On Friday, Donald Trump will be sworn in as the president of the United States. Activists have taken to the streets of Washington, D.C. to protest Trump’s inauguration, but the demonstrations aren’t limited to the continental U.S. — on Friday, more than 200 banners reading “Bridges not walls” were draped over iconic bridges in the United Kingdom and around the world to protest Trump’s stance on immigration.
The demonstrations were sparked by the U.K.-based activist group Bridges Not Walls, whose goal is to “take a stand against the rise of the far right.” But they quickly spread to cities such as Paris, France; Sydney, Australia; Auckland, New Zealand; and Dublin, Ireland.
Nona Hurkmans, a Bridges Not Walls spokesperson, told the Huffington Post in a statement that the goal was to show solidarity. “By standing together we can show that the rhetoric of fear and hate have no place in our society,” she said. “We won’t let the politics of hate peddled by the likes of Donald Trump take hold.”
The U.K. is grappling with its own nationalist undercurrents following the Brexit vote, and at least one far-right leader there is enthusiastic about Trump’s election. “Our missions have been remarkably similar,” Independence Party leader Nigel Farage said of himself and Trump. “Plus, we’re the two most demonized people in the West!”
