Trump baby blimp flies again in London with thousands set to protest UK visit

FAN Editor

A 20-foot-tall blimp depicting President Donald Trump as a baby is raised in London on Tuesday June 4. 2019.

CNBC’s Hollie Wong

A 20-foot-tall blimp depicting President Donald Trump as a baby was raised Tuesday morning in London, with thousands expected to protest against the U.S. president’s state visit to the U.K.

The giant balloon named “Trump Baby” was unveiled at 10:30 a.m. London time near the U.K.’s Houses of Parliament, close to where protesters are set to march to show their discontent against the president and his policies. Organizers said winds in the U.K. capital had delayed a full flight for the balloon but by 11:15 a.m. it had been raised 30 feet above the ground.

A rally held by the Stop Trump Coalition and other campaign groups is set to start at 11:00 a.m. London time and will see protesters march from London’s Trafalgar Square to Downing Street as the president’s schedule unfolds. London’s Metropolitan Police will put a blockade in place, but protesters will be allowed a clear view of the access to Downing Street.

“Now Trump is coming back for a state visit and we have to get out there again in a diverse Carnival of Resistance that shows we reject Trump’s divisive politics and policies of bigotry, hate and greed,” the Stop Trump Coalition said on its website ahead of the demonstration.

The group’s Facebook event, called “Together Against Trump – stop the state visit,” has more than 8,500 potential attendees and 34,000 people interested in attending. It is one of a string of protests against the president’s visit that are being organized in different cities across the country.

In 2018, a mass protest in London against Trump’s visit attracted tens of thousands of people and the security costs amounted to an estimated bill of more than £12 million ($15.8 million).

Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the U.K.’s Labour Party, will join and speak at Tuesday’s protest, a spokesperson for the party told British media. Corbyn said on Twitter Monday that the demonstration was “an opportunity to stand in solidarity with those he’s attacked in America, around the world and in our own country.”

In a tweet on Monday evening, Trump said his visit was “going really well” and that there had been “tremendous crowds of well wishers.”

“Haven’t seen any protests yet, but I’m sure the Fake News will be working hard to find them,” he added.

Row with London mayor

Trump and his family will be in the U.K. until Wednesday, when he is due to fly to France to attend a D-Day ceremony in France with French President Emmanuel Macron.

Asked about protests ahead of his 2018 U.K. visit, the president said: “I think it’s fine. I think they like me a lot in the U.K., I think they agree with me on immigration.” However, he later told British newspaper The Sun that the protests made him feel “unwelcome.”

Before landing in London on Monday, Trump tweeted a strongly-worded criticism of the city’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, after Khan likened the president to “the fascists of the 20th century.” Trump accused Khan of being incompetent and “foolishly ‘nasty’ to the visiting president of the United States,” before dubbing him a “stone cold loser.”

The angry-orange baby balloon that flew on Tuesday has been a point of tension between the president and the mayor. Khan did not authorize its use in 2018 at first, but then changed his mind after more than 10,000 people signed a petition calling for him to do so. Khan explained in an interview that there’s no reason to stop the balloon given that it is a safe and peaceful way of protesting.

—CNBC’s Hollie Wong contributed to this article.

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