LONDON: The Jubilee Line train that took me to Westminster, the station nearest to Downing Street where protesters were gathering, was already full of people, mostly office workers who had just finished work.
As we spilled out of the carriage, we joined scores of protesters who were carrying banners and screaming out their feelings, some too crude to mention, especially when they were directed at certain world leaders.
They wanted to get the message through to the resident at No. 10, Downing Street, who had just met United States President Donald Trump.
The two escalators going up were stopped, perhaps to regulate the crowd gathering at the exit.
Steps leading up to Whitehall were choc-a-bloc with people.
Whitehall, the Putrajaya of the city, at 6pm, was at a standstill, with people carrying placards and banners, as the call for the emergency protest was made by author and columnist Owen Jones, only a few days after Trump announced the travel ban targeting seven Muslim-majority countries, and his indefinite ban on Syrian refugees.
The protesters also demanded that his state visit be called off.
In fact, the protest was held on the day that a petition calling for Trump’s visit to the UK not to be considered as a state visit passed 1.5 million signatures.
It was reported that large crowds gathered in Edinburgh, Cardiff, Manchester and Birmingham.
An estimated 10,000 people had gathered in Whitehall, converging in front of the street leading to the prime minister’s residence.
At times, it was almost impossible to move, and chants — such as “shame on May” and “say it loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here”, accompanied by drum beats and whistles — were almost deafening.
There were mostly young people straight from the office and some in wheelchairs. Many have voiced their anger at what they see as promoting Islamophobia.
Many saw Trump cosying up to May, holding hands during the visit, as uncomfortable, to say the least.
“I have families all over the world — in America, Syria and here.
“This kind of law is going to damage families. It is not about catching one or two people.
“It is going to disrupt families,” said Talal, a Syrian who has lived here all his life.
“My cousins have been turned away at airports. They had to travel back home.
“They are being separated from their husbands, wives and children. All messed up.
“Malaysia, we need to stand together for love and compassion,” he said before breaking into a chant, joining other protesters in their call to “Ban the Wall”.
With Talal was Robbie, whose wife is half Mexican and half American.
“She probably won’t be able to
go back to the US because she has volunteered in Afghanistan previously.
“She will not be able to see her family in San Diego.
“They (her family) are possibly going to be deported. We never expected this to happen,” said Robbie.
Another protester, Hayley, said: “We are here because we believe in the diversity of Britain and we are here to celebrate that.
“We believe that May has completely ignored the people in this country. We are a very diverse population. She is so entangled with Trump and it is a shame for us. We are ashamed.”
Although there were speakers at the hastily organised protest, it was almost impossible to get to them and hear what they were saying above the chants, boos and cheers.
Present were Labour peer Shami Chakrabarti and Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary.
Abbott told the crowd she had come on behalf of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
“Donald Trump has been president for only a few days and look at what he is doing,” she was reported to have said.
“We need to resist Islamophobia and scapegoating of Muslims.
“We have got to resist it, whether it is in the US or here.”
As almost always with protests and demonstrations in the city, the evening went off without any incident.
The comfortable 7°C temperature was hiked up by the warmth of solidarity among the crowd of diverse backgrounds.
The police kept their distance, only standing in rows at each end of Whitehall.
This weekend, the city will see another demonstration at the US embassy here.