Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Bonfire Night

A town in England is burning an effigy of Donald Trump tonight

The town has in the past burned effigies of Sepp Blatter, Cherie Blair and Russell Brand.

A GIANT EFFIGY of US presidential candidate Donald Trump wielding the head of rival Hillary Clinton is to go up in flames during traditional British bonfire celebrations tonight.

The 36-foot (11-metre) high model of Trump dressed in shorts decorated with images of Mexicans will be packed with fireworks and set alight in Edenbridge, southeast England, this evening as part of the annual Bonfire Night celebrations, organisers said.

Across Britain, bonfires will be lit, effigies torched and fireworks let off to mark the moment when Guy Fawkes was thwarted in a plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament on 5 November 1605.

“We are literally helping Trump to live out his own catchphrase ‘burn it down’ by exploding the 11-metre effigy as the opening act for our fireworks display,” explained Edenbridge Bonfire Society spokesman Jeni Fox.

Edenbridge Bonfire Society celebrity Guy 2016 Artists put the finishing touches on the effigy this week PA Wire / PA Images PA Wire / PA Images / PA Images

“It only seemed fair that Hillary Clinton took some of the limelight, and we are sure the presidential candidates will be pleased to see they are both featured,” she said.

The town has been setting alight effigies of people who have riled the British public for more than 20 years, with then-Fifa president Sepp Blatter in the firing line last year.

Other victims include Cherie Blair, Gordon Brown, comedian Russell Brand and Jose Manuel Barroso, former chief of the European Commission.

Traditionally it is Guy Fawkes, leader of the “Gunpowder Plot”, who gets thrown on the bonfire.

- © AFP, 2016

Read: First woman to ever pilot a space shuttle on how she almost accidentally endorsed Donald Trump

Read: “Does the rest of the world want what’s best for us, or what’s best for them?”: The US election in Dublin, California 

Your Voice
Readers Comments
65
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.