LONDON — A London march organized by a far-right activist drew more than 110,000 people and became unruly Saturday as a group of his supporters clashed with police officers who were separating them from counterprotesters.
Several officers were punched, kicked and struck by bottles tossed by participants in the “Unite the Kingdom” rally, Metropolitan Police said. Reinforcements with helmets and riot shields were deployed to support the 1,000-plus officers on duty.
Twenty-six police officers were injured — four seriously, including broken teeth and a concussion, a possible broken nose and a spinal injury. At least 25 people were arrested for offenses including violent disorder, assaults and criminal damage, and the investigation continues, police said.
“There is no doubt that many came to exercise their lawful right to protest, but there were many who came intent on violence,” Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist said. “They confronted officers, engaging in physical and verbal abuse and making a determined effort to breach cordons in place to keep everyone safe.”
The rally drew an estimated crowd of between 110,000 and 150,000 people, far surpassing expectations, police said. The rival “March Against Fascism” protest organized by Stand Up to Racism had about 5,000 marchers.
The event was organized by Tommy Robinson, founder of the English Defense League and one of the most influential far-right figures in Britain. Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is known for his nationalist and anti-immigrant views.
The march was billed as a demonstration in support of free speech — with much of the rhetoric by influencers and far-right politicians from across Europe focused largely on immigration, an issue that has stirred political divisions across the continent.
“We are both subject to the same process of the great replacement of our European people by peoples coming from the south and of Muslim culture. You and we are being colonized by our former colonies,” far-right French politician Eric Zemmour said.
Billionaire businessman Elon Musk, a former White House advisor to President Trump who has waded into British politics several times this year, was beamed in by video and condemned the liberal U.K. government.
“There’s something beautiful about being British, and what I see happening here is a destruction of Britain, initially a slow erosion, but rapidly increasing erosion of Britain with massive uncontrolled migration,” he said.
Robinson told the crowd in a hoarse voice that migrants now had more rights in court than the “British public, the people that built this nation.”
The marches come at a time when the U.K. has been riven by debate over migrants crossing the English Channel in overcrowded inflatable boats to arrive on shore without authorization.
Numerous anti-immigrant protests were held this summer outside hotels housing asylum seekers after the arrest of an Ethiopian man who was later convicted of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in a London suburb. Some of those protests became violent and led to arrests.
Participants in the Unite the Kingdom march carried the St. George’s red-and-white flag of England as well as the union jack, the flag of the United Kingdom, and chanted, “We want our country back.”
British flags have proliferated this summer across the U.K. — at events and on village lampposts — in what some have said is a show of national pride and others said reflects a tilt toward nationalism.
Supporters held signs saying, “Stop the boats,” “Send them home” and “Enough is enough, save our children.”
At the counterprotest, the crowd held signs saying, “Refugees welcome” and ”Smash the far right,” and shouted, “Stand up, fight back!”
Robinson supporters chanted crude refrains about British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and shouted messages of support for slain U.S. conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
One demonstrator held a sign saying: “Freedom of speech is dead. RIP Charlie Kirk.”
The crowd at one point stretched from Big Ben across the River Thames and around the corner beyond Waterloo train station, a distance of about three-quarters of a mile.
Saturday’s rally and counterprotest had been mostly peaceful, but toward the late afternoon, Unite the Kingdom supporters threw items at the rival rally and tried to break through barriers set up to separate the groups, police said. Officers had to use force to keep a crowd-control fence from being breached.
Counterprotesters heckled a man with blood pouring down his face who was being escorted by police from the group of Robinson supporters. It wasn’t immediately clear what happened to him.
While the crowd was large, it was not the biggest in London in recent years. A pro-Palestinian rally drew an estimated 300,000 people in November 2023.
Robinson had planned a Unite the Kingdom rally last October, but couldn’t attend after being jailed for contempt of court for violating a 2021 High Court order barring him from repeating libelous allegations against a Syrian refugee who successfully sued him. He previously served jail time for assault and mortgage fraud.
Melley and Chan write for the Associated Press.