LONDON — Jeremy Corbyn, the hard-left leader of the British Labour Party, used all his firepower to rail against President Trump’s state visit on Tuesday but attracted a dismal audience that fell way short of organizers’ hopes of drawing a quarter of a million people.
They said 75,000 protesters braved wet weather to assemble in Parliament Square at the heart of London.
Photographs of a lackluster turnout suggested even that number was an exaggeration and still far from the 250,000 organizers claimed attended a similar protest against Trump last year.
That did not stop Corbyn, 70, delivering a fiery, rabble-rousing speech.
“So I say to our visitors that have arrived this week, think on please about a world that is one of peace and disarmament, is one of recognizing the values of all people, is a world that defeats racism, defeats misogyny, defeats the religious hatreds that are being fueled by the far-right in politics in Britain, in Europe, and the United States,” he said.
Activists had hoped to show British anger at Trump’s “America First” policies and condemn his inaction on climate change in what they dubbed a “carnival of resistance”.
But in the event there were no protests outside London.
Trump himself reveled in the apparent apathy. “Then I heard there were protests. I said, ‘Where are the protests? I don’t see any protests,’” he told a news conference on Tuesday afternoon.
“I did see a small protest today when I came — very small — so a lot of it is fake news, I hate to say.”
There was a brief confrontation when a Trump supporter was surrounded by protesters who shouted, “Nazi scum.” Video posted on social media showed him being hit by a milkshake — a now familiar weapon used by liberal opponents of Brexiteers and Trump supporters.
The famous Trump baby balloon floated a few feet off the ground but afternoon rain soon made the ground soft underfoot.
Protesters made the best of it. Jack Flavell, whose mouth was covered with a “Trump stinks” surgical mask, said it was a good turnout for a wet Tuesday.
“It was still pretty full in Parliament Square,” he said as he trudged home. “Perhaps it was not as big as last year. I don’t think we expected to have to do it again.”
