Communities in London’s East End are once again mobilising against the far right, nearly nine decades after residents famously drove Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirts from the streets of Tower Hamlets. The latest confrontation follows a decision by the Metropolitan Police to ban a UK Independence Party (Ukip) march described as a “crusade on Whitechapel”, a move taken to prevent “serious disorder”.
Glyn Robbins, co-founder of the anti-far-right coalition United East End, said the area remained a prime target for hard-right groups. “The East End of London is the far right’s prime target – the essence of everything they don’t like,” he said. “They feel if they can march through our borough with impunity, they can go anywhere. For them, it’s like Wembley, it’s the ultimate goal.”
The area has a long history of resistance: the Battle of Cable Street in 1936 saw local Jewish and working-class residents block Mosley’s march. Since then, the National Front, the BNP and the English Defence League have all attempted to gain a foothold. More recently, Tower Hamlets council condemned “outside far-right agitators” after a motion about flags on the Isle of Dogs, while far-right influencer Tommy Robinson shared images of nine Muslim councillors with his 1.7 million followers.
Dave Rosenberg, who has led East End walking tours for nearly two decades, plans to join counter-protesters in Whitechapel this weekend. He called the ban a “double-edged sword”: a relief to targeted communities, but also a widening of police powers over demonstrations. “There’s a very direct parallel with the 1930s,” he said, recalling the Public Order Act introduced to curb Mosley’s fascists.
Safia Jama, chief executive of the charity Women’s Inclusive Team, described how she fled a meeting disrupted by rightwing protesters, recalling an earlier family trauma when her father was attacked in Tower Hamlets. Despite regeneration and the rise of Canary Wharf, the borough still faces deep challenges, including the highest child poverty rate in the country and thousands on the housing waiting list.
