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London Mayor Warns Protesters To Be Peaceful In Preparation For Trump’s Visit

Reuters

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Vandana Rambaran Political Reporter
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London Mayor Sadiq Khan is warning those who plan on opposing U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to the U.K. on Friday to be “peaceful and good-spirited.”

“To those intent on causing trouble or breaking the law, I simply say: you are not welcome,” he said in a statement Thursday, according to Reuters.

Tens of thousands of protesters are planning to take to the streets of London on Friday, when Trump is visiting on a two-day trip. The trip will include talks with British Prime Minister Theresa May, tea with Queen Elizabeth II and visiting a display of counter-terrorism initiatives that were created by U.S. and U.K. special forces, according to reports by the Evening Standard(RELATED: Trump’s United Kingdom Visit In Peril Over Protest Fears, British Media Says)

Despite Khan’s previous clashes with Trump on the U.S. president’s selective immigration ban in 2017, the London mayor has heightened security on the streets and Metropolitan Police have blocked requests by the demonstration’s organizers to have a mounted stage and sound system for their protest, according to tweets by Owen Jones, a protest organizer, on Thursday.

“At the heart of our policing operation is the right to freedom of speech and peaceful protest,” Met Police told the Evening Standard. “However we equally have a responsibility to ensure the safety of the public and this current time we do not feel that the proposal from the organisers ensures safety of a crowded place.”

The London protest is intended to lash out at Trump, and “will be a carnival of everything [Trump] hates: diverse, led by women, united against sexism, racism and bigotry,” Owens said on Twitter.

Still, Trump seemed optimistic about his visit to the UK, claiming that its citizens actually support his immigration policies.

“I think they like me a lot in the U.K. I think they agree with me on immigration. I’m very strong on immigration,” Trump said at the NATO summit in Brussels on Wednesday.

Khan has asserted the protests are not in condemnation of Trump or America, but rather “the politics of fear and despair,” according to his statement on Thursday.

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