{"id":228835,"date":"2025-09-15T13:44:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T13:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/228835\/"},"modified":"2025-09-15T13:44:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T13:44:10","slug":"elon-musks-comments-at-anti-migrant-rally-condemned-by-starmer-and-other-british-politicians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/228835\/","title":{"rendered":"Elon Musk’s comments at anti-migrant rally condemned by Starmer and other British politicians"},"content":{"rendered":"

LONDON (AP) \u2014 Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday condemned \u201cdangerous\u201d comments by Elon Musk<\/a> after the X and Tesla owner told an anti-immigration rally<\/a> that violence is coming to Britain and they must fight or die. But the U.K. government resisted opposition calls to sanction Musk for the remarks.<\/p>\n

Starmer denounced violence on the fringes of Saturday\u2019s 100,000 or more-strong \u201cUnite the Kingdom\u201d demonstration in London organized by far-right campaigner Tommy Robinson<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Police said 26 officers were injured, four seriously, as a minority among the protesters tried to breach lines separating them from a smaller anti-racist counter-demonstration. There were 25 people arrested at the event and the Metropolitan Police said more arrests would follow.<\/p>\n

Addressing the demonstration by video link, Musk called for the dissolution of Parliament and an early election to remove Starmer\u2019s center-left government. He told protesters \u201cviolence is coming to you\u201d and \u201cyou either fight back or you die.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

People demonstrate during the Tommy Robinson-led Unite the Kingdom march and rally, in London, Saturday Sept. 13, 2025. (AP Photo\/Joanna Chan)<\/p>\n

People demonstrate during the Tommy Robinson-led Unite the Kingdom march and rally, in London, Saturday Sept. 13, 2025. (AP Photo\/Joanna Chan)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

Starmer\u2019s spokesman, Dave Pares, said he didn\u2019t think \u201cthe British public will have any truck with that kind of language.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe U.K. is a fair, tolerant and decent country, so the last thing that British people want is dangerous and inflammatory language which threatens violence and intimidation on our streets,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Calls to sanction Musk<\/p>\n

Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, the third-largest party in Britain\u2019s Parliament, urged Starmer, Conservative opposition leader Kemi Badenoch and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage to join him in condemning Musk\u2019s attempt \u201cto sow discord and incite violence on our streets\u201d and interfere with British democracy. <\/p>\n

Davey urged Starmer to block Tesla from getting government contracts.<\/p>\n

Starmer\u2019s spokesman said the government had no plans to sanction Musk over his comments.<\/p>\n

The prime minister wrote on X that peaceful protest \u201cis core to our country\u2019s values. But we will not stand for assaults on police officers doing their job or for people feeling intimidated on our streets because of their background or the color of their skin.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is not the first time Musk, an erstwhile ally of President Donald Trump, has supported hard-right and far-right figures in Europe, including Robinson, a convicted fraudster and founder of the anti-Islam English Defense League whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, and the Alternative for Germany<\/a> party, or AfD.<\/p>\n

Musk also is a critic of attempts by the U.K. and other European governments to clamp down on harmful online content, something he argues restricts free speech.<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s march was billed as a demonstration in support of free speech, with many of the speeches by influencers and far-right politicians from across Europe aimed largely at the supposed perils of migration.<\/p>\n

It followed growing political concern about unauthorized immigration, especially the arrival of migrants across the English Channel in small boats<\/a>. More than 30,000 people have made the dangerous crossing from France so far this year despite efforts by authorities<\/a> in Britain, France and other countries to crack down on the people-smuggling gangs behind the trips.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Police<\/p>\n

Police officers form a line in front of demonstrators from the Tommy Robinson-led Unite the Kingdom march and rally near Westminster, London, Saturday Sept. 13, 2025. (AP Photo\/Joanna Chan)<\/p>\n

Police officers form a line in front of demonstrators from the Tommy Robinson-led Unite the Kingdom march and rally near Westminster, London, Saturday Sept. 13, 2025. (AP Photo\/Joanna Chan)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

The use of hotels to accommodate asylum-seekers has become a major political issued in Britain, sparking dozens of small but heated protests<\/a> over the summer, some of which turned violent.<\/p>\n

Flying the flag<\/p>\n

Many of the demonstrators waved the U.K.\u2019s Union Jack or red and white St. George flag of England. In recent weeks, the flags have proliferated on lampposts, motorway bridges and road intersections around the country as part of a seemingly grassroots campaign. Red crosses have also been painted on buildings in what some see as an intimidating gesture aimed at ethnic minorities.<\/p>\n

The St. George flag, in particular, is a complex symbol. It can express patriotism and pride when supporting England\u2019s sports teams, but has at times been appropriated by anti-immigration protesters and the hard right. The flag featured heavily at anti-asylum protests this summer, which were attended and in some cases organized by far-right activists.<\/p>\n

\u201cFlags can unite and divide as they are flown by people with different motives and meanings,\u201d said Sunder Katwala of British Future, a think tank that looks at issues including integration and national identity.<\/p>\n

James Freeman, a senior lecturer in political history at the University of Bristol, said the use of flags \u201cto intimidate or demark certain areas as being out of bounds\u201d was a historical phenomenon, though the link between the St. George flag and the hard right is \u201crelatively recent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starmer, who has expressed support for flying flags as symbols of national pride, wrote on X that \u201cBritain is a nation proudly built on tolerance, diversity and respect. Our flag represents our diverse country and we will never surrender it to those that use it as a symbol of violence, fear and division.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONDON (AP) \u2014 Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday condemned \u201cdangerous\u201d comments by Elon Musk after the X…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":228836,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[123655,69,67644,66,57,409,123656,17723,2676,50,25930,80,402,89,376,4338,8572,103,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-228835","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-dave-pares","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-ed-davey","11":"tag-elon-musk","12":"tag-general-news","13":"tag-immigration","14":"tag-james-freeman","15":"tag-keir-starmer","16":"tag-london","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-nigel-farage","19":"tag-politics","20":"tag-protests-and-demonstrations","21":"tag-u-s-democratic-party","22":"tag-united-kingdom","23":"tag-united-kingdom-government","24":"tag-violence","25":"tag-world","26":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115208617221276381","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}