LONDON – Tens of thousands of protesters have joined two rival marches in London – the Unite the Kingdom rally organised by far-right figure Tommy Robinson, and a pro-Palestinian demonstration.
More than 4,000 police officers have been deployed to the capital and are managing a so-called “sterile zone” between the two marches. Officers also used drones, police horses and dogs, and had armoured vehicles on standby.
The Metropolitan Police called it one of the most significant policing operations in years, with tens of thousands of football fans also at Wembley Stadium for the FA Cup Final on Saturday afternoon.
The force said there had been 31 arrests as of 16:30 BST “across the whole operation”.
Protesters attending the Unite the Kingdom march gathered in Kingsway, before heading to Whitehall and a rally in Parliament Square.
Many could be seen waving Union flags, with some wearing “Make England Great Again (Mega)” red hats. Chants of “we want Starmer out” could also be heard.
Those gathered told the BBC they had a wide range of views – including some who wanted to see the end of the current government, and others who felt white people, in particular white working class people, were being discriminated against in the UK.
Police had put up barriers to block routes between the two protests.
Alongside Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, speakers at the rally included former LBC presenter Katie Hopkins, actor-turned-politician Laurence Fox, and TV personality Ant Middleton.
The separate pro-Palestinian march, marking Nakba Day, started in Kensington before heading to Waterloo Place via Piccadilly.
Nakba Day refers to the displacement of Palestinians who fled or were driven from their homes during the war surrounding Israel’s creation in 1948-49.
Demonstrators expressed a wide range of views to the BBC, with many describing themselves as both anti-genocide and anti-fascist.
A number of protesters said they were against rising antisemitism in the UK and conscious that some Jewish people reported feeling intimidated by such marches. But they added that Jewish people were welcome to join the demonstration, with many present on Saturday.
Flags and signs reading slogans including “smash the far right” and “Free Palestinian Hostages” could be seen amongst those gathered, many of whom were wearing keffiyehs, seen as a symbol of solidarity with Palestinians.
Speakers at the rally included Your Party co-founder Zarah Sultana, independent MP Diane Abbott and Labour MP Apsana Begum.
The Met said both protests had “proceeded largely without significant incident”.
It did not specify the offences nor the event to which all the arrests were connected.
It earlier said two men were arrested near Euston station – one of whom was wanted on suspicion of grievous bodily harm following an incident in Birmingham, and was spotted arriving in London to attend the Unite the Kingdom rally.
The second man was wanted for a separate offence which involved encouraging people to attack a police officer, the force added – having earlier said both men were connected to the incident in Birmingham.
The BBC had witnessed two males being arrested at the pro-Palestinian march by early afternoon.
