers erecting a "ring of steel" and concrete barriers around the ambassador's residence, organizers have asked protesters to bring pots, pans, drums, and plastic horns to hold an "all night noise protest."
The demonstrations come ahead of a mass protest scheduled to begin at 2:00pm on Friday in central London, and dozens of other actions against Trump--amounting to what the Stop Trump Coalition and Stand Up to Trump have dubbed a "carnival of resistance." Tens of thousands, or more, are expected to participate.
London mayor Sadiq Khan has also approved the flight of a 20-foot-tall blimp depicting Trump as a baby floating over the city on Friday.
In a separate endeavor, an artist created a 650-foot crop circle reading, "Fuck Trump" in Russian, on farmland that the president was expected to fly over on Friday.
Some signs at Thursday's protests condemned Trump's immigration policy, demonstrating the international outrage he has drawn for separating families at the U.S.-Mexico border and imprisoning children and babies away from their parents.
The demonstrations were in stark contrast to Trump's assertion to the press that the British "agree with me on immigration" and mirrored those in Brussels ahead of Trump's arrival there on Tuesday to meet with other NATO leaders.
As Trump is expected to discuss a possible post-Brexit trade deal and other international issues with May, organizers of Friday's demonstrations say there is no shortage of issues that will inspire mass numbers of people to attend.
"We are expecting hundreds of thousands of people in London wanting their voices heard because they reject the normalization of a Trump agenda--one that is based around hate and divisiveness," said the Stop Trump Coalition. "People want to send a message to everyone fighting against this politics of hate, we all stand united together, and we will not allow the clock to be turned back to the darkest moments of human history."
