The following article by Erik Kirschbaum was posted on the L.A. Times February 4, 2017:
Spirited protests against President Trump and his policies, particularly his administration’s controversial travel ban, were held around the world and across the United States again Saturday.
The largely peaceful rallies overseas drew thousands of people in places such as London, Paris, Berlin, Barcelona, Jakarta and Manila.
Marching in London behind a banner reading “Stop Trump’s Muslim Ban,” tens of thousands of people first gathered in front of the U.S. Embassy and then paraded about two miles through the government quarter to the prime minister’s residence at Downing Street to demand the British government withdraw Prime Minister Theresa May’s invitation to Trump to visit this year.
Police in Berlin said 1,200 anti-Trump protesters took part in a rally through the center of the city that ended in front of the U.S. Embassy and next to the landmark Brandenburg Gate in the heart of the German capital where the Berlin Wall that divided the city once stood.
“We say no to a ban on immigrants and we say no to walls,” read one poster in Berlin, referring to Trump’s vows to build a wall on the Mexican border.
The crowd in Berlin, where about 16,000 Americans and many former U.S. soldiers live, chanted, “Refugees in, racists out,” after one speaker told the gathering, “We will fight with all our might to overturn this ban permanently.”
There were also major demonstrations against the administration’s travel ban on people from seven predominantly Muslim countries for a second weekend in a row across the United States in cities such as New York, Washington, San Francisco, Atlanta, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Denver, Salt Lake City and Philadelphia.
The rallies took place even after a federal judge in Seattle on Friday issued a temporary restraining order against parts of Trump’s week-old executive order, which affected travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. The Department of Homeland Security said it had suspended “any and all actions” related to the controversial travel ban.
The Trump administration late Saturday filed a notice of appeal of the judge’s order and has said that the president’s actions were lawful.
Emotions against Trump’s controversial policies are running high in many places that look to the United States for leadership and support.
Nerves are especially raw in Germany, a country where fears of war are traditionally high as a result of the devastation the Nazi regime caused during World War II.
Trump’s actions and tough talk on a number of issues in his first two weeks have deeply unsettled many Germans, a sentiment reflected by Der Spiegel magazine with its publication of a cover illustration showing a Trump-like figure beheading the Statue of Liberty.
In France, where President Francois Hollande has spoken out against Trump, saying the new U.S. administration is “encouraging populism and extremism,” about 1,000 demonstrators and a large group of American expats took part in a march against Trump in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
In the Philippines, protesters burned a giant portrait of Trump at a rally outside the U.S. Embassy in Manila, the capital. Some protesters carried a large banner that read: “Fight Trump! Resist fascism and imperialism!”
In Indonesia, students and activists called on the government in Jakarta and the international community to intervene to thwart Trump’s order to ban travelers from the seven countries.
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