They banged drums. They played extremely loud music. They let off foul-smelling smoke from a can. Thousands of people gathered on Wednesday in central London to protest against Trump’s presence in the UK, accusing the UK government of kowtowing to him by hosting him for a state visit for the second time.
Some of the placards read “Trump poisons democracy’s blood,” “Trump’s a wanker,” and “Tiny dicktator.” On one banner, surrounding a depiction of the US president as an infant wearing a diaper, were the words “Get the baby out of here”—a reference to the giant orange Trump Baby balloon that flew in the capital during Trump’s 2018 state visit, and which has been reportedly donated to the Museum of London.
Almost 23 miles away, behind the locked gates of Windsor Castle, Trump’s second state visit has been happening mostly in private. Even so, he has not been able to escape his critics. Four men were reportedly arrested in Windsor for allegedly projecting gigantic images of Trump, first lady Melania Trump, and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein on the side of the castle building on Tuesday. Authorities claim the men, from the protest organization Led By Donkeys, used a projector to beam the images from a nearby hotel.
Some protestors at the march held pro-Palastine placards, some pro-Ukraine. But many were attending for environmental reasons. Protesters WIRED spoke with were concerned and angry about the AI deal announced this week between the US and the UK, which will involve big tech companies Nvidia and Microsoft investing up to $45 billion into scaling up data centers, supercomputers, and AI R&D. Several protesters pointed out that the fine print of the deal—and how the tech companies involved will benefit from it—has not been made public.
At the heart of the AI deal is a British startup, data center builder Nscale, which will use this funding to build more data centers and—according to new investor Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang—generate more than $68 billion in revenue over six years. Critics of the UK’s AI plan claim that data centers already guzzle up too much power and water and are being erected across the UK despite local opposition. And in the wake of the deals with US giants being announced, protesters were also questioning claims that they will help the UK create sovereign AI or more jobs.