TORONTO — Protesters are expected to gather in front of the Trump Tower in Toronto later today to decry Donald Trump's recent anti-Muslim comments.
The Republican presidential candidate has called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the U.S. in the aftermath of attacks in the country and abroad.
His remarks this week have drawn international criticism. The White House said the comments disqualify him from being president and some politicians have joked about banning Trump himself.
In Toronto, protesters who say they plan to rally against Trump's statements and celebrate the city's diversity are expected to gather outside the building which bears his name in the city's financial district.
The Trump International Hotel and Tower in Toronto is owned by a private real estate development company called Talon International Development, as well as other investors and condo owners.
The Trump Organization operates a hotel which makes up part of the building.
At least one Toronto city councillor has asked the owners of the building to remove Trump's name from the property in light of his recent inflammatory comments.
Trump's image and name have been stripped from a Dubai golf course in light of his statements, while Trump Towers Istanbul also says its "assessing" its partnership with Trump.
The Trump Hotel and Tower in Toronto says the Trump Organization operates the building but is not the owner.
"Donald Trump's opinions as a private citizen in no way reflect the position of the company's views or those of its other investors and owners," the hotel said in statement earlier this week.
ANTI-TRUMP PROTESTERS STORM $1,000-A-PLATE NEW YORK CITY LUNCHEON
NEW YORK — About a dozen protesters disrupted Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's speech at a $1,000-a-plate New York City luncheon Friday, criticizing the billionaire businessman's recent anti-Islam rhetoric as security staff forcibly ejected some of them from the event.
Four protesters chanting "Trump is trying to bring us down, targeting people black and brown," tried to storm a side entrance into the speech at Manhattan's The Plaza Hotel as security staff pushed them away.
The protesters were affiliated with various Arab-American and Muslim-American groups, as well as groups for racial equality.
One of those protesters, Jorge Gonzalez, fell down a flight of stairs after a hotel security worker pushed him. He said he was uninjured. Another was thrown to the ground in the hotel lobby and two reporters from The Associated Press were also forcibly removed from the hotel lobby.
Later in Trump's speech, about nine other protesters from various advocacy groups stood up to denounce his recent comments to temporarily bar Muslims from entering the U.S., protesters said.
"I'm really frightened by that kind of rhetoric," said Martha Acklesberg, 69, a member of the group Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, who along with Judith Plaskow, 68, paid to hear Trump speech and then disrupted it in protest.
Trump, said Acklesberg, briefly stopped his speech during their protests and quipped, "when you're the front runner you get a lot of attention."
The event, sponsored by the Commonwealth Club, a Pennsylvania Republican group, was closed to the press.
