Trump baby balloon flies in Paris for US president's Remembrance Day visit

British campaigners loan blimp to French activists

A giant balloon depicting Donald Trump as an angry orange baby was floated in Paris on Sunday, as activists protested against his visit to the city for Remembrance Day commemorations.

The British campaigners behind the blimp loaned it to French demonstrators holding an anti-Trump protest at the Place de la Republique.

The six-metre-high balloon – which portrays the US president wearing a nappy while clutching a smartphone – was first seen at anti-Trump rallies in London when he was in the UK capital in July.

Since then it has been used at protests in New York City and Dublin.

Mr Trump appeared alongside French president Emmanuel Macron and more than 60 other world leaders at the Arc de Triomphe to mark the centenary of the end of the First World War.

But the Trump-hating activists in Paris said Mr Macron should not have invited the US leader.

“It’s important for me to be here today to send a message to Macron for having invited Trump,” organiser Sophie Haas told CNN.

“By inviting Trump, Macron is supporting Trump’s racist, xenophobic, sexist policies all over the world.”

Earlier on Sunday, a pair of topless protesters were apprehended by police after they ran at the motorcade carrying Mr Trump to the Armistice Day ceremony.

The British protesters who first launched the balloon raised £15,000 following an online crowdfunding campaign.

In September, organiser Kevin Smith told The Independent the collective hoped their stunt could become an international phenomenon.

“When we passed our original crowdfunding target, we said we’d use the excess money to take the Trump baby wherever we could to globally troll Donald,” said Mr Smith.

In July the US campaign group People’s Motorcade said they had been given permission to create a replica balloon from the original design.