Protesters across Scotland took to the streets to decry President Donald Trump‘s visit on Saturday while accusing United Kingdom leaders of pandering to the American.
The protests seemed to be far from Trump’s mind as he played golf alongside his son, Eric, and with the US ambassador to Britain, Warren Stephens, near Turnberry, a historic course that the Trump family’s company took over in 2014.
Security was tight and protesters were kept some distance away, unable to be seen by the group during Trump’s round.
Trump was dressed in black, with a white ‘USA’ cap, and was spotted driving a golf cart.
The president appeared to play an opening nine holes, stop for lunch, then head out for the back nine.
By the middle of the afternoon, plainclothes security officials began leaving, suggesting Trump was done for the day.
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered on the cobblestone and tree-lined street in front of the US Consulate about 100 miles away in Edinburgh, Scotland’s capital.
Speakers told the crowd that Trump was not welcome and criticized British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for striking a recent trade deal to avoid stiff US tariffs on goods imported from the U.K.
Demonstrators gathered outside the US Consulate to voice opposition to President Donald Trump ahead of his visit to Edinburgh, Scotland on Saturday
Anti-Trump demonstrators gather during a rally organized by the campaign group Stop Trump Coalition in Aberdeen, Scotland
Security was tight and protesters were kept some distance away, unable to be seen by the group during Trump’s round of golf on his Turnberry course
Protests were planned in other cities as environmental activists, opponents of Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza and pro-Ukraine groups loosely formed a ‘Stop Trump Coalition.’
Anita Bhadani, an organizer, said the protests were ‘kind of like a carnival of resistance.’
Trump’s late mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, was born on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland and the president has suggested he feels at home in the country, but the protesters did their best to change that.
‘I don’t think I could just stand by and not do anything,’ said Amy White, 15, of Edinburgh, who attended with her parents.
She held a cardboard sign that said ‘We don’t negotiate with fascists.’ She said ‘so many people here loathe him. We’re not divided. We’re not divided by religion, or race or political allegiance, we’re just here together because we hate him.’
Other demonstrators held signs with pictures with Trump and Jeffrey Epstein as the fervor over files in the case has increasingly frustrated the president.
In the view of Mark Gorman, 63, of Edinburgh, ‘the vast majority of Scots have this sort of feeling about Trump that, even though he has Scottish roots, he’s a disgrace.’
Gorman, who works in advertising, said he came out ‘because I have deep disdain for Donald Trump and everything that he stands for.’
A man with a dog stands next to a placard, as anti-Trump demonstrators gather during a rally organized by the campaign group Stop Trump Coalition, protesting Trump’s visit
Hundreds of protestors gather outside the office of the Consulate General in Edinburgh, Scotland to protest the visit by Donald Trump
One woman held a ‘Stop Trump’ sign outside the office of the Consulate General of the United States in Edinburgh
Some protestors got creative with their clothing designs
An anti-Trump demonstrator holds a placard during a rally organized by the campaign group Stop Trump Coalition in Edinburgh
Some signs were explicit in their messaging opposing Trump’s presence
Others were more creative with their use of puns and clever cartoons
Some protestors used their British sense of humor to full effect
An anti-Trump demonstrator wears a papier-mache head depicting Trump, during a rally organized by the campaign group Stop Trump Coalition
No protesters were arrested at the Turnberry demonstrations, according to police.
A 50-year-old woman was issued with a recorded police warning in connection with alleged threatening behavior at a Stop Trump Scotland protest outside the US consulate in Edinburgh.
In Glasgow, a woman aged 49 was arrested at a ‘mass deportation rally’ led by Nick Tenconi, which was met by a counter-protest in George Square.
The woman, who was a counter-protester, was arrested in connection with an alleged obstruction of the police and a report will be submitted to the procurator fiscal.
Police Scotland said two arrests were made in Aberdeen at ‘other events’ on Saturday, but not at a huge anti-Trump demonstration in the city.
A spokesperson said the force ‘took action at demonstrations and protest events’ but did not make any arrests at Trump rallies across the country.
Saturday’s protests were not nearly as large as the throngs that demonstrated across Scotland when Trump played at Turnberry during his first term in 2018.
But as bagpipes played, people chanted ‘Trump Out!’ and raised dozens of homemade signs that said things like ‘No red carpet for dictators,’ ‘We don’t want you here’ and ‘Stop Trump. Migrants welcome.’
There were no shortage of signs that protestors had made to bring with them to the protest
There were some uniquely Scottish takes on Trump’s presence in Scotland
Some signs were direct in their messaging to the 47th American president
There was some uniquely Scottish messaging when it came to the creative signs
This woman had a clever take on the word supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
Several women dressed up as a character from The Handmaid’s Tale in which women are second class citizens living under a dictatorship
One dog had a sign that said ‘No treats for tyrants.’
Some on the far right took to social media to call for gatherings supporting Trump in places such as Glasgow.
Trump also plans to talk trade with Starmer and Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president. But golf is a major focus.
The family will also visit another Trump course near Aberdeen in northeastern Scotland, before returning to Washington on Tuesday.
The Trumps will cut the ribbon and play a new, second course in that area, which officially opens to the public next month.
Scottish First Minister John Swinney, who is also set to meet with Trump during the visit, announced that public money will go to staging the 2025 Nexo Championship, previously known previously as the Scottish Championship, at Trump’s first course near Aberdeen next month.
‘The Scottish Government recognizes the importance and benefits of golf and golf events, including boosting tourism and our economy,’ Swinney said.
This woman made a sign by drawing over the American flag to make her point
There was no shortage of signs opposing Trump’s visit
Many signs referenced Trump’s status as a convicted felon – the first sitting president to do so
Trump is unlikely to pay attention to this sign as he is staying in the country until Tuesday
This woman found a uniquely Scottish way to protest Trump’s presence
Other protestors were happy to voice their unfiltered opinions on their placards
But Scottish Green co-leader Patrick Harvie likened the awarding of public cash to the tournament to ‘handing some pocket money to the school bully’.
At a protest Saturday in Aberdeen, Scottish Parliament member Maggie Chapman told the crowd of hundreds: ‘We stand in solidarity, not only against Trump but against everything he and his politics stand for.
‘He believes that climate change isn’t real, he believes that cutting services for those in the world with the least is the right thing to do,’ Chapman said.
‘We say no to all of those things, not in our name, never in our name.’
With Trump having last year been convicted by a New York jury of falsifying business records, she said the president was a ‘convicted felon’.
And she told the PA news agency: ‘He is not welcome in Scotland, he is certainly not welcome in Aberdeenshire.
‘We know that he is a convicted felon. We also know that all of the promises he has repeatedly made to Scotland have come to nothing, there hasn’t been the development of jobs or houses that he promised when he opened his course in Aberdeenshire a few years ago.’
