Trump will be ‘banned’ from this part of London if his visit to Britain goes ahead

LONDON — Amid a debate in Britain over whether President Trump's invitation to visit the country should be rescinded over his inflammatory tweets, officials in the London borough of Greenwich took pre-emptive action: If the visit goes ahead, the president will not be welcome there.

This "is a peaceful and welcoming place that celebrates difference and diversity, but in the case of President Trump we are willing to make an exception," said Denise Hyland, Greenwich's top local government official, after councilors adopted a motion Thursday recommending Trump not be allowed to visit the historic neighborhood.

Greenwich is home to the Prime Meridian, a conceptual line that divides the Earth into eastern and western hemispheres, as well as Cutty Sark, the legendary British last real tea clipper ship. The area's rich maritime history, historical buildings and riverside location draw hordes of locals and tourists alike. A councillor motion has no ultimate legal weight, but it is a declaration of wishes, akin to a resolution.

Greenwich councilors expressed, according to the motion, "alarm at the decision of President Trump to retweet Islamophobic Propaganda" and "sadness at the President's bigoted attitude towards women and ethnic minorities."

Trump regularly tweets or retweets unverified, inaccurate and prejudicial information.

He angered many Britons when he publicly feuded with London Mayor Sadiq Khan, the first Muslim to hold the post, in the wake of the London Bridge terror attack.

Late last month, Trump retweeted three Twitter posts originally published by Britain First, an extreme right-wing group. The posts included anti-Muslim video clips. British Prime Minister Theresa May rebuked Trump for his retweets, saying he was "wrong" to do do. Trump responded: "Don't focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom. We are doing just fine!"

May extended an invitation for Trump to make an official state visit to Britain shortly after she visited him in Washington in January, but it has been repeatedly put on hold. The White House postponed the trip until 2018 without saying why.

There is no suggestion that Trump intended to visit Greenwich.

Thousands of people protested in February, calling on May to withdraw the invitation for a state visit. A petition to cancel the trip was signed by nearly 2 million people.

Woody Johnson, the U.S. ambassador to Britain, told the BBC this week that he expects Trump to make a working visit to to the country in the new year, when the president could personally dedicate the new U.S. Embassy building.

Johnson conceded that some "feathers were ruffled" in the exchange between May and Trump about the anti-Islam tweets, but insisted there had been a "misinterpretation" and that they had arisen out of Trump's instincts to "protect Americans."

"He is not going to go down the path of a lot of politicians and maybe be namby pamby about it," Johnson said in the BBC radio interview. "He is going to come out, he is going to probably take some chances . . . to accomplish that security goal."

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