Donald Trump Dismisses U.K. Protests As ‘Fake News’ As Thousands Gather To Demonstrate Against Him

Donald Trump dismissed reports about massive protests around his state visit to the United Kingdom as fake news on Tuesday, even as thousands of demonstrators gathered to protest the U.S. president’s visit to the country.

During a joint press conference with Prime Minister Theresa May, Trump played down reports that people were protesting his visit, saying that he had only seen people cheering and only one “small” protest, according to CBS News.

“It was tremendous spirit and love,” he said. “There was great love. It was an alliance. And I didn’t see the protesters until just a little while ago, and it was a very small group of people put in for political reasons. So it was fake news.”

But Trump is widely unpopular in the U.K., per CBS News, with an approval rating hovering somewhere around 21 percent in the country. To show their disapproval of the president, thousands of protesters have gathered for various demonstrations. These included one protest in Trafalgar Square where the infamous “Trump Baby” blimp was brought in to fly over the crowd.

The president and his team were also heckled by a crowd as they headed into the press conference.

Media outlets in the country report that as many as 250,000 were expected to attend protests as the president entered the second day of his visit to the country. The organization “Together Against Trump” said that they estimated 75,000 people had gathered to demonstrate against the U.S. president on Tuesday.

“He’s not welcome here,” one protester said. “He doesn’t represent the values in the U.K., especially not in London; his attacks on Sadiq Khan, climate denying, abortion — the list is endless. So we’re out here today for all those people who want to stand up against those things.”

Still, the president was dismissive of reports that people in the country were unhappy with is visit, which may be because he was likely kept away from the crowds by a massive police force of 10,000 officers that were called in to protect Trump during his visit, as The Inquisitr previously reported.

“So a lot of it is fake news, I hate to say,” he added.

The Trump Baby balloon is up and there appears to be a Devo cover band guarding it. Their red jumpsuits and MAGA-style hats all say: “Trump Babysitter.” pic.twitter.com/qj8wSs3vML

— Eli Stokols (@EliStokols) June 4, 2019

Trump also attacked London Mayor Sadiq Khan during the press conference. Khan is responsible for approving the giant Trump balloon that has flown over protesting crowds and has been openly critical of the president, calling him the “poster child” for the far right.

Trump told reporters that Khan had done a “poor job” as mayor and should “focus on his job” rather than attacking the president of the U.S.