(Commonwealth_Europe) Twenty-six police officers were injured, four of them seriously, during a giant protest in central London led by activist Tommy Robinson, where reports stated that up to 150,000 people took to the streets; however, this number was heavily disputed with claims that it was much larger. In a post on X, Tommy Robinson said, “Over THREE million patriots hit central London today in a force of patriotism never seen before. And we’re just getting started.” Many independent media reports, however, estimated the march may have been 500,000 to a million. The Unite the Kingdom rally saw moments of violence as some protesters hurled bottles and other objects at police, while around 5,000 people joined a nearby counter-protest organized by Stand Up To Racism.
The Metropolitan Police revised their earlier figure of 25 arrests to 24 and described the violence as “wholly unacceptable.” A major policing operation was launched with 1,000 Met officers on duty and 500 more drafted in from other forces across the country.
Rally organizers were seen speaking to the media, urging the crowd not to respond to any provocations in anger. Despite the accusations from some MPs that the rally was a violent racist event, independent media outlets showed a largely diverse group of all racial backgrounds, which was mostly peaceful. Many had attended a Tommy Robinson rally for the first time, and common concerns included increased surveillance, censorship, and illegal boat crossings.
Despite some violent scenes, the rally continued with Robinson addressing the crowd at what he called a “freedom of speech festival.” He accused politicians of “parroting” his ideas and claimed that UK courts were prioritizing the rights of undocumented migrants over those of local communities.
Elon Musk made a surprise appearance via video link, to which he received cheering response from the crowd. Tommy Robinson thanked Musk for providing a platform on X for free speech and asked him why free speech is important to him, to which he responded by saying “I believe you can’t get to the truth of things without freedom of speech, without active debate. And there’s so many on the left that want to just crush debate and put people in prison just for talking, as you were, just for speaking their mind.”
“The essence of democracy is it should be a government for the people, by the people. And in fact, this is a government against the people and not for the people. This is why everyone is gathered here today – something’s got to be done. This is unacceptable,” said Musk.
The stage also featured aTV presenter Katie Hopkins, former actor Laurence Fox, and TV personality Ant Middleton made appearances at the event.
