{"id":965353,"date":"2026-05-16T22:13:26","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T22:13:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/965353\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T22:13:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T22:13:26","slug":"tens-of-thousands-march-in-london-in-far-right-and-pro-palestine-protests-protests-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/965353\/","title":{"rendered":"Tens of thousands march in London in far-right and pro-Palestine protests | Protests News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tens of thousands of people are marching through central London in two separate protests \u2013 one pro-Palestine demonstration a day after Nakba Day, and the other, a far-right rally<\/a> staged by Tommy Robinson.<\/p>\n

Police in the British capital deployed 4,000 officers, including reinforcements from \u2060outside the city, on Saturday and pledged \u201cthe most assertive possible use of our powers\u201d in what they called their biggest public order operation in years.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

They had earlier forecast \u2060turnout of at least 80,000 \u2013 about 50,000 at Robinson\u2019s \u201cUnite the Kingdom\u201d march, and 30,000 more expected at the Nakba Day rally.<\/p>\n

Armoured vehicles, horses, dogs, drones and helicopters were also deployed to manage the separate protest marches, the United Kingdom Metropolitan Police said.<\/p>\n

In a Saturday evening update, police said officers had made 43 arrests at the twin protests, which both ended by 18:30 GMT.<\/p>\n

\u201cFour officers were assaulted today. Fortunately, none seriously. A further six officers were subjected to hate crime offences,\u201d the Met said on X, with the officials describing both protests as \u201clargely without significant incident\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"PolicePolice officers begin to move off after a march organised by Unite The Kingdom, in central London, on May 16, 2026 [AFP]<\/p>\n

Earlier, authorities had imposed various conditions on the two rallies over their routes and timings, in a bid to keep rival attendees apart. Prosecutors were also told to consider whether certain protest placards or chants may amount to offences and stir up aggression during the rallies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not about restricting free speech,\u201d said the Crown Prosecution Service\u2019s director, Stephen Parkinson. \u201cIt is about preventing hate crime and protecting the public, particularly at a time of heightened tensions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The police force, which estimated its operation will cost 4.5 million pounds ($6m), warned in a statement that it would adopt \u201ca zero-tolerance approach\u201d. That included, for the first time, making organisers legally responsible for ensuring invited speakers do not break hate speech laws.<\/p>\n

The police also said live facial recognition would be used for the first time to police the protests.<\/p>\n

The British government earlier blocked 11 foreign nationals from entering the country for the Unite the Kingdom rally.<\/p>\n

Right-wing figures claiming to have been barred include Polish politician Dominik Tarczynski, Belgian politician Filip Dewinter, Colombian-American anti-Islam commentator Valentina Gomez and Dutch activist Eva Vlaardingerbroek.<\/p>\n

Immigration concerns<\/p>\n

Aerial footage broadcast by UK media on Saturday showed tens of thousands at Robinson\u2019s rally \u2013 a sea of British Union Jack, English St George\u2019s and other flags.<\/p>\n

\u201cImmigration\u2019s the main concern,\u201d Christine Turner, 66, from northeast England, told the AFP news agency from the Unite the Kingdom march.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re an island. We\u2019ve got a clear border that they\u2019re not protecting. Something needs to be done. It\u2019s gone on too long.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the eve of demonstrations, Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned, \u201cAnyone who sets out to wreak havoc on our streets, to intimidate or threaten anyone \u2026 can expect to face the full force of the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starmer \u2013 facing intense pressure<\/a> within his governing Labour party to quit after far-right Reform UK scored huge wins in local elections last week \u2013 accused the organisers of Saturday\u2019s far-right rally of \u201cpeddling hatred and division\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that too much migration \u2013 not migration, but too much migration \u2013 is causing a lot of problems, upsetting a delicate balance here,\u201d Allison Parr, who also criticised net-zero environmental policies, told the Reuters news agency.<\/p>\n

Annual net migration approached 900,000 in 2022 and 2023, but fell back to about 200,000 last year after tighter work visa rules.<\/p>\n

Last September, far-right activist Robinson \u2013 whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon \u2013 drew about 110,000 people<\/a> into central London for a similar rally proclaiming \u201cnational unity, free speech and Christian values\u201d.<\/p>\n

X owner Elon Musk had addressed the demonstrators via video link at that event, calling for the dissolution of parliament and an early election to remove Starmer\u2019s centre-left government. The September rally shocked many in the UK for its scale, directness and clashes between participants and police, which injured dozens of officers.<\/p>\n

Musk had also warned protesters that \u201cviolence is coming to you\u201d and \u201cyou either fight back or you die\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u2018Love, kindness and hope\u2019<\/p>\n

Not far from where far-right protesters gathered, demonstrators carrying Palestinian flags and placards called for an end to Israel\u2019s genocidal war in Gaza.<\/p>\n

They marched to mark Nakba Day, held annually on March 15 to commemorate the 1948 mass expulsion of Palestinians from their land during the establishment of the state of Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsrael, its behaviour is unjust beyond belief,\u201d protester Sharon De-Wit said. \u201cAfter the Holocaust, etc, all you can do is wish the Jewish people all the best. But they won\u2019t be able to live in peace until they allow the Palestinian people to form their \u200cown state.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another pro-Palestine demonstrator, Ali Haydor, lamented the divisions in society as the rival voices rallied.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, the society is divided, and a lot of it is a failure of the last 40-plus years of political decision-making, and it\u2019s sad that you\u2019ve got two groups of people, separated based on division and hate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think if you look at here, there is no hate or division. This is all about love and kindness and hope. And what we say to the other group: Join us in that hope and kindness, because that\u2019s where the better future is, not the other side.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Stand Up to Racism group also combined its antifascism march with the pro-Palestine event to mark Nakba Day this year.<\/p>\n

\"epa12964494A protester holds up a placard which says: \u2018Jews Against Ethnic Cleansing\u2019 during a march in support of Nakba Day and against the far right, in London, Britain, on May 16 [Tayfun Salci\/EPA]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tens of thousands of people are marching through central London in two separate protests \u2013 one pro-Palestine demonstration…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":965354,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,393,299,4884,4582,257,12,529,285,2579,74429,16,15],"class_list":["post-965353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-london","tag-britain","tag-england","tag-europe","tag-great-britain","tag-human-rights","tag-london","tag-news","tag-police","tag-politics","tag-protests","tag-the-far-right","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116586558735756955","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/965353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=965353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/965353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/965354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=965353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=965353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=965353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}