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<\/p>\nMore than 100,000 demonstrators packed London streets Saturday for a march organized by far-right activist Tommy Robinson.<\/p>\n
The “Unite the Kingdom” rally got underway as much smaller numbers of counterprotesters, organized by the Stand Up To Racism group, gathered under the banner of the “March Against Fascism.”<\/p>\n
More than 1,000 police officers were on duty to patrol the dueling demonstrations, and there was a buffer zone to keep the two from engaging with each other near the halls of government.<\/p>\n
Police estimated the crowd at the Robinson rally at about 110,000 people. The rival protest had about 5,000 marchers.<\/p>\n
At one point, the larger crowd stretched from Big Ben across the River Thames and around the corner beyond Waterloo train station, a distance of three-quarters of a mile (around a kilometer).<\/p>\n
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A demonstrator stands on the head of one of the lions of Westminster Bridge during a Tommy Robinson-led Unite the Kingdom march and rally in London, Saturday Sept. 13, 2025.<\/p>\n
Joanna Chan \/ AP<\/p>\n
While the crowd was large, it fell far short of one of the biggest recent marches when a pro-Palestinian rally drew an estimated 300,000 people in November 2023.<\/p>\n
Robinson<\/a>, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon and is known for his nationalist and anti-migrant views, billed the march as a demonstration for free speech, and also said it was in defense of British heritage and culture.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Numerous anti-migrant protests were held this summer outside hotels housing asylum-seekers following 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.<\/p>\n Participants in the “Unite the Kingdom” march carried the St. George’s red-and-white flag of England and the Union Jack, the state flag of the United Kingdom, and chanted, “We want our country back.” U.K. flags have proliferated this summer across the U.K. \u2014 at events and on village lampposts \u2014 in what some have said is a show of national pride and others said reflects a tilt toward nationalism.<\/p>\n Some Robinson supporters held signs saying “stop the boats,” “send them home,” and “enough is enough, save our children.”<\/p>\n At the counterprotest, the crowd held signs saying “refugees welcome” and “smash the far right,” and shouted “stand up, fight back.”<\/p>\n Robinson supporters chanted crude refrains about U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and also shouted messages of support for slain U.S. conservative activist Charlie Kirk.<\/a><\/p>\n Kirk was shot and killed on Wednesday at Utah Valley University as he addressed a large crowd at an outdoor debate. Officials described it as a “targeted attack,” and it drew\u00a0condemnation from both sides<\/a>\u00a0of the political aisle as authorities launched a massive\u00a0search<\/a>\u00a0for the suspect.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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