Thousands protest in london
LONDON: Several thousand people demonstrated outside the US embassy in London on Saturday against President Donald Trump and his temporary ban on refugees and nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States. and young people (53%) are the groups where a majority want to cancel the trip. Men are strongly in favour of the visit (60% versus 29%), while women are more evenly split on the matter, with 39% in favour and 43% against.
President Trump’s temporary executive order or so called “migrant ban” has caused consternation in London’s liberal and Labour circles. Jeremy Corbyn, Labour leader, asked Mrs May in Prime Minister’s Questions if she had known in advance of the policy. May replied the policy was “divisive and wrong”, but that all had notice of the travel restrictions intended, as Trump had campaigned for this and it was not the job of the British Government to take to the streets in protest.
The Foreign Office issued a four- point clarification about how British nationals were not very affected; the executive order makes no difference to any British passport holder, irrespective of their country of birth or whether they hold another passport. Only dual nationals coming from one of the seven listed countries are affected: for example, a UKLibya dual national coming from Libya to the US might have extra checks.
This week, Parliament had a well-attended and vociferous four hours of debate on US immigration policy. Boris Johnson, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, explained the executive order was intended to last only for 90 days, until the US system has added new security precautions and that on defence, intelligence and security UK and US work more closely than any other two countries in the world. The special relationship is overwhelmingly to UK’s benefit, but where UK has differences with the US, UK will not hesitate to express them. The message was whether the UK approves or not, the immigration policy of the US is a matter for the Government of the United States and American democracy.
However MPs continued to harangue Johnson about an increased threat to terrorism as a result, rejecting genuine refugees was un-humanitarian and the risk of branding Muslims that would introduce Islamophobia. Johnson said it was open to all to come forward with fresh expressions of outrage about the presidential executive order, but May’s government has made it clear to the US that it disapproved of their policy of discrimination on the grounds of nationality, however it was in British national interest to work with the US as friends and partners. The conclusion of the lengthy debate was unanimous that the “House has considered the need for repeal of President Trump’s discriminatory, divisive and counterproductive ban on entry to the United States for people from seven predominantly Muslim countries and the indefinite ban placed on Syrian refugees.”