TENS of thousands of people are set to gather in London on Saturday for two separate protests, while further pressure is put on the city as fans descend on Wembley Stadium for the FA cup final.
It is set to be one of the city’s largest policing operations, with £4.5 million being spent by the force, drafting in armoured vehicles, police horses, drones and helicopters to monitor the crowds.
The two protests taking place will be separated by a rolling police column to avoid clashes.
On one side there will be the Nakba Day rally, a commemorative event held by pro-Palestine supporters on the day more than 750,000 Palestinians were displaced upon the declaration of Israeli independence in 1948.
Protesters at the Unite the Kingdom rally in 2025 with the police cordon (Image: PA)
The march, organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Stop the War Coalition and Stand Up to Racism, among other similar organisations, will assemble in South Kensington at 12pm.
It will form up at Exhibition Road in Kensington, then go via Cromwell Gardens, Brompton Road, Knightsbridge, Piccadilly, ending at Pall Mall.
The rally will then take place at Waterloo Place; speeches and music must conclude by 5pm, and the assembly must end by 5.30pm.
Elsewhere, crowds will gather on Kingsway for the Unite the Kingdom march and rally where far-right agitator Tommy Robinson (Stephen Yaxley-Lennon) will speak.
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It will start on Kingsway and proceed to Aldwych, Strand, Trafalgar Square, Whitehall, ending in Parliament Square.
The speeches and music are to conclude by 5.30pm, and the assembly must end by 6pm.
The police will enforce two separate rolling corridors in central London, with Trafalgar Square, Whitehall and Parliament Square acting as built barriers between the two groups.
The Government has also blocked 11 foreign nationals described by Keir Starmer as “far-right agitators” from entering the UK ahead of the Unite the Kingdom rally.
Photograph from last year’s Unite the Kingdom rally
Right-wing figures claiming to have been barred include Polish politician Dominik Tarczynski, Belgian politician Filip Dewinter, anti-Islam commentator Valentina Gomez and Dutch activist Eva Vlaardingerbroek.
This is the second Unite the Kingdom rally held by Robinson, with the last event in September seeing more than 100,000 people turn out.
This year, the Metropolitan Police have predicted around 50,000 people will be in attendance, with an additional 30,000 at the Nakba Day march.
In addition to the heightened police presence, prosecutors have been told to consider whether protest placards, banners and chants viewed on social media may amount to offences of stirring up hatred during the rallies.
The new guidance, issued before what police have described as an “unprecedented” security operation, urges prosecutors to assess whether slogans, symbols or chants may influence audiences online if they are filmed and shared.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said the revised advice is designed to reflect “the changing international context” and follows separate guidance concerning the fast-tracking of hate crime prosecutions issued earlier this month.
The guidance tells prosecutors to take account of the wider context surrounding protests, including heightened tensions linked to national or international events.
Recent criminal cases have seen suspects charged after shouting “death to the IDF (Israel Defence Forces)” and “globalise the intifada”.
Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Parkinson said: “This is not about restricting free speech. It is about preventing hate crime and protecting the public, particularly at a time of heightened tensions.
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“Where the line into criminality is crossed, we will not hesitate to prosecute.”
The CPS said offences of stirring up hatred under the Public Order Act 1986 carry maximum prison sentences of seven years.
Around 4,000 officers are expected to be on duty on Saturday, with 660 being drafted in from forces outside the Met.
Speaking during a visit to a Metropolitan Police command centre in Lambeth on Friday, the Prime Minister said the Unite the Kingdom organisers were “peddling hatred and division, plain and simple”.
He added: “We will block those coming into the UK who seek to incite hatred and violence. For anyone who sets out to wreak havoc on our streets, to intimidate or threaten anyone, you can expect to face the full force of the law.”
The FA Cup Final is at Wembley the same day, bringing tens of thousands of fans across London for the crunch Manchester City v Chelsea match. The stadium has a capacity of 90,000.
The Met Police have flagged that attendees may join the rally after the match, particularly because there are no other professional men’s football matches taking place later in the day.