Over 500,000 Britons petition to ban Trump from UK

More than half of a million Britons have signed an online petition to ban Republican Donald Trump from the country following his proposal to stop Muslims from entering the US.

A petition to ban Donald Trump from entering the United Kingdom following his most recent comments passed the half a million mark on Friday.

The Republican presidential hopeful was subject to international condemnation after he called for a "total and complete" shutdown of Muslims entering the US on Monday.

Trump's comments came in the middle of his campaign to be selected as the Republican Party's Candidate for the United States 2016 Presidential Election with the race seeing increasing use of anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant rhetoric.

Trump also caused anger in Britain when he said that British police fear for their lives in parts of London.

"We have places in London and other places that are so radicalised, the police are afraid for their own lives" Trump claimed in an MSNBC interview.

British police strongly refuted these allegations.

"We would not normally dignify such comments with a response, however on this occasion we think it's important to state to Londoners that Mr Trump could not be more wrong" the Metropolitan Police said in a statement on Tuesday.

British politicians departed from the usual convention of avoiding remarks on the merits of U.S presidential contenders to condemn Trump's comments.

Home Secretary Theresa May rejected Mr Trump's claims, asserting that "the police in London are not afraid to go out and police the streets."

Downing Street added to the chorus of disapproval.

"The Prime Minister completely disagrees with the comments made by Donald Trump, which are divisive, unhelpful and quite simply wrong," said the British Prime Minister's official spokeswoman on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, commended the work of police in London.

"Crime has been falling steadily both in London and in New York - the only reason I wouldn't go to some parts of New York is the real risk of meeting Donald Trump," Johnson remarked.

The petition, which started Tuesday afternoon, is currently the most popular on the British government's site and will be considered for debate in the British Parliament.