Mums, dads, babies, protesting grandmas and grandpas, bumps against Trump.. every one of them good-natured and angry as hell
There were pregnant women with bumps against Trump, there were protesting grannies and grandpas, mothers with their grown-up daughters and dads carrying young babies.
There were office staff who had taken an early cut from work and ordinary middle-aged sorts who would normally spend a sunny Fair Friday in a beer garden.
From the stage at Glasgow’s George Square, singer Carol Laula told the crowd: “It strikes me there are more people here than at Trump’s inauguration.” And, as we all know about the US president’s demands for accuracy in estimating crowd size, let’s say she was right.
Around 5000 crammed into the city’s famous gathering place to voice their objection to President Trump’s visit. Well, not just his visit, to be honest.
They were demonstrating against his hate-filled policies, his corrupt beliefs, his misogynistic behaviour, his Islamophobia, his denial of climate change and his protection of gun nuts.
Well- informed protesters make an impressive sight, you know. A sea of atrocities spread across the square spelled out on homemade placards, from the brutal family separation policy for immigrants to his predi lection for grabbing women by the private parts.
“Keep your small mitts off my lady bits,” one felt compelled to insist.
They were accompanied with such pithy observations that he is an orange numpty, a rocket, a roaster, a jobby and a walloper, with tiny hands and a tiny appendage. Sometimes these were on one banner.
Many were in our most colourful Scots vernacular and would probably tax any White House “brains” trying to decipher them. I’m convinced that no native tongue is better than ours at crafting insults.
“Trump Gies Me The Boke,” one declared. I’m sure even Trump’s aides will work that out, eventually.
While he was taking his last sips of tea with the Queen, a less regal reception was being prepared for his arrival in the nation he treats as his personal golfing retreat.
It was the first of a weekend of demos and the majority of those who turned up were not veteran protesters who are just furious about everything.
Different generations, occupations and backgrounds came together, many roused for the first time to attend a street demo. They were as good-natured as they were angry as hell.
Elvis Nonso, 24, shut his software development business for the afternoon: “It took something seismic to bring me out for a protest. I’d never done anything like this before. But I had to be here. He’s
Maybe he’ll see this in the Sunday Mail – and get the message loud and strong
a big fan of social media. He’ll see the images. He’ll know how we feel.”
My three kids were there too, among many on their induction into the practice of standing up for what you believe in.
My seven-year-old daughter’s placard – a picture of the president in jail – said: “You are rubish”. Yes, with just one B. She got carried away with excitement and forgot the second B. She wasn’t the only one whose spelling didn’t live up to intentions but that wasn’t the point.
Others, like granny Myra Adams, 71, were old enough to remember protesting at Holy Loch in the 60s after the US sent us Polaris nuclear subs but she’d never attended another rally until they sent the POTUS, potentially more destructive and just as difficult to get rid of.
Myra had brought her grandchildren – Hamish, 10, Eilidh, 11, and Robin, 14, from Lochwinnoch.
She said: “It was too important to stay away. Trump is dangerous to us all. His behaviour sets such a terrible standard and it influences others.”
They were joined by friends Margaret Dolan, 75, a retired hairdresser, and Andrea Yeo, 51, a chef.
Margaret said: “I’m a granny. I’ve lived long enough to know when something is very wrong. And something is very wrong with this man as president.”
University lecturer Rhys Williams brought his six-month- old daughter Harriet in the hope she’ll grow up in a better world without Trump’s influence.
Toolmaker Ian Barrie, 56, from East Kilbride, wore a sombrero in solidarity with Mexican immigrant families. A Mexican woman stopped him in the street to thank him for his support.
Listening to the speeches was Labour veteran Maria Fyfe, 79. She said: “I’m very concerned by attempts to enter into a trade agreement with Trump that’s for his benefit, not ours.
“The chances are he’ll see coverage of demonstrations like this. Maybe he’ll read it in the Sunday Mail over breakfast and he’ll get the message loud and strong that we don’t like what he stands for.”
Onlookers may have been mistaken for thinking Melania herself had turned up, sporting that designer parka she’d worn to visit a Texas detention centre for child immigrants. The jacket had “I really don’t care, Do U?” on the back.
But the version worn by Kashka Lennon, 29, of Newmilns, Ayrshire, was created over cof fee in a Glasgow Starbucks using a roll of white electrical tape. It read: “I really do care, don’t you.”
She said: “My mum, my sisters and I are going to Turnberry to protest too.”
By the time I took the kids home, a protester in a paraglider had already made it to Turnberry, flying right past the president’s nose with a flag that read: “Trump Well Below Par.”
Spoiled the view of his golf course somewhat, we hear.
Thousands more folk were preparing to rally in Edinburgh for yesterday’s national demo.
So Scotland didn’t sit on its hands when the president breached our border with his polluted politics.
The ‘B’ that was missing from my daughter’s placard… it stands for Brilliant.