IRISH ANTI-WAR activists will be among an expected 10,000 protesters that will descend on Brussels today as President Donald Trump meets other Nato leaders.
A student-led protest, dubbed ‘Trump Not Welcome’, took place in the Belgian capital yesterday as Trump arrived in the city.
A second protest in front of Nato’s offices is planned for today when the summit opens.
Trump is due to meet EU and Nato leaders as part of his first foreign trip since taking office in January.
International organisations such as Oxfam and Amnesty International, and local unions and leftist political parties have indicated they will also join the demonstrations.
Ireland’s Peace and Neutrality Alliance (Pana) has sent a delegation to the city as part of its opposition to Nato and the US president.
Pana’s chairperson Roger Cole said they hope to highlight a number of “critical issues”, including:
The substantial increase in the number of US troops and military equipment passing through Shannon Airport on their way to and from various imperial wars in the Middle East.
“There is also the ever-increasing militarisation of the EU itself through the European Defence Agency with their EU battle groups, all of which is moving us closer to a European Army,” Cole said.
Trump’s presence at the Nato meeting has been much awaited after he sparked fears of an end to the transatlantic alliance when he dismissed NATO as “obsolete” while on the campaign trail.
- With reporting by © – AFP 2017
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