Around 10,000 people made their way to Downing Street last night in protest at President Trump’s executive order which bans people travelling from seven Muslim-majority countries, as well as PM Theresa May’s handling of the issue.

Protesters chanted “Shame on May!” and “No state visit!” as they slowly marched towards the black gates marking the beginning of the famous street housing the PM. Whitehall came to a standstill as buses and cars were caught in a sea of people and placards.

Several LSE societies were present at the protest, including the Student Union executive team. The Facebook event created to organise an LSE student presence at the protest shows that over 100 students are likely to have participated.

Owen Jones, the Guardian columnist who organised the protest, told the crowd: “Today we say with defiance, with determination, we will not stay silent.”

The protest comes after the leaders of the two countries met in Washington last week, where the PM announced a state visit by the newly elected president to the UK later this year.

Reaction at home has been vociferous, with a petition calling for the state visit to be downgraded garnering more than a million signatures. The PM has also been criticised for not condemning outright the President’s executive order when asked about it last week.

“She is grovelling to curry favour with the leader of a potential trade partner.” A protester said, “It’s disgraceful.”

Similar protests occurred around the country, including in Manchester and Edinburgh. In Cardiff, protesters gathered around the statue of the iconic Welsh Labour Party politician, Aneurin Bevan. He is widely considered to have been a leading figure for social justice.

President Trump’s executive order, which has been described as a “travel ban”, temporarily bars people from Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen and Iran from entering the USA.

International reaction to the ban has been mixed. Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif tweeted that the order is a “great gift to extremists”, whilst an Iraqi government spokesman said that the government understands the motives behind the decision, but hopes that it would “not affect the efforts of strengthening and developing the bilateral relations between Iraq and the United States”.

The executive order has also triggered public backlash domestically. Several hundred protesters have gathered at New York’s JFK Airport in the last few days. Immigration lawyers have offered their services pro bono to family members of those detained. Protests have also occurred in airports around Los Angeles, Boston and other major cities.

Here are some photos from last night’s protest in London (taken by Vincent Chow):