While the protest was arranged weeks ago as a rally for free speech, it turned into a show of forced for a British variant of the “Make America Great Again” movement as protestors held up photographs of Kirk and chanted his name.
The protest organiser, controversial far-right activist Tommy Robinson, billed the event as a peaceful rally for free speech and branded it a “Unite the Kingdom” march.
A demonstrator stands on the head of one of the lions of Westminster Bridge during the protest on Saturday.Credit: AP
“The start of the revolution is on,” he said in a video.
Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, has served five prison terms and was most recently jailed last October for contempt of court for making false allegations about a refugee despite an injunction.
He was arrested in August over allegations he punched a man at a London train station, but he was not charged because the alleged victim declined to make a statement to police.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/aug/27/tommy-robinson-no-charge-alleged-st-pancras-assault
Speakers at the Saturday rally included right-wing commentator Katie Hopkins, a former reality television contestant who was deported from Australia in 2021 for refusing to follow quarantine rules during the pandemic.
There was no endorsement, however, from Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, who has split with Robinson because of his criminal convictions.
“We’re a political party aiming to win the next general election,” Farage said in January. “He’s not what we need.”
Musk, however, has strongly backed Robinson and attacked Farage earlier this year.
Steve Bannon, a key adviser to US President Donald Trump, was said to be speaking at the event, after saying in an interview three days ago that UK was heading toward a “civil war” where citizens fought the rise of what he called socialism. He did not appear.
The numbers proved too great for the streets around the Palace of Westminster, highlighting the scale of the far-right in Britain and drawing parallels with similar movements elsewhere in Europe.
The crowd heard from politicians from far-right German party Alternative für Deutschland, or AfD, as well as similar speakers from France and Denmark.
On a Saturday afternoon marked by sunshine and occasional rain, the crowd converged on Parliament Square in numbers that were larger than anticipated and put pressure on police lines created to ensure safe exits.
Police were subjected to “unacceptable violence” from some of the protestors, the Metropolitan Police said.
“They were assaulted with kicks and punches. Bottles, flares and other projectiles were thrown,” the police said.
“Nine arrests have been made so far for various offences, but many more people have been identified as committing offences. We will find them and they will face police action, even if it is not possible to do so today.”
In a post before any signs of violence, the Met Police said they were using a mobile CCTV van to help monitor the crowd but were not using live facial recognition.
The police estimated that about 110,000 joined the Unite the Kingdom rally and about 5000 attended a rival protest organised by a group called Stand Up To Racism.
While the Met Police sent 1000 local officers to keep the peace, another 500 had to be drawn from outlying areas as support for the event appeared to grow in the wake of Kirk’s assassination.
Most of the violence appeared to come from Robinson’s supporters among the far-right, including reports that some threw bottles at female police on horseback, but there were also accounts of violence from anti-fascist protestors.
