Trump '˜Muslim Ban' protest to take place in the North East

PA picture of Donald Trump and Theresa May at the press conference following their meeting last week.

Hundreds are expected to attend a protest in the North East against Donald Trump's ban on refugees from countries with Islamic cultures.

The President signed an executive order on Friday which halted the entire US refugee programme and banning anyone from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering the US.

This appears to include people who have dual nationality status – for example those British citizens who also hold Iraqi or Iranian passports.

Sir Mo Farah, a British citizen who lives in the US and was born in Somalia, has spoken out against the order, saying he will have to explain to his children why he might not be able to see them.

The move has sparked a wave of protests around the world, with a North East demonstration in Newcastle forming part of a string of action in the UK.

Theresa May initially refused to condemn the ban, but in the early hours of Sunday morning Number 10 issued a statement saying the Government did “not agree” with the policy amid a growing backlash.

The Newcastle meeting takes place at Grey’s Monument at 5.30pm today, 30 Jan, organised and supported by Newcastle Stop the War, North East People’s Assembly, Newcastle Palestine Solidarity Campaign and North East Stand up to Racism.

Facebook event: No To Trump's Ban! Newcastle Stands With Muslims And Refugees

A full list of protests around the country is available on our sister site inews.co.uk

A petition calling for Mr Trump to be prevented from making his planned British state visit over the issue has so far attracted more than a million signatures.

The President's order has been termed a “Muslim ban”. It is not a Muslim ban, but the seven countries have mainly Muslim populations and echoed Mr Trump’s campaign pledge to ban Muslims from the US.Read more at: https://inews.co.uk/essentials/news/trump-muslim-ban-protests-around-uk-full-list-events/

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has now released a statement on what the executive order means for Brits, namely that British dual citizens, and British citizens born in one of the listed countries, will not be affected.

He said: "The Presidential executive order only applies to individuals travelling from one of the seven named countries.

"If you are travelling to the US from anywhere other than one of those countries (for instance, the UK) the executive order does not apply to you and you will experience no extra checks regardless of your nationality or your place of birth.

"If you are a UK national who happens to be travelling from one of those countries to the US, then the order does not apply to you – even if you were born in one of those countries.

"If you are a dual citizen of one of those countries travelling to the US from OUTSIDE those countries then the order does not apply to you.

"The only dual nationals who might have extra checks are those coming from one of the seven countries themselves – for example a UK-Libya dual national coming from Libya to the US. The US has reaffirmed its strong commitment to the expeditious processing of all travellers from the United Kingdom."