At an anti-Trump protest in London — a gathering organizers referred to as a “carnival of resistance” — as the first family continued their official state visit Tuesday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn spoke to the crowd and commended them for seeking to “achieve a better place and a better world”.
And somewhere within that crowd seeking a better world, and elderly man was pushed to the ground because he was there in support of Donald Trump.
'When you act like that, you act like Donald Trump'
An elderly supporter of the US president is pushed to the ground during anti-Trump protests in London https://t.co/hDO99JOJ8h pic.twitter.com/nSWADhQEto
— ITV News (@itvnews) June 4, 2019
The protest, representing several disparate groups but who all apparently find Donald Trump the source of all ills in the world, took place in Trafalgar Square and Parliament Square on Tuesday following Trump’s arrival in the UK Monday.
Corbyn, who had declined to attend a state banquet at Buckingham Palace on Monday, told the crowd he was not refusing to meet with anyone and expressed a hope for peace. Trump reportedly declined to take a separate meeting with Corbyn and referred to him as a “somewhat negative force”.
“I am not, absolutely not, refusing to meet anybody,” the Labour leader told the protestors. “I want to be able to have that dialogue to bring about the better and more peaceful world that we all want to live in.”
Elsewhere in the crowd:
One Trump supporter was surrounded by an angry group of protesters shouting “Nazi” in Parliament Square.
Video footage posted on social media showed a milkshake was thrown at him before a scuffle broke out.
The man, who said he was from London but did not want to be named, said he was “angry” to have been targeted.
In another incident, an elderly pro-Trump supporter was pushed to the ground, as tensions flared on both sides of the demonstration.
Corbyn acknowledged that among the protestors were Americans, which can be clearly heard in the video of the elderly man being assaulted. One woman with a clear American accent is heard saying pushing the man to the ground is “act[ing] like Donald Trump”, an interesting “peacemaking” technique since I’m not sure it’s fair to compare being the face of policy ideas you don’t like to physically assaulting an elderly person.
But more to the point, here’s a little advice for the protestors expressing a desire to find peace in the world: be the peace you seek. Pushing an old man to the ground isn’t it. Even if, and it appears this is what happened in the video, he tries to take your sign. The young pro-life advocates in North Carolina handled that in the proper way when a young lady took their sign. They called the police over, who handled it. No young ladies were pushed to the ground. But one was arrested for larceny.
Why Americans feel the need to travel the world and agitate in pursuit of peace is another post for another time.
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