Clashes break out at 'Free Tommy Robinson', pro-Trump London rally
July 14, 2018
Fists were flying and bats were swinging as demonstrators at a Free Tommy Robinson rally were involved in clashes with counter protesters at an event in London. The rally joined a pro-Trump demonstration that took place earlier.
The 'Welcome President Trump' rally marched to Whitehall from the US embassy in Battersea at midday, while the Tommy Robinson demonstration started to gather at around 2pm. The crowd featured numerous people carrying "Britain supports Trump" placards.
Police had issued restrictions on the demonstrations amid fears of confrontations with counter protesters. Activists were handed leaflets explaining that anyone who contravened the timing and location of the demonstration could face prosecution.
A separate counter protest against the rally took place close by on Parliament Street. Pictures from the scene show activists involved in physical confrontations with counter protesters and police officers.
A 13-year-old Huntsville girl was beheaded after she witnessed her grandmother assaulted with a knife and left to die on the ground in a cemetery, court testimony revealed.The grandmother, 49-year-old Oralia Mendoza, was allegedly connected to the Sinaloa Mexican drug cartel which is widely considered to be the largest and most powerful drug trafficking organization in the world.
"President Trump often seems to be in search of short-term political benefit at the expense of US allies, the international community," journalists Saska Saarikoski and Laura Saarikoski wrote on Sunday ahead of the Trump-Putin meeting, scheduled for July 16. Their open letter, addressed to both leaders, was published in the nation's leading paper Helsingin Sanomat.At least they end it on a sane note.
The journalists, who have authored several books on Trump, are alarmed by the prospect of the US president making concessions to the "skilled negotiator" Putin who will sit down at the table "with a whole bunch of aces up his sleeve."
"What is difficult to understand is the fact that President Trump has threatened and intimidated friendly countries while speaking warmly of autocratic leaders, and even of a tyrant like North Korea's Kim Jong-un," the open letter reads. The authors lament the fact that Trump shows no signs of "a persistent policy" required to pressure Russia into changing its attitude. They recall how some observers have raised fears of "a new Yalta where Trump and Putin would divide the world between them in spheres of influence." By invoking Yalta, the authors refer to the 1945 meeting at which the leaders of the Soviet Union, the UK and the US decided on the political makeup of the world after defeating the Nazis in WWII.
Despite being "worried" about Trump's rhetoric towards Russia and its president, the Finnish journalists hope that during the upcoming talks "everyone will nevertheless understand that European matters can no longer be agreed-on over the heads of Europeans."
"The deterioration of US-Russian relations is not beneficial to anyone," the letter concludes.
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