A petition to ban Donald Trump from entering the United Kingdom has garnered more than 250,000 signatures, “more than enough for a committee to consider sending the motion for parliamentary debate,” according to CNN.
The public-led petition “was created on the British government’s official petitions website in response to Trump’s call Monday to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. due to the threat of terrorism.”
“The UK has banned entry to many individuals for hate speech. The same principles should apply to everyone who wishes to enter the UK,” reads the petition.
“If the United Kingdom is to continue applying the ‘unacceptable behavior’ criteria to those who wish to enter its borders, it must be fairly applied to the rich as well as poor, and the weak as well as powerful.”
Trump has additionally (and baselessly) claimed London has become “radicalized,” earning him rebukes from British leaders including Prime Minister David Cameron and London Mayor Boris Johnson.
Here in America, a number of mayors from around the nation are also seeking to ban Trump from entering their cities due to his “message of hate.” The leaders acknowledge they can’t legally bar the candidate, but want to make a point.
St. Petersburg, Florida
Mayor Rick Kriseman first tweeted Monday night that he is “hereby barring Donald Trump” from his Tampa Bay community. The proclamation quickly went viral.
Kriseman told NBC News on Tuesday that it was a “satirical” suggestion on his part. “I felt for a presidential candidate to make a statement as ridiculous as he did, it deserved an equal response,” said Kriseman, who is mayor of a nonpartisan city government but is a registered Democrat.
Philadelphia
Mayor Michael Nutter took a jab at Trump during a news conference Tuesday meant to condemn an earlier act in which someone threw a bloody pig’s head at a city mosque.
“If I had the power to ban some people, (Trump) would be at the top of the list today,” the mayor of the City of Brotherly Love told reporters.
Nutter, a Democrat, said Trump’s rhetoric is trying to “radicalize” Americans against Muslims living in the U.S. and abroad, and that his “message of hate” is divisive.
New York City
Officials are planning a rally Wednesday outside City Hall against the Queens, N.Y.-born Trump, who owns some of the most expensive properties in the Big Apple.
Even before Trump’s latest incendiary remarks, Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, has been trading barbs with the reality star-turned-politician.
“Donald Trump will go down as one of the worst demagogues in recent U.S. political history,” de Blasio said in a statement Sunday, after Trump made jokes during an address to the Republican Jewish Coalition, prompting jeers from the crowd.
