Tens of thousands of people gathered for two major protests in central London on Saturday, as police confirmed 31 arrests had been made by late afternoon.
Protests and Policing
Tommy Robinson’s Unite the Kingdom march and the pro-Palestine Nakba Day rally both took place simultaneously, with approximately 4,000 police officers on duty. The Metropolitan Police stated on X that while the number of arrests may seem high, both protests had proceeded largely without significant incident.
Earlier, two men travelling to London to attend the Unite the Kingdom protest were arrested near Euston station in connection with an unrelated incident in Birmingham. The Met clarified that one man was wanted for grievous bodily harm after a man was run over in Birmingham, while the second was wanted for encouraging an attack on a police officer.
Unite the Kingdom March
Chants of “Keir Starmer’s a wanker” and “we want Starmer out” were heard from the Unite the Kingdom march, where many protesters wore red “Make England Great Again (Mega)” hats. Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, posted a video on X claiming the country was awake and that the prime minister’s days were numbered. He urged the crowd to engage in local politics, saying, “If we don’t send a message in our next election, if you don’t register to vote, if you don’t get involved, we are going to lose our country forever.”
Other speakers included former Apprentice candidate Katie Hopkins, television personality Ant Middleton, former actor Laurence Fox, and former Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen. Siobhan Whyte, mother of Rhiannon Whyte who was murdered by a Sudanese asylum seeker, told the protest that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer had failed her daughter. Polish politician Dominik Tarczynski appeared via video link, claiming he had been banned from entering the UK by Sir Keir.
Pro-Palestine Rally
At the pro-Palestine march, a large crowd carried banners reading “Bristol stands with Palestine”, “Stop Trump, Stop Farage”, and “Free Palestinian Hostages”. Organisers estimated at least 250,000 attendees, while police had earlier estimated 30,000. Labour MP Apsana Begum told protesters the movement would not be divided by the “far right”. MP Diane Abbott said they faced a “common enemy” in the “far right”, describing them as “viciously right-wing, viciously racist, anti-black, anti-Muslim, and viciously antisemitic”.
Your Party co-founder Zarah Sultana criticised Andy Burnham as “not an alternative” to Sir Keir, calling him “another establishment politician cut from the same Zionist cloth”. Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn told supporters that Westminster needed a change in “policy” not “personalities”.
Arrests and Legal Measures
A woman was arrested after refusing to remove a fabric face mask at the pro-Palestine protest. Another group wearing orange jumpsuits and masks bearing Nigel Farage’s photo were also asked to remove their coverings. Weyman Bennett of Stand Up To Racism said Tommy Robinson had failed to silence solidarity with Palestine or divide communities through racism and Islamophobia.
The Crown Prosecution Service issued new guidance urging prosecutors to consider whether protest placards, banners, and chants viewed on social media may amount to stirring up hatred. The guidance reflects “the changing international context” and follows earlier advice on fast-tracking hate crime prosecutions. The Government blocked 11 foreign nationals described by Sir Keir as “far-right agitators” from entering the UK ahead of the Unite the Kingdom rally.
Drones were used to monitor both protest routes, and officers at Wembley monitored CCTV from the FA Cup final to identify supporters travelling towards demonstrations. For the first time under official protest restrictions, organisers and speakers who break the law by using events as a platform for extremism or hate speech face prosecution. Live facial recognition was deployed for the first time in a protest policing operation, with cameras set up in Camden, away from the march route but expected to be used by attendees.
