A group of right-wing protesters wheeled a homemade gallows outside a hall where London’s Muslim mayor was about to speak and tried to arrest him for disrespecting U.S. President Donald Trump, The Washington Post reported.
Mayor Sadiq Khan laughed it off, calling the protesters “very stable geniuses.” The crack was a dig at Trump, who said earlier this month in a tweet amid concerns about his mental fitness that he is a “very stable genius.”
The half-dozen protesters calling themselves the White Pendragons managed to delay Khan’s planned speech on gender equality before members of the liberal Fabian Society for several minutes, The Guardian reported. They accused the mayor of “treachery” and “treason,” though it wasn’t entirely clear why. The gallows was decorated with a white dragon and the words: “Take Back Control.” The men waved an American flag and shouted pro-Brexit slogans.
One of the protesters, David Russell, was identified by the British press as a member of the far-right English Defense League and the host of an anti-Islam radio program.
The group failed to make a citizen’s arrest of the mayor and was escorted from the venue by security guards.
As for disrespecting Trump, Khan has long butted heads with the president and declared himself “no fan.”
Trump in turn has mocked Khan on Twitter because of terror attacks in his city.
After Trump announced Thursday he was canceling his trip to Britain, Khan said that the president “got the message” that Londoners don’t agree with his policies and that he would have been met with “mass protests.”
Trump claimed he was canceling his trip because he could not support an Obama administration deal to sell the U.S. Embassy there. The decision to sell the real estate was actually made by George W. Bush administration officials.