A 20-foot-tall orange inflatable baby with the face of President Donald Trump will fly next to Britain’s Houses of Parliament at Parliament Square Gardens during the President’s visit to the city on July 12.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, approved the request for the inflatable blimp dubbed the ‘Trump baby’, to be placed in the British capital during the visit. The ‘Stop Trump’ campaign raised more than $21150 (£16,000) for it.
The ‘Trump baby’ will be restricted from flying any higher than 100 feet in the air. and will be visible over Westminster’s iconic Parliament Square Gardens, but it will not be able to soar over the Big Ben clock tower, which stands at nearly 300 feet tall.
The ‘Stop Trump’ campaign expects to draw 50,000 protesters to central London to campaign against Trump during his official visit to the United Kingdom (UK). Demonstrators will make their way through the city on the “Stop Trump” march before a large rally takes place in Trafalgar Square.
The organisers have described the protest as part of a “carnival of resistance” taking place across the UK in response to the US president’s visit. A leading activist of the ‘Stop Trump’ campaign described the “Trump baby’ as an “obscene mutant clone of the president” which will “hold up a huge mirror of truth” to the world.
A spokesman for Sadiq Khan said, “The Mayor supports the right to peaceful protest and understands that this can take many different forms.”
He added: “His city operations team have met with the organisers and have given them permission to use Parliament Square Garden as a grounding point for the blimp.”
When little Donald enters our country unwelcomely we must IMMEDIATELY escort him back out again without going through years of idiot baiting. This President is the dumbest anywhere in the world. Be smart – let #TrumpBaby fly! https://t.co/qjbolEge6r
— Trump Baby (@TrumpBabyUK) June 30, 2018
Khan has been a strong critic of Trump since the President’s election to office in 2016. In 2017, he released a statement condemning Trump for tweeting about Britain First party.
Khan then said:
“President Trump yesterday used Twitter to promote a vile, extremist group that exists solely to sow division and hatred in our country.
Many Brits who love America and Americans will see this as a betrayal of the special relationship between our two countries. It beggars belief that the President of our closest ally doesn’t see that his support of this extremist group actively undermines the values of tolerance and diversity that makes Britain so great.
As the Mayor of this great diverse city, I have previously called on Theresa May to cancel her ill-judged offer of a state visit to President Trump. After this latest incident, it is increasingly clear that any official visit at all from President Trump to Britain would not be welcomed.
The Prime Minister of our country should be using any influence she and her government claim to have with the President and his administration to ask him to delete these tweets and to apologise to the British people.”
The Mayor said in April that he anticipated seeing protests but that it wouldn’t be “appropriate” for him to join them personally.