Thousands of people on Saturday heeded a call from rights groups and Muslim organizations in Britain to protest outside the US Embassy in London against President Trump's executive order suspending travel to the US from several Muslim-majority countries.

Protesters held banners bearing slogans such as "No to Trump, No to War" and "Trump: Special Relationship? Just say no."

It was the third protest addressing various aspects of Trump's presidency to have taken place in the British capital in two weeks.

Meanwhile, a petition calling for Trump to be denied a format state visit to the UK to avoid embarrassing Queen Elizabeth reached more than 1.8 million signatories.

Demonstrations each involving about a thousand people took place on Saturday afternoon in front of the US embassy in Berlin and in Paris, along with small marches in Stockholm and Barcelona.

The rallies took place the day after a US judge temporarily suspended the order, saying it had caused "immediate and irreparable injury."

The travel order has provoked protests in Japan as well

Trump, on Saturday, criticized a "so-called judge" for suspending the ban saying it was "ridiculous" and would be overturned.

Anti-Muslim order?

The executive order signed by Trump suspended entry to the United States to people traveling from seven Muslim-majority countries - Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen - for 90 days, as well as putting a temporary halt to the entire US refugee program. The administration said the move is designed to combat terrorism.

Some see the US travel ban as Islamophobic

The US State Department on Friday said that 60,000 visas had been revoked following Trump's order, after media reports quoted government lawyers as saying that more than 100,000 people had been affected.

Critics of the order say that the ban has separated families, harmed thousands of US residents and goes against international law on taking in refugees fleeing conflict. Rights groups have also warned that the move could heighten religious tension and encourage Islamophobia.

Australian protests

The order also brought thousands of demonstrators onto the streets in Australia on Saturday, with protesters coupling their outrage at Trump's move with calls for Australia to close its offshore processing centers on the tiny Pacific island of Nauru and Manus Island in Papua New Guinea.

Australia's hardline refugee policy, which denies asylum to anybody attempting to enter the country by boat, has been slammed by rights groups, and the United Nations have called for the offshore centers to be shut amid allegations of violence, sexual assualt, degrading treatment and self-harm.

The offshore camps have been condemned by the UN

The protests in Australia come following a diplomatic spat between Trump and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, with Trump calling a deal between the two nations struck by his predecessor, Barack Obama, "dumb."

The deal is to see the United States taking up to 1,250 asylum-seekers held on Nauru and Manus to enable Canberra to stick to its "no boat" policy. In return, Australia would take in refugees from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

Trump later said he planned to stand by the agreement, which has been widely criticized in Australia.

Student rallies against Trump's immigration policy were also held in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, and outside the US embassy in the Philippine capital, Manila.

Media covering Trump's first weeks in office Der Spiegel - Liberty for the chop? With most Germans seeing the US as nearly as big a threat as Russia since Trump took office, Der Spiegel's front page illustration perhaps sums up the pulse of many in Germany, depicting the new US president carrying a knife in one hand and holding the decapitated head of the Statue of Liberty, the ultimate symbol of freedom, in the other. It was drawn by Cuban-born artist Edel Rodriguez.

Media covering Trump's first weeks in office The New Yorker - Freedom blown out The New Yorker magazine has made no secret of its dislike of Trump's election victory. The US weekly stays with the Statue of Liberty theme, illustrating just the arm of the Roman goddess of Libertas - who is carrying a torch that is said to light the way to freedom - only the torch has been extinguished. The illustration is entitled "Liberty's flameout" by artist John W. Tomac.

Media covering Trump's first weeks in office The Economist - The rich revolutionary The Economist front cover underscores its coverage of Trump's first days in office. The British weekly described how the real estate magnate had already "lobbed the first Molotov cocktail of policies and executive orders against the capital's brilliant-white porticos." It warned that the world "should prepare for trouble" now that there's an insurgent in the White House.

Media covering Trump's first weeks in office Time - Puppet-master to the president? Opting for a photo of Trump's chief strategist along with the headline "The Great Manipulator," Time magazine asks whether Steve Bannon is the second most powerful man in America, pointing to his "mind-meld with Trump." The US weekly said the two are both "talkative and brash, pugnacious money magnets who never quite fit among the elite."

Media covering Trump's first weeks in office Liberation - France is not a fan French daily Liberation turned the stripes of the American flag into barbed wire to symbolize Trump's protectionist rhetoric, including the plan to build a border wall with Mexico and his entry ban on citizens of seven countries. Asking 'Can we stop him?' the paper accuses the new US leader of taking America to the edge of democracy with decisions that have divided his country and the world. Author: Nik Martin



tj,mm/sms (AP, Reuters)