Protesters prepare for Donald Trump’s arrival in Ireland

Groups across Ireland are preparing to protest on Wednesday and Thursday during the visit of US president Donald Trump.

The two main protests will take place in Dublin city centre and at Shannon Airport, which Mr Trump will fly into late on Wednesday.

The largest protest will take place in Dublin on Thursday, starting at the Garden of Remembrance at 6pm.

Activists plan to set up a ‘peace camp’ outside Shannon Airport for the majority of Mr Trump’s visit. But the main Co Clare protest, organised by local anti-war and environmental groups, will take place outside the airport on Wednesday at 6pm. Other anti-Trump protests are also planned for Cork, Galway, Sligo, Belfast and Derry.

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More than 30 groups, political parties, and civil society organisations will take part in the protests, co-ordinated under the umbrella of 'Stop Trump Ireland.' The demonstrators have not organised protests for Doonbeg, where Mr Trump will be staying during his visit.

Political parties who are joining the protests include the Green Party, People Before Profit, and Solidarity. Other groups include the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, campaign group Uplift, and trade union Unite.

Several environmental campaign groupings and anti-war protest groups are also involved in the protests planned for this week. These include Shannonwatch, the Irish Anti-War Movement, and Extinction Rebellion.

The US president is scheduled to arrive into Shannon Airport late on Wednesday afternoon where he will use his Doonbeg golf resort as a base during the second-half of his trip to Europe.

Anniversary

He will spend the night at the resort before flying to France on Thursday to attend ceremonies marking the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion.

Mr Trump is expected to return to Ireland that night and play a round of golf on Friday before leaving for the United States.

In a recent open letter, the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) president Síona Cahill said students would protest against “sexist, homophobic, and racist leadership, rhetoric and incitement to hatred.”

Ms Cahill described Mr Trump’s position on gun control as “abominable,” and said nothing was being done to address the frequency of school shootings in the United States. “You are not protecting your students, you are putting them in harm’s way every day you sit in office,” she wrote.

The Dublin protest is set to include a six-meter tall Trump baby blimp, made famous during demonstrations against Mr Trump in London last year.

However there is a degree of confusion among the protest organisers over permission to fly the inflatable blimp. The organisers have said they informed Dublin City Council and An Garda Síochána of their plans to fly the blimp.

Uplift, one of the organisers, has been liaising with the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) to ensure demonstrators are allowed fly a blimp portraying Mr Trump as a baby. A spokeswoman for Uplift said the group expected to get clarity on the matter from the IAA on Wednesday, the day before the Dublin protest.