Last night, around 100 people gathered outside London's US embassy to protest the election of Donald Trump to president. The vibe was much as you'd expect: sadness that a man who has demonstrably increased incidents of racism among America's children will soon be leading the country. Anti-racism demonstrators gave speeches and chanted, and they waved signs reading, "No to Racism, No to Trump."Then, bizarrely, three supporters of the EDL [English Defence League]—the far-right street team idiots who were kind of big in 2013—turned up to protest against the UK taking in refugees. You can see the link (Donald Trump is afraid of immigrants, British racists are afraid of immigrants), but what they thought turning up at this protest would achieve is unclear. Maybe they were trolling? Or maybe they truly are as thick as they seem?
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Judging by what they were saying, it seems like it's the second option. They chanted, "We don't want refugees!" And when asked why, replied, "Because they come here and rape our kids."It was a small demonstration, but did provide some kind of hope: The people who represent everything that's right about Britain far out-ranked those who want to see it turned into a one-race hellscape of hate, mundanity, and fear. Let's just hope, in this climate of worsening xenophobia and short-sighted idiocy, more of the former starts to organize and mobilize against the latter.
