Thousands gather to protest Trump in the UK

Dan Kitwood | Getty Images

Protesters seen from a coach window hold up placards along the route at Blenheim Palace prior the arrival of U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump on July 12, 2018 in Woodstock, England.

Protests have kicked off for the second day of President Donald Trump’s U.K. visit with tens of thousands of demonstrators expected in central London and cities around the country.

Today’s gatherings in London, which organizers say should number between 50,000 and 100,000 people, will count among more than 60 official protests scheduled for the American leader’s four-day working visit.

Their aim, organizers say, is to voice opposition to Trump’s policies and show that he is not welcome. British animosity to Trump has been fairly prominent since his election in 2016, and these protests would not be the first — thousands gathered in central London in January of 2017 to protest his travel ban on several majority-Muslim countries.

In the months that followed, 1.8 million Brits signed a petition to Parliament against a state visit by the president. This week’s sojourn is a working visit rather than a state one, despite Trump’s planned meeting with Queen Elizabeth II.

CNBC spoke with Asad Rehman, a local activist and member of the recently-formed Stop Trump Coalition. He described the demonstrations as a “carnival of resistance,” representing a broad range of interests with one core message.

“People are coming out to reject the politics of bigotry and hatred, the Muslim ban, (Trump’s) war on migrants, normalization of violence against women, but they’re also coming out because they disagree with his attacks on the poor, on his economic policies, on his pulling back from human rights, on his planet-wrecking policies,” Rehman said.

“But at its heart it’s a rejection of the kind of politics he represents, which unfortunately we’re seeing an echo of around the world.”

Rehman stressed that while their message was anti-Trump, the U.K.’s “special relationship” remained with the American people.