Tens of thousands march through London for far-right and pro-Palestine protests – liveNEWS | 16 May 2026From 1h ago 07.49 EDT The march routes through London Here is the map of the two routes being taken today: Map of London showing two march routes Share
2m ago 08.56 EDT Robinson urges supporters to 'locally get involved in politics' Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, or Tommy Robinson as he’s known, called for crowds gathered for his Unite the Kingdom protest to get involved in politics, PA reports. View image in fullscreen Far-right agitator Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, known by his pseudonym Tommy Robinson, speaks during his Unite the Kingdom rally in London. Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP He said from the stage: double quotation mark Are you ready for the battle of Britain? 2029 we have an election. We’re not asking anyone to go out and fight, but this is the most important moment in our generation. If we don’t send a message in our next election, if you don’t register to vote, if you don’t get involved, if you don’t become activists, we are going to lose our country forever. He added: double quotation mark We have to get political, we have to get involved. I’m not going to tell you which political party you need to join. We’re a cultural movement. I’m going to tell you that you have to join a political party. I don’t care if it’s Reform, if it’s Advance, or it’s Restore, or it’s the Conservative party. We have to locally get involved in politics. Share
11m ago 08.48 EDT Tommy Robinson spotted among the crowds at his Unite the Kingdom rally: View image in fullscreen Photograph: Toby Shepheard/AFP/Getty Images Share Updated at 08.57 EDT
21m ago 08.38 EDT Police say 11 people arrested 'for a variety of offences' The Met said it has arrested 11 people “for a variety of offences” so far. It did not specify how many arrests were linked to the Unite the Kingdom event and the pro-Palestine march. Police said earlier today two men were arrested near Euston station on suspicion of grievous bodily harm following an incident in Birmingham where a man was run over. They arrived in London to attend the United the Kingdom protest. Share
44m ago 08.14 EDT Protesters begin marching in central London Both marches have now set off from their starting points. As a reminder, the Unite the Kingdom rally began in Kingsway near Holborn while the pro-Palestine Nakba Day march gathered more than 3 miles away in Exhibition Road in Kensington. View image in fullscreen People take part in Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom march in central London. Photograph: Sam Hall/PA View image in fullscreen People hold signs and flags as demonstrators from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign hold a march to mark the 78th anniversary of the Nakba and against the Unite the Kingdom rally. Photograph: Chris J Ratcliffe/Reuters Share Updated at 08.15 EDT
1h ago 07.37 EDT A woman has been arrested after she appeared to refuse to remove a fabric face mask she was wearing at a pro-Palestine protest forming up in South Kensington, the Press Association reports. She was part of a group of protesters who were all asked to remove fabric and surgical face coverings. A separate group, who were wearing orange jumpsuits with masks over their faces bearing a photo of Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, were also asked to remove their masks. Share
1h ago 07.29 EDT Vikram Dodd Speakers at today’s far-right rally, according to its advertising, include the mother of a woman killed by an asylum seeker, and the American conspiracy theorist Glenn Beck, a former anchor on the rightwing Fox News channel who left amid claims he was too extreme for the Rupert Murdoch-owned network. March organiser Tommy Robinson went to the US in February where in Washington he met more than a dozen lawmakers and was hosted by the US state department. Previously he had been banned from entering the US because of criminal convictions. The promotion material for the march features an AI-generated video that denounces Muslims and ends with a sequence where Robinson is on a stage adored by a crowd of tens of thousands and contains the line: “Tommy Robinson’s vision, this is our destiny.” While the video for UTK may be AI fantasy, Nick Lowles, of Hope Not Hate, said the reality was that Robinson was popular among a significant minority of Britons. Polling shows he is known by more than 80% of respondents, and while the number of those disliking him is high, 17% like him: “Lennon can put more people on the streets than any other person. He is a phenomenon,” said Lowles. Share
2h ago 07.20 EDT Here are some of the latest images of protesters gathering in London: View image in fullscreen People take part in Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom march in central London. Photograph: Maja Smiejkowska/PA View image in fullscreen People use megaphones as demonstrators from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign hold a march. Photograph: Chris J Ratcliffe/Reuters View image in fullscreen A man holds up a placard with the words 'God Bless Donald Trump' as people take part in a Unite The Kingdom protest. Photograph: Carl Court/Getty Images Share
2h ago 07.10 EDT Two men arrested arriving into London to attend UTK protest, says Met Commenting on today’s policing operation in London, the Met Police said they had made two arrests near Euston station. A statement from the force read: double quotation mark Officers have made two arrests in the vicinity of Euston station. Two men, wanted on suspicion of GBH following an incident in Birmingham where a man was run over, were spotted arriving into London to attend the UTK protest. Share Updated at 07.15 EDT
2h ago 06.58 EDT The human rights group Amnesty International has condemned the Unite the Kingdom rally as “a march that brings racism, violence and fear to the streets of London”. View image in fullscreen Protesters gather and wave flags during the Unite the Kingdom march in London. Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP The group’s UK chief executive, Kerry Moscogiuri, said the rally organised by Tommy Robinson aims to “whip up hatred towards Muslims, migrants and people of colour”. She added: double quotation mark This rally is driven by a vicious combination of tech companies profiting off the amplification of hate online, funding by the likes of US tech billionaire Robert Shillman to further their own agendas and the scapegoating of migrants and people of colour for rising inequality by media commentators. Instead of countering this narrative, we have seen politicians responding by doubling down on racist rhetoric.” As the Guardian’s Daniel Boffey reported previously, Shillman, known as Dr Bob, financed a fellowship that helped pay for Robinson to be employed by the rightwing Canadian media website, Rebel Media, now called Rebel News, on a salary of about £5,000 a month. Moscogiuri called on the government to “do more to protect racialised communities from this rising tide of violence and hate, and stop us going down this dangerous path”. Share
2h ago 06.42 EDT Nick Lowles, director of the anti-fascist campaign group Hope Not Hate, has shared a poll on Tommy Robinson’s popularity this morning as the far-right leader’s Unite the Kingdom rally gathers pace. According to a poll of 45,000 people conducted by Hope Not Hate, 17% of British people like Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon. This rose to 34% among men aged between 25 and 34. In a post on X, Lowles said: “Obviously a lot more people disliked him, but his reach and support is like nothing we have seen before. “Some people might question why I post this, it is simple. Unless we are honest about what we are up against, then we will not properly be able to find ways to counter him – especially amongst those people who are slightly attracted to him but who can be persuaded otherwise.” Share
2h ago 06.33 EDT Unite the Kingdom rally organisers 'spreading hatred and division', says Lammy Justice secretary David Lammy said the organisers of the Unite the Kingdom rally taking place today “are spreading hatred and division”. Writing on X, he added: “They do not reflect the Britain I’m proud of. “Peaceful protest is a fundamental right and one I will always protect. But if protest turns violent, we will act swiftly, with extra court capacity in place.” View image in fullscreen People gather in Kingsway ahead of a 'Unite the Kingdom' march and rally in London. Photograph: Tayfun Salcı/EPA Share
3h ago 06.12 EDT Ben Quinn Sir Mark Rowley, commissioner of the Metropolitan police, used a separate article in The Muslim News, a UK-based outlet, to insist that both protests are being policed on exactly the same basis, under the same legal framework, with similar conditions and timings and the same expectations. View image in fullscreen Metropolitan police commissioner Mark Rowley during a meeting with representatives from criminal justice agencies at 10 Downing Street last month. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/PA Pointing out that specific conditions relating to speakers at both protests had been introduced for the first time, he said: “These place a responsibility on organisers to ensure that those they invite do not use these events as a platform for unlawful extremism or hate speech. Where this happens, both the speaker and the organisers will face consequences.” Rowley added: “Our duty is clear: to protect communities, to uphold free speech and to police lawful protest without fear or favour. We will make arrests where we see anti-Muslim and antisemitic hate crimes.” However, one of the organisers of the pro-Palestinian march today, John Rees, accused Rowley of being “reckless” with free speech. View image in fullscreen Posters in London advertise the Nakba 78 March For Palestine. Photograph: Vuk Valcic/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock “I think it is amazing that in the middle of a speech a police man will turn up on stage and arrest somebody for saying something,” Rees told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“If you are anyone in this country who is concerned about civil liberties and freedom of speech then I think we are going to a very dark place when that happens.” Rees accused the police of allowing Tommy Robinson to “take over” the entirety of the area around Whitehall, the governmental district of London, after he had chosen today in a deliberately provocative way to ensure both protests coincided. Share Updated at 06.17 EDT
3h ago 05.56 EDT Strict conditions on the timings and the routes of both demonstrations are in place. Tommy Robinson’s Unite the Kingdom march will begin in Kingsway and move along the Strand before ending in Parliament Square. Crowds are expected to gather for the rally from 11am. Meanwhile the annual pro-Palestine Nakba Day march begins at noon in Exhibition Road in Kensington before heading to Waterloo Place and finishing in Pall Mall. Share Updated at 06.09 EDT
3h ago 05.34 EDT British Palestinians feel ‘gaslit’ and unable to speak out, says leading activist Aamna Mohdin British Palestinians feel unable to speak openly about Israel’s war on Gaza, the director of the British Palestinian Committee has said, amid what campaigners believe is a growing climate of hostility around Palestinian identity and activism in the UK. View image in fullscreen Sara Husseini, director of the British Palestinian Committee. Photograph: Christian Sinibaldi/The Guardian Some were afraid to wear Palestinian symbols at work or display Arabic jewellery and keffiyehs in public, Sara Husseini said. “We have many documented reports of Palestinians and allies being silenced or punished for wearing Palestinian symbols, watermelon pins, or speaking about the genocide,” she said. “Many colleagues across all kinds of sectors feel they are being gaslit while friends and families are being massacred back home.” Speaking before Saturday’s national march in London commemorating the 78th anniversary of the Nakba (“catastrophe”) – the displacement of at least 700,000 Palestinians during the creation of Israel in 1948 – Husseini said many Palestinians felt they were being treated not as victims of mass suffering, but as suspects whose grief had become politicised. “Cruelty is the word I would use, particularly for colleagues who are from Gaza or have family there, knowing these atrocities are being inflicted on their loved ones day in, day out,” Husseini said. “And then being effectively told: not only are we not going to acknowledge that this is happening to you, we’re going to disbelieve you, interrogate you, stop you from speaking about it, and if you do speak, we’re going to paint you as the problem.” Read more here: British Palestinians feel ‘gaslit’ and unable to speak out, says leading activist Read more Share
4h ago 05.25 EDT Ben Quinn Keir Starmer has described the far-right activist known as Tommy Robinson and others organising a major rally in London today as “individuals with long records of violence and extremism”.
As tens of thousands started their journeys into the city today ahead of the self-styled Unite the Kingdom (UTK) march, the prime minister used an article published on the website of LBC radio to again condemn Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon.
“Their goal is to inflame and divide. And they are seeking the support of far-right agitators around the world to make that happen,” wrote Starmer, whose government has blocked 11 people, including a Polish far-right MEP, from coming to Britain ahead of the event. “I refuse to stand by and allow that poison to be imported into the UK,” he added. View image in fullscreen Far-right activist Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, delivers a speech during a Patriots Network conference in Paris, France, on 2 May. Photograph: Mohammed Badra/EPA It emerged on Friday that another of those banned from coming to UK is Ezra Levant, a long time Canadian supporter of Robinson, who has been involved in the activist’s reinvention of himself as an online influencer and self-styled journalist.
Starmer used the same article to also issue a warning to those taking part in the pro-Palestine Nakba Day rally, which is also taking place today along a different route in London.
Prosecutors have been told to consider whether protest placards, banners and chants viewed on social media may amount to offences of stirring up hatred during the rallies.
The new guidance, issued before what police have described as an “unprecedented” security operation, urges prosecutors to assess whether slogans, symbols or chants may influence audiences online if they are filmed and shared.
Starmer wrote: “The cause of a Palestinian state is just and, alongside a safe and secure Israel, one that is recognised by this government.
“But on marches that support that cause, it is not hard to find individuals who abuse it to spread antisemitism and intimidate Jewish communities. And this is taking place against the backdrop of a deeply worrying rise in antisemitic incidents – including terrorist attacks. The end result is that British Jews feel unsafe in their own streets.” ShareAuthor: Taz Ali. Source
