Emergency protests have been organised tonight in central London at 10 Downing Street, and in cities and towns across the UK, to protest Donald Trump’s signing of a racist executive order banning Muslims (including people with dual citizenship like GB Olympian Mo Farah) from entering the United States, as well as UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s failure to denounce such fascist policies during her US visit.
Emergency protest against Trump’s #MuslimBan and @theresa_may‘s silence, this Monday. Please share everywhere: https://t.co/KmN4Wp4IsB
— Owen Jones (@OwenJones84) January 29, 2017
The order — which has seen Muslims flying into America, including those who have residency and who are changing flights in the US, detained at airports — has caused chaos, provoking a legal challenge from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and lawyers working at their laptops on airport floors to aid detainees.
The order bars entry to people from the predominantly Muslim countries Sudan, Syria, Yemen, Iran, Iraq, Libya and Somalia, though not from other Muslim countries that Trump has business ties to. The order also bans all refugees from entering for 120 days, and indefinitely for refugees from Syria.
If you always wondered what you would do when faced with the kind of fascism and Nazism that blighted the twentieth century, the question is no longer an academic, historical one. As Donald Trump’s racist executive order shows, the time to resist fascist politics is right now.
For other ways to take action, read Broadly editor Zing Tsjeng’s useful Twitter thread on organisations to support, direct aid (like accommodation) to those affected, and more.
Facebook event pages for demonstrations across the UK:
- London – 6pm 10 Downing Street
- Aberdeen – 6pm Castlegate
- Aberystwyth – 6pm Aberystwyth Bandstand, Marine Terrace
- Bangor – 7pm at the clock
- Birmingham – 6pm Victoria Square
- Brighton – 6pm Town Hall
- Bristol – 6pm College Green
- Broadstairs – 6:30pm outside Broadstairs Tory Office
- Cardiff – 6:30pm by the Anuerin Bevan statue
- Cambridge – 5pm Great St Mary’s, the University Church
- Cheltenham – 7pm Promenade
- Dundee – 6pm Dundee City Square
- Derby – 5pm Council House
- Edinburgh – 6pm The Mound by the National gallery
- Exeter – 6pm Bedford Square
- Falmouth – 5pm The Moor
- Glasgow – 6pm George Square
- Hull – 5pm Queen Victoria Square
- Isle of Wight – 6pm Newport
- Leeds – 5:30 Dortmund Square
- Leicester – 5:30pm Haymarket memorial Clock Tower
- Liverpool – 6pm St George’s Hall
- Newcastle – 5:30pm Grey’s Monument
- Manchester – 6pm Albert Square
- Nottingham – 5:30pm Market Square
- Oxford – 5:30pm Carfax Tower
- Plymouth – 5:30 pm Charles Cross police station
- Portsmouth – 7pm Portsmouth Guildhall
- Preston – 6pm Harris Library
- Sheffield – 6pm Town Hall
- St Andrews – 7pm St Andrews Student Union
- Swansea – 6pm Castle Square
- Whitney – 6pm Market Square
- York – 5pm St Helen’s Square