Vancouver Trump Hotel Opening Met With Protests, Shunned by City Officials
'We want to push back against this emboldening of hatred and misogyny and xenophobia and racism'
Protesters gathered in front of Trump Hotel in Vancouver, B.C., before its grand opening. (Photo: J4mesRobert/Twitter)
The grand opening of a Trump Hotel in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Tuesday was met with loud demonstrations and shunned by city officials in protest of the Trump administration's harsh anti-immigration stance.
"None of us will be [at the opening]," Kerry Jang, a city council member, told the Washington Post. "It's got bad karma, that place."
Illustrating the ramifications of President Donald Trump's failure to divest himself from his vast business empire, Trump's children Eric, Donald Jr., and Tiffany Trump traveled to Vancouver in a "cocoon of Secret Service" paid for by American taxpayers. A "Trump Welcome Party," featuring protests, music, and anti-Trump speeches, was there to greet them.
While the protests planned are peaceful, the U.S. consulate issued a warning to American citizens, telling them to stay away from the tower on Monday.
Protestors gather outside the #TrumpTower as the sons of U.S. President Donald Trump attend the official ribbon ceremony #TrumpVancouver pic.twitter.com/f9hLWoDFQc
— Tina Lovgreen (@tinalovgreen) February 28, 2017
Welcoming song from Sechelt First Nation at #TrumpVancouver protest pic.twitter.com/mMocdIzOIh
— Bethany Lindsay 林爱文 (@bethanylindsay) February 28, 2017
"We want to push back against this emboldening of hatred and misogyny and xenophobia and racism," Mathew Kagis, one of the organizers behind the welcome party, told the Guardian. "Those aren't values that we have and we want it to be made really clear."
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The demonstrations are focused on the Trump administration's sweeping orders against immigrants, an issue that has hit close to home. Forty percent of Vancouver's population is immigrants, and since the travel ban Canada has seen a marked increase in refugees and migrants attempting to cross the U.S.-Canada border in Minnesota and Montana on foot. The rugged, hours-long journey in below-freezing temperatures and high winds has led to at least two migrants losing all of their fingers to frostbite.
"This is really scary stuff so we just felt that there needed to be a really vocal and public pushback," Kagis told the Guardian.
Follow along with the opening and the protests under the hashtag #TrumpVancouver: