President Donald Trump received a rude welcome in the United Kingdom, where hundreds of protesters greeted him with signs calling him a fascist and pedophile.
A van displaying a photo of the U.S. president and the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was briefly stopped by police Wednesday as it approached Windsor Castle, where King Charles will host him for an official state visit, and CNN International's Nic Robertson reported on the massive protests against Trump.
"There are perhaps a couple of thousandpeople gathered here, so far more are expected," Robertson reported. "Ithinkone of the sides of this road is still open, butthe police are planning to shut down the routes.People will be moving off here in a big march, amile or so away to to the buildings of Parliament.The message here is all anti-Trump and it's amixed bag. It's. It's 'stop Trump, stop racism,' 'stop Trump, stop fascism,' 'go home, pedophile.' [We] saw one big flag that was 'expletive Trump.' People are pretty clear here. 'Stop the war in Gaza'is another one we're seeing here. I saw an elderlylady with a placard saying 'grannies against Trump.'"
Trump has faced months of questions about his longtime association with Epstein and his convicted co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell after his administration announced in July that no further information about the disgraced financier's alleged sex trafficking network would be released, and those concerns followed him across the Atlantic Ocean.
"The mood here is pretty light but prettydetermined," Robertson said. "The police here they're on the sidestreets, 1,100 of them, by the way. The police saythey've committed to sort of manage this protesttoday. It'll last several hours, and I think it isthe counterpoint, if you will,to what's happening at Windsor, the sort of pompand pageantry there that the British are so famous for."