Thousands Protest Across Scotland as Trump Plays Golf

By Libby Brooks, Guardian UK

15 July 18

Marchers stream through Edinburgh and group chants ‘no racist USA’ in Ayrshire

housands of people have protested on the streets of Edinburgh against Donald Trump’s visit to the UK as the US president played golf at his Turnberry resort, on the west coast of Scotland.

Trump was seen playing golf with his son, Eric, on the Ailsa championship course.

Earlier, the US president tweeted his golfing plans for the weekend.

The US president said he had arrived in Scotland for “meetings and some golf”.

Trump and his wife, Melania, arrived in Scotland on Air Force One on Friday evening, before travelling by motorcade to the Trump Turnberry resort in Ayrshire.

By lunchtime, about 50 protesters had congregated by the police cordon on Turnberry beach. Just before 2pm, the US president appeared on the golf course and waved at the gathering on the beach, to be met with booing and chants of “no Trump, no racist USA”. Meanwhile, close to 10,000 marchers were streaming through the streets of Edinburgh, ending up in Meadows park to the south of the city centre, where families sat in the sunshine and enjoyed picnics, music and speeches from local activists.

Paula Baker, 35, attended with her partner, Emily, 38, a nurse, and their seven-month-old baby, Fallon. “It’s a very inclusive atmosphere,” said Baker. “People are willing to make a stand, and we want Americans to see that we are willing to stand by the people who are protesting over there too.”

Gwen Irving, 68, and Rob, 71, had travelled from Glasgow to display their banner reading: “Trump is a disgrace to the office of US president.” “I’ve never been moved to protest before,” said Irving, “but he is a frightening development, and he is trying to foment division across Europe.

“The atmosphere is good-humoured but serious. It’s inspired some hope. We’ve spoken to a lot of Americans about our banner. They’re pleased to see it because this isn’t anti-American.”

Towards the back of the Meadows, the six-metre Trump baby blimp, which depicts him as an angry baby wearing a nappy, was straining against its tethers in the stiff east coast breeze. Organiser Leo Murray said a crew of “babysitters” had travelled from London on the sleeper train to fly the balloon at Saturday’s protest.

Murray had originally hoped to fly the balloon at Turnberry, but Police Scotland refused permission on security grounds.

Murray said: “People in Scotland have been so enthusiastic. I’ve been in activism all my life but this has crystallised something in the public mood. It will be the defining image of this disastrous visit.”

He added that the Trump baby was now planning a world tour, starting in Australia.

Meanwhile, police are continuing to search for a paragliding Greenpeace protester who broke through the no-fly zone surrounding Turnberry on Friday evening, to zip past the presidential party as it entered the Scottish hotel.

Despite a £5m security operation, the paraglider flew past police snipers and in front of the hotel, trailing a banner reading “Trump: well below par #resist”.

Police Scotland said on Saturday morning that “inquiries were ongoing to trace the person responsible”.

Greenpeace said it had alerted police to the protest minutes in advance. The group’s spokesman Ben Stewart said: “Theresa May should not have dignified Trump with a visit to the UK. The vast majority of British people are appalled by his words and deeds. He is, simply, the worst president ever. That’s why we flew over him with a message branding him well below par.”

Scottish comic Janey Godley, whose anti-Trump sign (“Trump is a cunt”) went viral on social media when she protested at his last visit to Scotland in 2016, was standing with friends and a more demurely worded placard at the police cordon on the beach at Turnberry on Saturday.

“I’m here to protest Trump because I think it’s important for women’s voices to be heard against someone who shows absolute disrespect for women,” she said. “His policies are divisive and he has enabled racism and rightwing opinion across Europe as well as in the US. The Americans who voted for him have every right to do so, but wait until they get sick and need healthcare.”

The secretary for Scotland, David Mundell, briefly greeted Trump as he and Melania disembarked from Air Force One at Prestwick near Glasgow on Friday. No members of the Scottish government were present.

Trump had not requested a meeting with the first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, an outspoken critic of his policies whom, according to a former staffer, the US president “totally hates”. Instead, Sturgeon will spend Saturday in Glasgow leading an LGBT Pride march.

At a rally in Glasgow on Friday evening, more than 2,000 protesters gathered and Scotland’s political parties set aside their constitutional differences to present a united opposition to Trump’s presence in Scotland.

Turnberry, which Trump described as a “magical place” earlier this week, has undergone a £200m transformation over the past four years. It is made up of three links golf courses, a golf academy and a hilltop hotel, built in 1906, which looks out across the sea to the rock island of Ailsa Craig. Inside, it is lavishly decorated with chandeliers, leather sofas and a discreet portrait by the reception desk of Trump in a relaxed pose taking a golf swing.