Feature: Secret Service, protestors join Vancouver Trump Hotel opening

The new Trump International Hotel and Tower had its grand opening Tuesday morning in what was surely the city's first hotel ribbon-cutting ceremony joined by the Secret Service.

Also joining were about 200 protesters, mostly anti-Trump, who gathered on the sidewalk in front of the hotel under close police and security watch, at 1161 West Georgia Street in downtown Vancouver.

Inside the new 69-story, 360-million-Canadian-dollar (275-million-U.S.-dollar) twisting hotel and condo tower, Secret Service guarded U.S. President Donald Trump's sons and their families as they led a ribbon-cutting ceremony in a third-floor ballroom.

Eric and Donald Trump Jr. were joined on stage by Joo Kim Tiah, head of the building's owner Holborn Group. Tiah has overseen the project funded by his Malaysia-based businessman father Tiah Thee Kian.

Donald Jr. spoke in a light-hearted way, "I'd like to thank the press," drawing a few laughs from the roughly 140 accredited media in attendance. "Just kidding. It's great to see you here. I'm shocked. I'm shocked but no, it is great to be here. It's been an amazing journey."

"Vancouver is really one of the great cities of the world," Eric Trump said despite the protests and controversy. "It's truly one of the most beautiful places in the world and it's so fitting for the Trump brand."

The Trumps took no questions from the reporters during the opening ceremony photo op.

The hotel's grand opening was boycotted by Vancouver officials, mostly due to Donald Trump's anti-immigration, sexist and racist rhetoric. "It's more than a beacon of racism," city councillor Kerry Jang told the Vancouver Sun newspaper last week.

The councillor, along with the mayor of Vancouver, had urged Holborn Group to drop the Trump brand and a petition also circulated. "It's a beacon of intolerance," Jang said. "It's a beacon of sexism and bullying. That's just not Vancouver."

In a letter to Holburn Group in December 2015, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson said "Donald Trump's hateful positions and commentary remind us all of much darker times in world's past, and it is incumbent upon all of us to forcefully challenge hatred in all of the ways that it confronts us."

He said Trump's name and brand have no place in Vancouver's skyline. "As mayor, it is my hope that you and your company will work quickly to remove his brand and all it represents from your building."

Outside, in front of the main entrance of the building, about 200 protestors gathered. Dozens of post-it-notes were visible on the exterior wall of the building. "Thief," one read. "All you need is love," read another. "Someone take your phone away," read one more.

Ten Vancouver Police Department officers and private security guards formed a line behind a metal barricade in front of the main entrance.

One protestor, Lois Jones of Vancouver, said she came to the protest to show her anger with the Trump family.

She said having their name on a new tower in Vancouver is sickening. "I think it's abhorrent to Canadians," she said, noting that she resents having taxpayer-funded security for the Trump family and their hotel.

In the minority at the protest was Bryton Cherrier, a young resident of Pitt Meadows, suburb of Vancouver.

He said he came to see Eric and Donald Jr. "I want to tell one of them that your father has inspired me to get into provincial politics," he said.

Cherrier, who says he's running in the next provincial election of British Columbia as a libertarian candidate, supports Trump for his stance on tougher borders and other populist policies that he wants to see replicated in Canada.

Protestor Eldon Tirling couldn't agree less. He came to protest the grand opening from Victoria, the provincial capital of British Columbia. He held a sign that read "Trump is corrosive".

He said he used to enjoy Trump's show, The Apprentice. "It didn't take me long to realize that you can't just fire everybody and everything," he said. "He's egotistical. Everything revolves around him."

Tirling said Trump's attempt to ban residents of seven Muslim-majority countries has been the most offensive policy for him so far. "There is not too much that he's said that I can agree with."

The new building itself is beautiful, Tirling said. "But it's a symbol of something, and he's made the United States the laughing stock of the world if nothing else." Endi