LIVE Stop Trump Scotland hold protest in Aberdeen as US President makes UK visit

Protesters have gathered in Aberdeen’s Union Terrace Gardens as part of a “festival of resistance” against the US President.

A further protest is due to be held in Edinburgh today, with Trump set to head to the north of Scotland to play his golf course over the coming days amid a tight security operation.

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had been killed by the aggression of the IOF. And we always used to start with three names who were Israeli healthcare workers because we support all healthcare workers all over the world. We were then allowed to do these hold these vigils inside the lecture theater of Abedine Royal Infirmary until one day the chief executive emailed me. The then chief executive emailed me saying that is our you must stop these vigils and I said why? Well, we’ve had one anonymous complaint that you are anti-semitic and therefore you are no longer allowed to hold these vigils. We now hold them on Fridays usually on university grounds. I’m also a senior lecturer of and an alumnest of Abedine University. So try stopping us. But there are there are braver souls. There are braver souls in Gaza itself who are also now starving. The healthare workers are also starving and I normally see health I normally see patients who succumb to the physiological consequences of starvation. These are endstage cancer patients or patients with anorexia. And in the fifth stage of malnutrition, when all the fat has been consumed and all the electrolytes from the muscles are depleted, feeding them can also kill them. And that’s called the refeeding syndrome. This, my friends and comrades, is a genocide that has been engineered. This is not an ecological disaster. This is a man-made famine. And how on earth can we put food on our tables and feed our children and not think of the mother who is not able to breastfeed her child, the emaciated child. These photographs, this live stream genocide should never have been witnessed, at least in my lifetime. And I quoted the other day, some of you may have heard of Victor Frankle. Victor Frankle was a survivor of Awitz. And in his little book, man’s search for meaning. He describes how soup was given to the inmates of Awitz. And it reminded me of this atrocious so-called misnamed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation which is run by exame American Marines and mercenaries. Some of them are now grassing on these people. The other day one ex-Marine had the courage to tell the world that these people are using these starving people. They were penned like cattle in fences made to crawl for bits of food that a father was trying to ga gather for their children for their family and it was like a turkey shoot. They have been targeting these people. What happens in this situation is that we see it, we watch it on our TV. Some mainstream media now are turning around because one day just like happened with the South African apathide movement. I’m old enough to remember when I used to go to London standing outside the South African embassy and pleading for the release of Nelson Mandela at a time when the Tories were calling him a terrorist and demanded that he be hanged. Those very people later on queued up to shake his hands and that my dear friends is going to happen one day whether I see it in my lifetime or not but be have be under no illusion that day will arrive. So my friends, I saw a father I saw a father the other day on channel 4 apologizing to his seven or eight yearear-old son for not being able to provide food for him. It’s a humiliation. It’s an embarrassment. I spoke to our imam Ibraim who has lost 21 members of his family. He’s an amazing guy. He showed me some photographs, one of which was his uncle who was shot in the head. He was a paramedic and I being a sentient person that I am my eyes became moist whereas he stood and he did not cry and I said how can you not express your emotions the way I’m doing and he said is our the DNA of the Palestinian is much stronger than the DNA of a Pakistani and I accepted that and these people really are very brave brave people. But the humiliation, starvation you see or thirst is something that can break a person. And we here in the comfort of and being provided with what we eat every day must not forget what’s being carried out in the name of humanity. And it is such a shame that today the United Kingdom’s government is proclaiming that yes, there is starvation, there is hunger, and we will parachute down aid. All they have to do is demand from Netanyahu, open the borders, let the aid in. Let them eat. Let people eat. Let the mothers breastfree. Let’s fill our breasts with milk. And if we do not do that, remember my mother’s word. First they came for the communists and I did not say a thing because I was not a communist. Then they came for the socialist, but I wasn’t a socialist and I didn’t say anything. Then they came for the trade unionists. I wasn’t a trade unionist and I didn’t say anything. Then they came for the Jews. I wasn’t a Jew so I didn’t say anything. And when they came for me, there was no one left to say anything. And Victor Frankle who I will end with famously said that when a man cannot change a situation he is challenged to change his own situation and we must not stop talking against the genocide against the famine which has been made by man. As for Mr. Trump. All I would say is I could smell the stink right here in Abedine when you landed in Brisbane. And if you fill out, I have no desire to visit the United States at this time. There are American people, American comrades who are brave people who are suffering under this autoc autocratic regime. When you fill in an ESTA form, there is a question. Have you ever been convicted of a felony? What is the irony, Mr. Swinny? Get him to fill in a form and state that I have not been convicted of a felony. Huh? I don’t want to spend too much time talking about a man who I would never want to see anywhere near me. And I hope that he gets a traditional Aberdonian reception and perhaps a Glasgow nod when he comes to many. But as for the people who are starving in Gaza, do not forget them. Speak to your friends, speak to your family. And we do advertise our vigils and please do come when it is advertised on a Friday outside on the grounds of the Sati Center. Long live Palestine. Long live the Palestinian people. Free Palestine, end the genocide. Thank you. Very, very well spoken. These are And we all know come Tuesday when he gets on his plane and flies back to the United States, there’ll be a huge big breath of fresh air around Scotland when he is gone. the next speaker. That’s important because we represent the humanity around the world. We do not want any adult or any child to be suffering the consequences of war. So we welcome the next speaker is Maddie from the Ukrainian Solidarity Campaign in Scotland. Hello everybody. I’m Maddie. I’m here representing the Ukrainian Solidarity Campaign. I’m also an American citizen, as you might be able to hear. Um, it’s just such a shame that our president is such a thing to be ashamed of, but that has been true for so long that the orange man is just extra. It’s just a bit of extra on top of a sandwich we’ve been living with for a very long time. My family is I’m part of the Ukrainian diaspora. My family came to Ukraine. My grandfather got smuggled out during the Second World War to avoid the worst of that war. And my great-grandmother um had to stay in a in a camp to basically pay for that. And after the second after the Second World War, trying. I don’t think it’s dead. I think it’s Oh, no. Donald Trump. Shame on you. Donald Trump, shame on you. Donald Trump, shame on you. Yes. Okay. And after the Second World War, she was still stuck in a Soviet um camp for years before she was able to escape. They came to America for a better life. And now America is complicit in um letting the country be invaded. So as part of the Ukrainian Solidarity Campaign, we build support for Ukraine and Scotland, particularly with trade unions and progressive political parties. We raise money to send to Ukrainian emergency workers and miners and trade unionists. We also work with Ukrainians in Scotland. We’re campaigning for sanctions on CPI, a Glasgow based company that is shipping Russian fuel and fueling the Putin war campaign. Ukraine faced a full-scale invasion of their country in 2022. Its territory was brutally occupied and its citizens murdered. and every night its cities face Russian missiles and drones. Trump has stopped the crucial supply of weapons that Ukraine needs to defend itself and that America pledged to provide when they um gave Ukraine security guarantees against Russia. He gaslit and bullied Ukraine’s president in front of the Oval Office, in front of the world. He absurdly claimed Ukraine was to blame for being invaded. He conceded Crimea and other Ukrainian territories that were not his to give and that were before any peace talks even took place. He keeps watering down any sanctions that the US Senate has passed because he has utter disdain for the Constitution and is basically giving Putin more time to prepare for his summer attacks on Ukraine. Trump has said that he could end this war in 24 hours. But months later, Ukrainian civilians are still being murdered every single day. The so-called peace talks have failed because Putin has no interest in peace. He doesn’t think Ukraine is a real country and he wants to conquer all of it. He has said this openly. Trump is only interested in how to exploit Ukraine to the most. He wants to make himself rich and is forced to mineral deal that steals their natural resources and has been largely to analyzed to be worse than the sanctions on Germany after Versailles. He is making the UK Ukraine and the EU pay for US weapons much like we are paying for the 14 million for this so-called private visit. Ukrainians are fighting to protect democracy and the rest of Europe. They are the spear tip of this new war. Two things the wannabe dictator hates is is is democracy and Europe. And that’s why we’re here today. Support the Ukraine solidarity campaign and check out Ukraine solidarity.cot and ask your MP to support sanctions on CPI. From Ukraine to Palestine, occupation is a crime. Thanks very much, Mar. The next speaker is Fiona from the disabled people against cuts. Hi everyone. I actually have two hats to put on today. So the first one is uh a local poet Finn Hall uh got made an anthology called Orange is not a color uh an anthology against totalitarianism and he asked me to read out a poem from it. Um so I have chosen a poem by Nina Maine who lives in B. It is called Dear Lady Dear Lady Liberty. My dearest Liberty, I hope this letter finds you well. Thank you for your last correspondence. You had such a story to tell. You’re back with your ex. How’s that going? I thought you’d stopped seeing him so you could focus on growing. I must admit I have some concerns about this man you let back in. As an old friend I feel I must say to be with him it’s not to win. Did you forget he was a rapist, a philanderer, a misogynist? Did you forget his lies and tantrums and hissy fits? Did you forgive his crimes? There are so many crimes against the world, crimes against humanity. He wants to build a wall and he won’t delay. He’ll build it to keep us out while you’re his captive prey. Did you really make this choice? Are you really sure? Guess it’s too late to change your mind and kick him out the door. I’ll always be a friend to you, but this I must confess. Your situation irks me, causing me and others stress. The man is so divisive, toxic in every way. What about your queer friends? But they’re not happy today. One day you’ll realize your worth and choose a woman instead. Let’s hope you get there soon before we all end up dead. Thank you. [Applause] Right, I’m switching signs now. Okay, so um I’m with Disabled People Against Cuts. Uh we’ve spent the last few months fighting cuts here. Um but this is important. Disability is a global community. The list of groups of people Donald Trump has targeted is very long. Ever since his orgy of destruction began in February, he’s made life worse for almost everyone in his country, even if many of them don’t realize it yet. There are a lot of people in his movement who believe targeting woke means going after other people because they’re just normal. They’re just normal people. They rely on disability support, sure, but they’re not like those other disabled people, so it won’t apply to them. Since taking office, Trump has appointed a man who doesn’t believe in germ theory to be head of public health. He’s gutted funding for research into any conditions which don’t mostly affect cis white men, cut a trillion dollars from Medicaid, which will see 12 million people lose health coverage, and introduced work requirements for Medicaid, harming rural and isolated disabled people even more. They’ve removed the right to equal opportunity in education for disabled children, saying that adequate opportunity by their decision is fine. They’ve dismantled the Administration for Community Living, which allows disabled people to remain in their communities and not warehoused out of sight. They’ve even stopped having American Sign Language interpreters a White House briefings. And the entire White House accessibility page has disappeared. And I haven’t even started to cover how many disabled people are incarcerated and at extra risk in jails and in the concentration camps his administration are building. Or how the massive cuts to disaster relief and planning hurt disabled people more than anyone else because of the complexity of evacuation and survival in disaster zones. I could go on for hours, but you get the idea. Disabled people are also least able to leave the country for their own safety. Most countries with the kind of health services they need refuse to allow disabled people to immigrate unless you are extremely wealthy. Even moving to a more inclusive state is incredibly difficult when networks of care and medical support take years to build and can’t be easily replicated. Our disabled comrades are in danger and most cannot escape. There isn’t much we can do to help end the danger, but we are here in solidarity with them, and we will continue to call on our governments to oppose this regime and the harm it’s doing. Trump is a tool in more ways than one. But bringing him down won’t end this assault on all the progress we’ve made in the last century. He is a charismatic front man, but he doesn’t write the songs. He doesn’t keep the beat. He barely knows what’s going on. Other people give him things to sign and he signs them. He’s not in charge of this government. He thinks the presidency is a prize, not a responsibility. So the powers So the powers behind the throne are enacting their plans. Plans which have been 40 years in the making. and he’s just the one who is ignorant and cruel enough to let them get on with it. What they’re doing appeals to his childish bully nature. He’s always been every flavor of bigot, so he enjoys watching the horror show and believes that it’s his doing. But those people behind the throne are here, too. Make no mistake, they’ve been working here for years, building up funding, connections, and policy. Trump and Farage campaigned together. Reform gets money from the same backers. They use the same strategists and tactics. The far-right Christian fundamentalists who have taken hold of the American government have been working here too. Getting on our TV, getting columns in our newspapers to increase their reach. As Trump has allowed gleeful cruelty to reignite people’s behavior, the same has happened here. Someone on Twitter just set up a parasitic scum database, otherwise known as a way to check whether any given car is a motility car. Hate crimes against disabled people are skyrocketing, encouraged by rhetoric from reform and the Labor government trying to appeal to reform voters. But even here, people are foolish enough to think it doesn’t include them. They still believe when they talk about career benefit claimants, they don’t mean their child or their friend or them. They’ll say, as so many Americans do now, I didn’t vote for this. But they did. They just thought it would happen to other people. It’s on all of us to fight this ideology whenever it shows up, whoever is representing it. We have to fight it in our own backyard, not only when some pretendy king lands a helicopter in it. Thank you. Thank you, Fiona. The next speaker is Esme from the Granite G. [Applause] What’s happening? Got to love a good bit of appeasement on a summer afternoon. It would seem the spirit of Chamberlain lives on in Westminster. Friends, abidonians, comrades, we are here because we have heard news that a man who has constantly invoked transphobia to further his own political career, who has scapegoated immigrants, who has targeted the disabled in order to fund further military ambitions, and who has regularly denied the ongoing genocide in Palestine, is planning to meet Donald Trump. [Applause] I am a transw woman. Someone who has personally experienced the ways that this country has backslid on our rights, broken promises to offer us the most basic human dignity and reduced our humanity to televised debates about toilets and sports. I spend most of the scant time that I am not marooned on waiting lists or trying to convince a doctor or a judge or a bureaucrat that I am who I say I am. Hearing news of a dark storm rolling over the Atlantic. And that storm’s name isn’t Donald Trump. He may be the face of this horror, but it runs far deeper than him. That storm’s name is fascism. [Applause] [Music] Fascism seeks to strip us of our humanity, turn us each on one another, out of some corrupted ideal of competition born of hate. It lets the rich off by scapegoating minorities and rolling back progress all while trying to convince of that that is real change. We are opposed to the changes to society that we may wish to demand. Trump’s feet should hurt as soon as they step foot on Grampian soil. This is hallowed ground sanctified by our proud minorities, by the immigrants, activists, workers, disabled folk, and queer folk, and countless more that have made this area what it is. [Applause] Our [Applause] city has a proud and united community. One forged in the fire of our oppression. One that stands as an achievement in itself. One built on a foundation of our values of mutual support, solidarity, unity, and decency. Each of those values are anathema to fascists. We should as a city, as a country, as a country of countries, as Abedine, as Scotland, as the UK beating this fascism away with all the power we have, [Applause] with that spirit of solidarity under our unity, armed with aid and with just a dash of common decency, instead our leaders are choosing to embrace face the face of American fascism with open arms. Instead of asserting our power to reject a visit from a fascist leader, that power is instead directed at those who would question his presence in our country and in our city. We see thousands of police officers from all over the UK pulled in to ensure that Trump’s visit is as cushy for him as possible. while he convinces our leaders to further erase disabled people in order to fund the military, to further scapegoat our immigrant communities, to further fund the genocide in Palestine, to further attempt to push us trans folk out of society and if possible into the grave and if possible under our dead names, too. Instead of seeing a convicted felon face deserved justice or even a hint of consequence, we will instead see those who peacefully demonstrate against him arrested. Our government is bending over backwards to keep this fascist demagogue as comfortable as possible in our country. [Applause] [Music] That’s where we come in. We intend to stand where our so-called leaders would lie down. We intend to speak out where our so-called leaders would rather stay silent. We intend to resist where our so-called leaders meekly comply with the will of the fascists. While Star drinks tea and plays golf with Trump, we are called upon to do his job for him. We protect. We fight, we struggle, we defend, we stand free against fascism because 80 years on, it would feel that our so-called leaders have lost the will to do so too. Thank you. Thanks very much, Esma. Very well spoken. Two short announcements. There is a creative protest group down the steps just behind us here. If anybody wants to go along, adults or children, learn how to make plaqueards or do something creative, you’re very welcome. We also have food not bombs providing free vegetable soup behind the the group here. Very welcome to come along and help yourselves. Next speaker is Eric on behalf of Aberdine Climate Action. [Applause] Trump is here on a private visit a month before his invite from the king and the prime minister and the first minister have been begging to see him. Trump is here also. Thank you. Trump is here also for his corruptly built golf course built against the will of the local authorities and the population in what used to be a site of special scientific interest. Trump’s presence is dark, unwelcome, and slightly orange. He’s successfully turning the USA into an oppressive authoritarian state by breaking laws, using powers he does not have, and lying a lot. His secret police, the IC, are becoming a law unto themselves and creating terror amongst any group which appears to be non-white and are now even getting their own concentration camps. Just Trump’s behavior in facilitating the Gaza genocide should be a reason at least to shun him. His anti-climate and pro-corruption oil decisions should be another reason. But the problem is far darker for the climate, for our society, and our ability to survive. Because leaders who don’t care about the people do not care about the environment or the climate. And as a tyrant and a vocal climate denier who just destroyed the most comprehensive climate institution in the world, Trump has made his position very clear. He doesn’t care about people or the environment or breaking the climate. Yet here he is not just allowed in but waited on by Starmer and Swinny our prime minister and first minister. And remember the UK is already no paradise. Peaceful protest the essence of a functioning democracy is becoming more and more dangerous and we have scores of political prisoners simply people who peacefully share their views mainly on climate and Palestine. Press coverage is severely biased. Oppression is in the air. Our government has stated that economic growth benefiting the rich only is more important than climate action. It supports oil industry far more than the transition. And here are Starmer and Swinny, both known to be spineless when exposed to issues of principle, cozying up to the new prince of authoritarianism and climate destruction. At the same time, climate change is here. Climate action is far too slow. and the just transition, the big societal improvements we need to live and thrive and survive while making things better, saving the climate and ourselves is still more of a conversation than an actual thing. If Star and Swinny would spend a day actually making a bit of just transition happen here for the Northeast, we’d all support it, I’m sure. But to spend the day voluntarily cozying up to a corrupt, climate denying crook and a dictator is a disgrace. We need less posturing, more climate action, and much less Trump. Thank you. [Applause] Thanks very much, Eric. The next speaker is Eron from the Aberdine Support Aberine Autism Support Group. Hello, my name is Aaron. Uh, I’m here to talk about well, Trump because both of the mics are very quiet. Am I? Yes. Okay. Hello, I’m Aaron. I’m autistic and I’m here to talk about the impact that Trump is having. I know that he said in recent well some of his cabinet have said in recent years that they intend to start an autism registry to keep track of the rising numbers of autistic people. And I know that he has also said quite a few of them have come out suggesting that they can cure autism or somehow find some root cause prevent us from existing. Personally, I don’t think that this will ever happen as we as we are a necessary part of society. We are a group of people who deserve to exist and who deserve to live. I think that the reason he is seeing a rise in the diagnostics of autism is one better healthcare and two we act as a canary in a coal mine. We are the people who are sensitive to light, to noise, to being overworked, to being isolated, to to the people who feel most when communities shut start stop shutting groups out. So you’re now having people who previously 50 years ago would not have had to go and seek help, who are showing up at their doctor because they can no longer cope with the pressure of modern life. People who can no longer cope with how light with how bright things have become. a 24-hour culture that forces people to work all around the clock when previously these there would have been jobs and things available for them that would have accommodated them. You’re seeing a group of people who who would have had a place who have been shoved out. And I don’t and there is no amount of medical registers or anything that will fix the underlying problem that is leading to people going to their doctor and having to seek help for these things. The only thing that will fix it is social change. I also have to say on the subject of Trump specifically, we are seeing him we’re seeing 14.8 million being spent on this visit. About 2 months ago, I was at a meeting for Abedineshire Council where they cut all of the transport services, most of the assisted living and most of the care that people in the Shire are receiving because they are un because they have a budget deficit of 30 million. So this visit alone could have paid for half of that budget. And the thing is they apparently can’t shake the money tree for dying disabled people for people being left without care. But when Trump wants to come for a private business visit, suddenly there’s all the cash in the world to cover it. And I want to know how that works. And I want to know how much money they’re planning to spend on his future state visit. Is it pip is that going to be another nearly 15 million? If so, you will have paid off the debt of Aberdine Council by that point. And considering that he runs a golf course in that in in our county in in Aberdine and that golf course has not paid any tax in recent years at all while we are cutting down services and leaving the most vulnerable without care. And I just say Trump, you suck. Please go vote. Well said. Well said. Ah, that’s okay. Jonathan next is going to read a message out from somebody who was unable to attend because they’re in Iran at the moment. Hi everyone. To the comrades and companions of Saturday’s protests, it is now become clear to everyone that Israel and its leadership act as puppets of the United States used to carry out long-term agendas and dirt work across the Middle East. While Israel follows an outdated and racist ideology, it would not survive without American military financially