LONDON — The Republican presidential contender Donald J. Trump
has lashed out at a petition seeking to bar him from entering Britain,
saying that politicians there should thank him rather than “pandering to
political correctness.”
Mr. Trump’s comments on Monday that foreign Muslims should be barred from entering the United States gave added traction to the online petition, which called for him to be refused entry into Britain on the basis of laws against hate speech.
The
petition had garnered more than 400,000 signatures as of Thursday
morning, easily passing the threshold of 100,000 supporters that
requires Parliament to consider debating the issue.
Mr. Trump has also gained some support in Britain, however, and a counterpetition titled “Don’t Ban Trump From the United Kingdom”
had more than 14,000 signatures by Thursday afternoon. Calling the
proposal to bar Mr. Trump “illogical,” the counterpetition urged Britons
to “mind our own business.”
“We
shouldn’t be banning people for their opinions on domestic actions in a
U.S. political race that doesn’t concern us,” the petition says, noting
the potential damage to the close bonds between Britain and the United
States if Mr. Trump wins the presidency.
Trump Reaffirms Urge to Halt Muslims
Reading a statement he had released
earlier in the day, the Republican presidential candidate Donald J.
Trump called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the
United States.”
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS on Publish Date December 7, 2015.
Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images.
Watch in Times Video »
Mr.
Trump shot back on Wednesday against his critics in Britain, saying
that the proposed ban had made him reconsider his investments in
Britain.
“U.K. politicians should be thanking me instead of pandering to political correctness,” the newspaper The Daily Telegraph quoted him
as saying. “ I only said what needed to be said, and when I am elected
no one will be tougher or smarter than me. I will work very hard and
effectively to defeat terrorism.”
In
criticizing British politicians, Mr. Trump invoked his investments in
Scotland, including Trump International Golf Links, a golf course in
Aberdeen, and his investment in the redevelopment of Turnberry Resort, a
luxury resort on the Ayrshire coast.
“If
they were going to do this, they should have informed me prior to my
major investment in this 200 million pound development, which will
totally revitalize that vast region of Scotland,” he said. The
investment is equivalent to $300 million.
The
petition against him was actually drafted on Nov. 28 — more than two
weeks before Mr. Trump made his remarks about Muslims — by Suzanne
Kelly, who writes for a community website in Aberdeen and has been investigating work at Mr. Trump’s golf course there in the face of local opposition, The Guardian reported.
Nicola
Sturgeon, the first minister of Scotland, has revoked Mr. Trump’s
status as a business ambassador to Scotland, and Robert Gordon
University in Aberdeen has stripped him of an honorary degree.
Prime
Minister David Cameron, of the Conservative Party, castigated Mr.
Trump’s position as “divisive, unhelpful and quite simply wrong,” while J. K. Rowling, the author of the best-selling Harry Potter books, described Mr. Trump as worse than the series’ archvillain, Lord Voldemort.
Zac
Goldsmith, a Conservative Party candidate for mayor of London, called
Mr. Trump “repellent” and “one of the most malignant figures in modern
politics,” according to news reports.
In an interview with CNN Tonight on Wednesday, Mr. Trump said he was “doing good for the Muslims.”
“Many
Muslim friends of mine are in agreement with me,” he added. “They say,
‘Donald, you brought something up to the fore that is so brilliant and
so fantastic.’ ”
Mr.
Trump said that “one of the most important people in the Middle East”
had called him on Wednesday to say “Donald, you’re doing a great
service.”
But
the global fury over Mr. Trump continued. In an apparent jab at Mr.
Trump, Muhammad Ali, 73, the former boxing world champion, who converted
to Islam in the 1960s, said it was necessary for Muslims to stand up to
those who conflated Islam with radicalism.
“We as Muslims have to stand up to those who use Islam to advance their own personal agenda,” Mr. Ali said in a statement to NBC News titled
“Presidential Candidates Proposing to Ban Muslim Immigration to the
United States,” which did not identify Mr. Trump by name.
Referring to recent attacks in Paris
and San Bernardino, Calif., he added: “Speaking as someone who has
never been accused of political correctness, I believe that our
political leaders should use their position to bring understanding about
the religion of Islam, and clarify that these misguided murderers have
perverted people’s views on what Islam really is.”
The petition to bar Mr. Trump from entering Britain has more signatures than a recent petition against airstrikes on Syria and one calling for the legalization of marijuana sales, according to the British Parliament’s website. But so far, it has received less support than a call for Britain to accept more asylum seekers and to increase support for refugees in Britain, which had 446,643 signatures at midday Thursday.
Correction: December 10, 2015
An earlier version of this article misstated the decade during which Muhammad Ali converted to Islam. It was the 1960s, not the 1970s.
end quote from:
Donald Trump Pushes Back at British Petition to Bar Him
An earlier version of this article misstated the decade during which Muhammad Ali converted to Islam. It was the 1960s, not the 1970s.
end quote from:
Donald Trump Pushes Back at British Petition to Bar Him
No comments:
Post a Comment