Police say 11 people arrested ‘for a variety of offences’
The Met said it has arrested 11 people “for a variety of offences” so far. It did not specify how many arrests were linked to the Unite the Kingdom event and the pro-Palestine march.
Police said earlier today two men were arrested near Euston station on suspicion of grievous bodily harm following an incident in Birmingham where a man was run over. They arrived in London to attend the United the Kingdom protest.
Key events
Oliver Holmes
There are flyers lying on the road where people are marching for the Unite the Kingdom rally that say they want to secure “a future for white people”.
The flyer says: “In a country saturated with degenerates, grifters and imported political enemies … We are a brotherhood of White Europeans who share the same values.”
The text says anyone can join their “vanguard” and they can remain anonymous.
Here are some of the latest images from the pro-Palestine march:
Oliver Holmes
The Unite the Kingdom march appears to be majority male and white, but there are a few families here and, very rarely, a person of colour.
Many people are holding crosses and signs related to Christianity. Some people are dressed as crusader-style knights, and one man held a mock medieval shield with a cross on it.
One flyer I’ve picked up says there is a “battle for Britain”, a country it describes as a “beacon of light in a dark world – a Christian nation built on truth, honour, and freedom”.
But there are also contingents of British-Iranian protesters who are waving the old Iranian flag. They are calling for the overthrow of the Iranian government and the reinstatement of the secular monarchy. This movement has found some common ground with sections (but not all) of the UK far-right, particularly anti-Islamism and support for the US and Israeli war on Iran.
Zarah Sultana, co-founder of Your Party, has told pro-Palestine protesters in Pall Mall that Andy Burnham is “not an alternative” to Keir Starmer.
“The establishment wants us to believe that change will come from swapping one Labour leader for another,” she said, according to PA.
“Perhaps Keir Starmer will be replaced by Andy Burnham, but let’s be honest, this is Andy Burnham, who voted for the Iraq war, an illegal war that killed millions of people.”
Burnham has been given the go-ahead to stand in the candidate selection process for the upcoming Makerfield byelection. He is widely considered one of the frontrunners to topple prime minister Keir Starmer.
Ukip leader Nick Tenconi spotted at far-right protest
Oliver Holmes
People are stopping to shake the hand of a man in a suit and sunglasses. It is Nick Tenconi, the head of Nigel Farage’s former party, Ukip.
Tenconi has said he wants to use the military to “round up and deport the Islamists, illegals and the communists”.
One of Ukip’s recent controversies occurred in January when their new logo was likened to a cross used by the German empire and later the Nazis.
Meanwhile, Wes Streeting is speaking publicly for the first time since resigning as health secretary this week.
Addressing a conference hosted by Labour-aligned political organisation Progress, Streeting commented on the Unite the Kingdom march taking place in London.
He said:
And what a day for us to have gathered. Today, Tommy Robinson and his followers are marching through the streets of our capital city. The last time he did, ministers were sent out by No 10 with a media script to explain the march rather than condemn it.
What we’ve experienced in our country in recent months is a type of racism that we haven’t seen on our streets since the 1970s and 1980s. Our country’s flags flown from lamp-posts and flyovers not as a symbol of national pride, but as a symbol of division, a message that those flags belong to people who look like me and not people who look like our deputy prime minister, our home secretary or our mayor of London.
Oliver Holmes
There are thousands of far-right protesters in London right now, and lots of the city’s residents and tourists are bumping into them.
One person who turned a corner to see a sea of St George crosses suddenly stopped in her tracks. “Fucking hell,” she uttered.
The far-right rally blocked off the street where the historic five-star hotel, the Kimpton Fitzroy, is located. A calm-looking concierge was giving tourists carrying heavy suitcases advice on how to get past the crowds to nearby transport.
On the pavement nearby, a man shouts out: “Tommy Tom Tom Tom Robinson.”
Many people on the march are drinking. Irish pub chain O’Neill’s in Euston Road was standing-only by midday. Another nearby pub, Mabel’s Tavern, had people sprawling out into the street. Both pubs were using bouncers.
There is a noticeable amount of drinking at the rally, which is mainly populated by men. Bins are overflowing with cans, and some men are walking along with pint glasses they took when walking out of a pub. One man comes out a small shop carrying an unopened bottle of Jim Beam bourbon whiskey. “What the fuck have you got?” his friend asks, laughing.
Hundreds of Unite the Kingdom supporters are at Parliament Square, the endpoint of the march.
Police issue correction over earlier arrests statement
The Metropolitan police has issued a correction on an earlier statement (12.10pm) about the arrests near Euston station this morning.
It said: “One of the two men was arrested in connection with the incident in Birmingham where a man was run over as previously described.
“The second arrested man was wanted for a separate offence which involved encouraging people to attack a police officer.”
Labour MP for Poplar and Limehouse, Apsana Begum, is at the pro-Palestine march, where she addressed a crowd of people at Pall Mall.
PA has reported some of her remarks:
We know that the far right marches because our solidarity with the Palestinian people threatens their cause … the one which is based on intolerance, hatred, and division.
But today, we march, Muslims, Jews, Christians, people of all faiths and none, from all ages, from all ethnic backgrounds, bound by our shared humanity and our just purpose.
We will not be divided by the far right.
We will not be silenced by any government, and we will not go quietly while crimes against humanity continue and are committed with impunity.
Katie Hopkins, the former reality TV star who previously compared migrants to cockroaches, told crowds at the Unite the Kingdom protest in a video message she was “so proud of you”, PA reports.
She said:
I want to thank you all for being at the Unite the Kingdom rally today, whether you’re here in London or joining us from overseas, welcome to Great Britain.
I want to say a few things to you, if I may. I see you, and I see our capital city, and it looks for the first time in a very long time like the place that I remember, and our capital city and a place that we can all call home, and I’m so proud of you.
Facial recognition in use outside Kings Cross station
Oliver Holmes
Outside Kings Cross station in north London, where protesters arrived on trains from around the country, police had set up large signs on lamp-posts declaring facial recognition was being used.
“Police officers are using Live Facial Recognition (LFR) technology to find people who are wanted by the police of the courts,” the sign read.
A white Metropolitan police van was parked on a nearby road and surrounded by metal fences. Three cameras on a metal pole were pointing to the exit of the train station.
The sign warned that anyone who passes by the system would have their “facial biometric data” processed, but that unless an “alert is triggered”, the data will be immediately deleted.
Oliver Holmes
Far-right protesters have arrived into London through the capital’s major train stations in Kings Cross and Euston, and are walking south towards parliament.
Many people arrived with England flags and union jacks wrapped over their backs, some with “STOP THE BOATS” written on them. For those who did not bring their own, they could buy flags – or bucket hats with flags on them – from any of the multiple street sellers outside the station.
One seller is calling out: “Flags or hats, sir?” as men passed by. Dozens of police officers are standing around, and police vans were parked along the road.
Some protesters are stopping to take photos of a hot pink McLaren sportscar outside St Pancras, before heading down to the demonstration.
Many people are visibly drunk. A woman on the protest raised her middle finger to a helicopter overhead with a camera attached to it. “Hi,” she says. “Fuck off”.
Tommy Robinson has posted a video on X from his Unite the Kingdom rally, claiming it numbers in the “millions” and is “the biggest event in British history”.
Police have yet to provide estimates on the number of demonstrators today, but last year’s event in September is thought to have drawn somewhere between 110,000 and 150,000 people.
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