'Trump Baby' blimp takes flight as president returns to Ireland

By Padraic Halpin

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Protesters in Dublin on Thursday hoisted the “Trump Baby” inflatable blimp that has become a staple of rallies against the U.S. president, who was due to spend his second night in a row at a golf hotel he owns in Ireland.

The six-metre high blimp, which depicts Donald Trump as a snarling, diaper-wearing orange baby, was a rallying point for thousands of anti-Trump protesters who packed central London on Tuesday and tens of thousands who protested in the city against a trip last year.

Organisers said they expected at least 1,500 to attend a rally in Dublin later on Thursday, a day after Trump’s sons Eric and Donald Jr. received a rapturous reception from locals in the town that adjoins Trump’s golf course.

“It’s global solidarity with resistance for progressive politics,” Shae Flanagan, 31, from the Uplift campaign organisation, one of the groups organising the protest and the flying of the blimp.

The blimp, which was transported by activists from London, flew above Dublin’s Garden of Remembrance, which is dedicated to “all those who gave their lives in the cause of Irish Freedom.” Passers-by stopped and took selfies with the blimp.

Trump’s Irish visit, which came after a pomp-filled state visit to the United Kingdom, has been relatively low key. Trump and his wife Melania spent Wednesday night at his Trump International Golf Club in Doonbeg on the west coast of Ireland.

They flew on Thursday to Normandy in France for the 75th anniversary of the D-Day operation that helped bring World War Two to an end, and then flew back to Ireland for a second night in Doonbeg.

While Trump made no appearances open to the Irish public, his sons toured the pubs in Doonbeg on Wednesday, buying drinks for almost everyone in the village.