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Tens of thousands of protesters failed to turn up to anti-Donald Trump demonstrations in London today which had been billed as a 'carnival of resistance'.

Photographs showed a lacklustre crowd of activists gathering while the President was inside 10 Downing Street meeting Prime Minister Theresa May as part of his three-day state visit to Britain. 

Mr Trump got a sight of the infamous 20ft Trump Baby blimp at Parliament Square as thousands of protesters marched from Trafalgar Square to the Houses of Parliament.

March organisers have already downgraded their expectations from 250,000 people to just 75,000 - blaming a 'working Tuesday' for the lower number, which is the most organisers believe they can expect to turn up. 

Demonstrators shouted expletives as the President passed the blimp in his limousine 'The Beast' along with his sizeable motorcade on the way to meet Prime Minister Theresa May at Downing Street. 

Organisers wearing red jumpsuits and hats marked 'Trump Babysitters' had earlier launched the orange inflatable Baby blimp to huge cheers from onlookers. Some 3,182 officers have been deployed to police the visit today.

Protesters from the Stand Up To Trump and Stop Trump groups congregated for a rally also featuring a speech by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who snubbed last night's state banquet at Buckingham Palace.

Mayor Sadiq Khan has let the coalition of hard-Left activists and campaigners lampoon Mr Trump with an 16ft robot tweeting on a gold toilet and a 20ft baby blimp which also appeared during his previous visit in July 2018.

Protesters hope to paralyse parts of Central London in protest after laying on coaches to bring thousands of supporters to the capital as they marched from Trafalgar Square to Parliament Square this afternoon.

It comes after a protest outside Buckingham Palace promising to 'wreck' a royal banquet hosted for Mr Trump last night was a damp squib and attracted just 300 supporters who chanted 'Donald Trump's not welcome here'.

However, organisers had earlier said that today's rally could be 'the biggest demonstration in British history', despite the Iraq war protest in London in February 2003 attracting more than a million people. 

Protests are also planned in Birmingham, Stoke, Sheffield, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Chester, Leicester, Oxford and Exeter – a day after Amnesty International unfurled five banners on Vauxhall Bridge in view of the US embassy.

US President Donald Trump's limousine The Beast (circled in red) passes in sight of the Baby blimp at Parliament Square today

Thousands of anti-Trump protesters gather at Trafalagar Square today, but estimates of 250,000 people seemed off the mark

Thousands of protesters make their presence known at Trafalgar Square in London today as they protest Mr Trump's visit

Protesters march to Whitehall from Trafalgar Square this afternoon as they protest the state visit by President Trump

Protesters gather at Trafalgar Square today. Organisers say the rally could be 'the biggest demonstration in British history'

Crowds gather in Trafalgar Square this morning ahead of the protest against President Donald Trump's state visit to the UK

Placards are placed on the ground at Trafalgar Square waiting to be picked up for the march today

Placards are placed around Trafalgar Square for activists to pick up today, including some saying: 'No to Trump, no to war'

Anti-Trump protesters gather next to the Trump Baby blimp after it is inflated at Parliament Square in London this morning

People hand out Donald Trump toilet paper in Central London as protesters gather to demonstrate this morning

Climate change activists, students, pacifists, trade union members and families are expected to gather, while the protesters will include Handmaids Against Trump - women who will be draped in red with white hoods in homage to Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel about a crackdown on reproductive rights.

Heated arguments broke out between pro and anti Trump supporters at Parliament Square after a  small group of men and women, several wearing 'Make America Great Again' hats, started shouting 'we love Trump'.

They were confronted by another small group protesting the President's visit, some of whom were carrying EU flags. The EU supporters shouted 'you can shove your Brexit up your a***', as police officers watched on.

Speaking at Parliament Square this morning, Shaista Aziz, from the Stop Trump coalition, said the demonstration was 'very exciting' and the Trump blimp has 'captured the world's imagination'.

The group has raised £30,000 ahead of the blimp's flight, for charities they say help groups and minorities affected by Mr Trump's policies. 'It's very significant the fact that you can raise that much money in two weeks, there's a will to have this in the air,' said Ms Aziz. 'We know that this will definitely annoy Trump.'

She said the president has conducted himself in a 'disgraceful manner' since arriving in London and that 'helps' the protesters' cause. 'It helps us shine a light on the very serious issues around this Trump presidency,' she said. 

James O'Brien, of County Mayo, was selling toilet paper with Mr Trump's face on it in Trafalgar Square. 'The only toilet paper in the world that's already got c**p on it', he shouted, as he sold two for £5 out of a trolley. 'It's the most fun you'll ever have on the toilet,' he suggested.

Mr O'Brien said he had carried out the stunt at the previous protests against Mr Trump's visit to the UK.

Asad Rehman, one of the protest organisers from the Stop Trump Coalition, said: 'The whole protest is about the mistake of the Government to roll out the red carpet for Donald Trump.'

Mr Rehman said it is not about the individual but 'the politics he represents', adding: 'It's a fundamental mistake for the Government to normalise that politics.'

He said he expects a 'sizeable' crowd at the central London protest. ;We want to raise the bar and stand up for democracy and human rights,' he added.

Mr Rehman said Mr Trump wants pictures of the pomp and ceremony to help him in a presidential re-election campaign in 2020. 

Today the police have closed off roads all over Central London again as Trump visits St James' Palace and Downing Street

The Stop Trump group posted a map on Facebook showing where the 'self-organised blocs' will gather at Trafalgar Square

A graphic details the various components of 'The Beast' which is transporting the President and his family around London 

People carruomg Communications Union balloons and banners take part in the anti-Trump protest in Whitehall this afternoon

A woman holds a placard saying Mr Trump is a 'danger to the world' as the Baby blimp is inflated at Parliament Square today

Demonstrators hold placards at Trafalgar Square in London today on the second day of President Trump's state visit to the UK

Protestors gather at Trafalgar Square in London today around a 16ft robot depitcting Mr Trump tweeting on a gold toilet

Demonstrators carry a figure of Baby Trump in a cage during the anti-Trump protest in London this afternoon

Protestors gather by the fountains of Trafalgar Square in London today to protest the state visit to the UK by Mr Trump

Speaking to the crowd on Whitehall, Frances O'Grady, general secretary of the TUC, referred to Mr Trump using the word 'nasty' to describe the Duchess of Sussex. Ms O'Grady said: 'Better to be a nasty woman than a dirty old man.'

Mr Trump had denied calling Meghan 'nasty', despite The Sun newspaper sharing an audio recording of the president's interview with them. Meghan has been a vocal critic of the US president in the past and backed his political rival Hillary Clinton.

Before the 2016 presidential election the duchess, then an actress, suggested she would leave the US if Mr Trump won.

In a recent interview with The Sun newspaper, Mr Trump claimed he was unaware of Meghan's comments and said: 'I didn't know that. What can I say? I didn't know that she was nasty.'

Some anti-Brexit demonstrators joined onlookers waiting for the Trump blimp to fly. 

Clare Barton, 48, a registrar from Fort William in the Scottish Highlands, said she joined the protests because 'Trump very much supports Brexit' and there is an 'an extreme right wing mentality' behind both Trump and Brexit.

'We need to be clear on the message to stop Brexit, stop Farage and Boris Johnson,' said Ms Barton, who was flying Saltire and EU flags. 'He (Trump) is not going to compromise on Brexit and wants trade deals on the NHS, which we hold very dear.'

But Trump supporter Lewis Metcalfe, from Richmond in North Yorkshire, said he took a day off work to travel to London and offer 'a difference of opinion'. 

'I'm obviously going to be a minority today. I'm not here to troll, to cause a riot or cause disruption,' said 28-year-old Mr Metcalfe, who was at Parliament Square wearing a 'Make America Great Again' cap. 

Demonstrators take part in the anti-Trump protest below Nelson's Column at Trafalgar Square in London this morning

Protestors gather at Trafalgar Square in London this morning on the second day of the state visit to the UK by President Trump

(From left) Philip May and Prime Minister Theresa May welcome US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump to Downing Street today

A man dressed in a gorilla costume and Donald Trump mask is stood inside a cage beside the blimp in Parliament Square today, accompanied by a fellow activist in a prison uniform impersonating Boris Johnson. A sign on the cage says 'do not feed the gorilla, he only eats chlorinated chicken', in apparent protest at US government hopes to see UK food standard laws changed in a future trade deal. 'The 'Commander in Chimp' and I are both men of conviction and we look forward to getting a great many convictions in future,' the Boris Johnson impersonator told onlookers

Members of the Baby Trump blimp team set up the inflatable balloon at Parliament Square as a woman takes a selfie today

Protestors gather at Trafalgar Square today ahead of a march to Parliament Square expected to attract 250,000 people

Demonstrators wear US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Theresa May masks at the protest in London today

Protestors gather in Trafalgar Square in London today on the second day of the state visit to the UK by President Trump

The Baby Trump blimp is set up by a team member at Parliament Square today on the second day of Mr Trump's state visit

A 16ft talking robot of US President Donald Trump sitting on a gold toilet at Trafalgar Square in London this morning

Demonstrators put the finishing touches to a 16ft talking robot of Mr Trump on a gold toilet in Trafalgar Square today

'I don't agree with all his policies. He's not the greatest president in the world but he does get things done.

'I think it (the protest) is a little bit hypocritical because you get hundreds of thousands of people for Donald Trump today and yet we had minuscule, maybe hundreds of people, for Xi Jinping and Mohammed Bin Salman.'

Donald Trump is a 'sexual predator' and a racist who does not deserve a visit, says Emily Thornberry

Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry, pictured last month

Emily Thornberry escalated the war of words between the Labour Party and Donald Trump today as she labelled the US President a 'sexual predator'.

The Shadow Foreign Secretary claimed Mr Trump is a racist who does not deserve the honour of a state visit hosted by the Queen.

Ms Thornberry told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the leader of Britain's most important ally should be stood up to 'the way you deal with a bully' because 'if you bow down in front of them you just get kicked harder.'

She said: 'A state visit is an honour and we don't think this president deserves an honour.

'The truth is he has tried to close borders with Muslim-majority countries, he is caging small Mexican children, he has grabbed women and boasted about it.

'He is a sexual predator, he is a racist and it's right to say that - we need to think about when is it our country got so scared?'

She also defended Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn from accusations of hypocrisy for attending a state banquet for the Chinese president but snubbing the banquet for Mr Trump last night.

She said: 'When you have a close friend and they're going wrong, you are more likely to be adamant with them and clearer with them than someone who has not been as close a friend and someone you are trying to build a relationship up with.'

A team of organisers wearing red jumpsuits and hats marked 'Trump Babysitters' prepared the site at Parliament Square today as camera crews from media outlets watched on. 

The square is a stone's throw from the Houses of Parliament, where nearby roads are sealed off and police stood guard in anticipation of large protests. 

The 16ft talking robot of Mr Trump sitting on a gold toilet attracted onlookers in Trafalgar Square. 

Don Lessem travelled from Philadelphia in the US with the robot which says the phrases 'No collusion', 'You are fake news' and 'I'm a very stable genius' - the audio of which is Mr Trump's own voice.

The robot also makes a farting sound, and Mr Lessem said: 'The fart we couldn't get from him (Trump) so we had to use a generic fart.'

He said he had the robot made in China and it is making its debut outing.

Mr Lessem said of Mr Trump: 'Well he's a disgrace. I want people to realise that this doesn't represent America. Humour is my weapon. He's a would-be dictator.'

Mr Lessem said Mr Trump loves pomp and ceremony 'because he's an egomaniac'.

Scotland Yard has put areas surrounding Buckingham Palace and Downing Street on 'lockdown' – with 10,000 officers deployed in a £25million security operation – and has asked for reinforcements from other forces for the three-day visit.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick last night said her officers will be 'firm' with those who break the law after a climate change protest in London earlier this year got out of control. 

Activists have been given permission to protest today in Whitehall, just yards from Downing Street, while Mr Trump and Theresa May hold meetings with officials.

They will chant 'Donald Trump's not welcome here', to a cacophony of noise from drums, gongs and whistles.  Organisers plan to erect a stage in the street where various anti-Trump speakers will address the crowds. 

As well as Mr Corbyn, the rally will be attended by a string of Labour shadow ministers, including Emily Thornberry, Diane Abbott and Dawn Butler.  Mr Corbyn said he will join crowds to 'stand in solidarity with those he's attacked in America, around the world and in our own country'. 

Ms Thornberry claimed Mr Corbyn's attendance at a state banquet for the Chinese president was 'different' from Mr Trump's. 

Mayor Sadiq Khan has agreed to let agitators lampoon Mr Trump with the robot on a gold toilet at Trafalgar Square

Commuters and tourists take selfies with a 16ft talking robot of US President Donald Trump in Trafalgar Square today

Protesters hand out Donald Trump toilet paper in London as people start to gather to demonstrate against the state visit today

Organisers wearing red jumpsuits and hats marked 'Trump Babysitters' prepare the site for the Trump Baby blimp today

Police officers stand guard this morning as they wait for US President Donald Trump during his state visit in London

Parliament Square is next to the Houses of Parliament, where the Trump Baby blimp is pictured being prepared today

A demonstrator holds a placard during an anti-Trump protest in London outside the Houses of Parliament this morning

A demonstrator blows up a balloon showing the Trump Baby blimp as he takes part in the protest in London this morning

Protesters hold a miniature version of the Trump Baby blimp along with other banners as they protest his visit in London today

A member of the Baby Trump blimp team wearing a 'Trump Babysitter' jacket waits for it to be inflated in London this morning

A pro-Trump activist poses with the flag of Israel in front of the Donald Trump robot at Trafalgar Square in London today

A protester holds up a placard in Parliament Square in London this morning, trying to instead focus attention on Syria

She said: 'When you have a close friend and they're going wrong, you are more likely to be adamant with them and clearer with them than someone who has not been as close a friend and someone you are trying to build a relationship up with.'

My Holocaust survivor mother inspired me to make the Trump toilet statue, says US protester

Don Lessen with his statue of Mr Trump sat on a gold throne

An American protester told how his Holocaust survivor mother inspired him to spend two months building and shipping a Donald Trump sculpture of the US president sitting on a gold toilet.

Don Lessen's statue of Mr Trump sat on his gold throne greeted laughing protestors gathered in Trafalgar Square today.

Mr Lessen, 67, from Philadelphia, told MailOnline: 'My mother Gertrude is a holocaust survivor who just turned 100. She told me Trump's behaviour was how Hitler started.

'So when Trump started caging children with no compassion, that's when I decided to make a Trump sculpture. It's taken two months to build and ship here from China to be here today.

'It makes statements like, 'you are fake news', 'I'm a very stable genius' and it even makes fart noises. I made (him at) home sitting on the loo because that's all he does all day.'

The Labour MP said Mr Trump needed to be stood up to 'like the way you deal with a bully' because 'if you bow down in front of them you just get kicked harder'.

TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady and Mark Serwotka, head of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS), will also speak to those gathered. 

Today, demonstrators will be blocked from walking the entire length of Whitehall for security reasons. 

It means they will have to walk a circuitous route via Embankment if they want to reach Parliament Square, where a 20ft blimp depicting the President as an angry baby will be flown. 

Organisers have been given permission to fly it by the London Mayor's office and the Metropolitan Police.

A 16ft talking robot depicting Mr Trump sitting on a gold toilet, which has been shipped in from China, is also expected to make an appearance.

There will also be 'milkshaking', during which protesters will bombard figures of Mr Trump, Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson with milkshakes.

Organiser Shabbir Lakha said: 'We would like this to be the biggest demonstration in British history.'

Mr Lakha added that the plan was to fill Trafalgar Square, Whitehall and Embankment – 'effectively surrounding' the areas where Mr Trump will be visiting. 

'We are going to be assembling in Trafalgar Square and will march down Whitehall, with a rally at the Monument to the Women of World War II next to the Cenotaph, which should be at the same time Donald Trump is in Downing Street.'

Among those taking part will be environmental activists, anti-racism campaigners and women's rights protesters.

Hundreds of teenagers involved in the recent youth strikes against climate change are also expected to attend.

The blimp depicting a cartoon baby Donald Trump flew in London during the president's last visit (pictured, in July 2018)

Mr Trump's three-day state visit to Britain began with a row between him and London's Labour mayor Sadiq Khan (pictured)

Anti-Trump protesters gathered outside Buckingham Palace last night but only around 300 people turned up

Mr Trump appeared unconcerned by the protest plans, writing on Twitter last night: 'The relationship with the United Kingdom is very strong. 

'Tremendous crowds of well-wishers and people that love our country. Haven't seen any protests yet, but I'm sure the Fake News will be working hard to find them.'

Miss Dick said police were expecting fewer protesters than took to the streets for Mr Trump's visit to Britain last year, when the figure was put at close to 250,000.

She added: 'We will be pretty firm if protesters are intending to try to protest in a way which is unlawful, and very, very firm if anybody wants to do anything which might in any way endanger security.

'We take our role really seriously – on the one hand to keep safe the visiting head of state and their entourage and everybody connected with it, and of course our own Royal Family, and on the other hand in a liberal democracy like ours to ensure that if people wish to protest lawfully they can do so without crime, and do so safely.'

John Apter, chairman of the Police Federation, said: 'There are not enough officers to meet the day-to-day pressures on policing, so this on top is a huge ask.'