Hastings and Rye Green Party protest against Donald Trump inauguration

The Bridges not Walls action, initiated by Will Stevens, of Hastings – better known to locals as mobile ice cream seller William the Cone-Queror – was one of 250 such actions that took place around the world in response to the election of President Trump, and his rhetoric about building a wall on the US-Mexico border.

Organisers said its aim was to encourage people all over the world to hang banners from bridges, using their own words to ‘...create a loud, clear and colourful cry for the universal values of peace, respect, equality, and justice’.

The idea snowballed rapidly, and on the day of the inauguration, banner drops took place in Ethiopia, South Africa, Cambodia, the USA, Australia and New Zealand, as well as many European countries.

Hastings Green Party’s banner read ‘Hey, Mr President, love your neighbour, build bridges not walls’.

The party’s spokesman, Julia Hilton, said: “Like so many people worldwide, we were horrified when Trump was elected. We wanted to be part of the inauguration day banner hang, to show solidarity with all those threatened by Trump’s policies, and to restate our determination to continue to push for a politics of respect and human rights for all.”

It was during his candidacy announcement speech in June 2015 that President Trump first proposed the idea of building a wall along the USA’s border with Mexico.

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