A US family, among thousands protesting in Edinburgh yesterday about Donald Trump’s visit, have described how they had to flee their home in Kentucky and come to Scotland following his election, over fears their medical cover was under threat.

Jacki Koren, 63, moved to Stirlingshire nine months ago with her husband and eight-year-old son Edrick after Trump threatened to repeal the Affordable Care Act — which was intended to improve access to health insurance for US citizens who face crippling medical bills without appropriate insurance.

The Korens were among what police estimated as 9,000 people and organisers put at 60,000 marching through the capital’s streets.

Koren said: “When Trump was elected he convinced Congress to pass a health bill that would impact on our Medicaid and our health insurance so we felt that we needed to get out. We’re among the lucky ones in the US that we had an option. My husband is Scottish so we had a choice to go somewhere else and get health insurance while so many others from the US have no other option.”

She says she is in tears whenever she watches the news from back home. “I go to church and cry my head off – my spirit is just hurting so terribly,” she said. “Can you imagine in our lifetime that a president of the United States would remove toddlers, pre-teens, teenagers from their fathers and mothers and take them away and imprison them?

“He doesn’t care, he’s just laughing his head off, and it’s killing me. He’s not just hurting Americans, he’s hurting the world.”

Admiring the Baby Trump balloon that flew over The Meadows, she added: “He’s been acting like a baby which is why everybody appreciates the balloons. He is a big baby, a big bully, and he can say the nastiest things you’ve ever heard of but it doesn’t phase him.

“He’s a monster and a racist. He just loves white people and if you’re any other colour you can forget it.”

Clutching a drawing of the Baby Trump balloon, son Edrick, who is black, also called Trump “a dangerous baby”.

He added: “We moved here because of Trump. We want everybody in the world to know that we marched for two miles, and we’re going to keep marching right up to Trump. He takes children away from their family, and that’s sad.”

Another protester, Michael Gilbert, 24, from Guernsey, hailed the multicultural cross-party nature of the march.

Wearing a picture of Trump shouting at the world on his head, he said: “I think that it’s great that we can stand against Trump as great British people – not Scottish, not English – as demonstrated by this balloon which has been brought up from London to be the centrepiece of the protest. We have people here from all different political parties, different nationalities and different walks of life standing against Trump and we will wear him down.”

Marchers carried placards with messages including “Dump Trump”, “Love Trumps Hate”, while others brought signs with messages for the American leader, including “Tweet off Twitter twit” and “Bolt ya rocket”.

Some protesters dressed up for the occasion, with one couple wearing Mexican-themed costumes and carrying a donkey pinata named Donald, while others dressed as caricature versions of Trump himself.

Dump Trump supporters took to social media to attack the “mainstream media” – which had journalists out in force covering every section of the march – for reporting the police figures over organisers’ hugely optimistic claim.