LONDON — The police in Scotland have arrested a 55-year-old man in connection with a paragliding protest timed to coincide with President Trump’s arrival on Friday night for a weekend of golf.
Footage shared by reporters on social media and by the website of the environmental group Greenpeace U.K. showed a paraglider unfurling a banner that read, “Trump Well Below Par” as the president and his entourage milled about the entrance of his Turnberry golf resort.
On its website, Greenpeace U.K. wrote: “We’ve hit @realDonaldTrump where it hurts — at his golf course. Trump does not believe in climate change. He’s pulled the US out of the Paris Agreement, and is committed to burning more climate wrecking coal. We couldn’t let him get away with a quiet game of golf … #resist.”
The paraglider’s actions came before thousands of protesters took to the streets of Edinburgh, the capital, and Glasgow on Saturday to rally against the American president, hoisting “Trump Baby” balloons, chanting slogans and carrying banners that read, “Dump Trump.”
He spent the weekend in Scotland before traveling to Finland for a meeting on Monday with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.
Assistant Chief Constable Mark Williams said in a statement, “Around 2,000 people were in Glasgow and approximately 250 were in Dundee on Friday evening, and a further 9,000 marched and took part in a rally in Edinburgh today.” Organizers said tens of thousands had turned out across the nation.
When Mr. Trump teed off at one of his golf courses on Saturday, surrounded by a phalanx of security officers, a group of protesters nearby unleashed a barrage of chants, including, “No Trump, no K.K.K., no racist U.S.A.”
The Scottish police said on Saturday that they were pursuing a paraglider who had breached the no-fly zone over the resort. On Sunday, they said in a statement that “a 55-year-old man has been arrested and has now been charged in connection with an incident when a powered parachute was flown in the vicinity of the Turnberry Hotel.”
The police said the suspect, whose name was not disclosed, would appear at Ayr Sheriff Court on Monday. No further information, including any possible charges, was released.
A spokesman for Greenpeace on Sunday confirmed that an arrest had been made, but declined to comment further.
Source : Nytimes
