On 16 May, tens of thousands of people gathered in central London for the Unite the Kingdom march, organised by nationally oriented activist Tommy Robinson. Supporters of the march presented the march as a protest against the erosion of British identity.
Even though the march attracted slightly fewer people than a similar march last September with around 150,000 protesters, it will nevertheless go down in history as one of the most influential mobilisations for British national identity. According to police estimates, around 60,000 people took part in the march on Saturday.
The Metropolitan Police described it as one of the largest police operations in recent years, as tens of thousands of football fans were also present at Wembley Stadium during the FA Cup final. More than 4,000 police officers were deployed to the capital to maintain order. The police also used drones, horses and dogs, and kept armoured vehicles on standby.
Throughout the weeks leading up to the march, Robinson had been urging supporters to take to the streets on 16 May. Alongside Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, speakers at the rally included former LBC presenter Katie Hopkins, actor-turned-politician Laurence Fox, and TV personality Ant Middleton. Robinson called on the crowds to get involved in politics, including by registering to vote and joining a political party.
“Are you ready for the battle of Britain? In 2029 we have an election. We’re not asking anyone to go out and fight, but this is the most important moment of 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 told the crowd.
Robinson also mentioned Elon Musk, who delivered a video message and posted messages on his social media page X in support of the march. “None of this would have happened if it wasn’t for one man. Thank you, Elon, on behalf of Great Britain,” Robinson said, prompting thousands in the crowd to chant “Elon.”
He is the founder of the English Defence League, which he left in 2013, as well as one of the most influential opposition figures in the UK, who draws attention to crimes committed by migrants in the country and calls for strict restrictions on immigration. Robinson did not officially endorse any political party; instead, he urged his supporters to join the nationalist movements in the UK, including Reform UK and other groups.
The Unite the Kingdom march focused primarily on domestic issues, British society and Christianity, as well as strong opposition to the immigration policy and the defence of freedom of speech.
Throughout the march, crowds carrying St George’s Crosses and Union Jack filed through central London, chanting “We want Starmer out” and “Christ is King,” while some wore red “Make England Great Again” hats. Protesters described in various interviews the purpose of their participation was to express their feeling of being neglected by the government and their concern about the direction the country is taking. Some said they wanted to see the end of the current government, meanwhile others claimed that white people, particularly white working-class people, face discrimination in the country.
“Immigration’s the main concern. We’re an island. We’ve got a clear border that they’re not protecting. Something needs to be done. It’s gone on too long,” Christine Turner, 66, from northeast England, told the AFP news agency from the Unite the Kingdom march.
One veteran said he had “fought for this country” but now felt “the way things are going” made it feel like “a waste of time.” A woman in a wheelchair pointed to the National Health Service, saying waiting times were “getting ridiculous.” Meanwhile, parents of children who had been subjected to violence by refugees were present at the march, including Siobhan Whyte, whose daughter Rhiannon was murdered by a Sudanese asylum seeker. She stated that Starmer had “failed my daughter.”
Many of the protesters said they would like to see Christian values return to Britain. Chris Wickland, a priest from the Confessing Anglican Church, said he had come to the march “to represent Christianity,” adding that “something is disappearing from our culture and from our nation … and that was Christianity.” One man, draped in an Israeli flag, said he wanted to “bring back Judeo-Christian values to this nation.” He said he was not Jewish or Israeli, but described himself as a British Protestant who believed Israel had “always been an ally to the United Kingdom.”
The speeches at the Unite the Kingdom protest rally concluded with a rendition of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” for the crowd. Robinson also thanked the Metropolitan Police and urged the crowd of his supporters to “show them respect.” He also called on the protesters to be careful on their way home.
The march took place on the same day as a large pro-Palestinian march marking the Nakba in another part of central London, prompting one of the capital’s largest public order operations in recent years amid fears of clashes between rival groups.
Protesters carrying Palestinian flags and placards called for an end to Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza. They marched in honour of Nakba Day, which is observed annually on 15 March in memory of the mass expulsion of Palestinians from their lands in 1948 during the creation of the State of Israel. According to police estimates, up to 20,000 people took part in the pro-Palestinian march.
Multifaceted context of the Unite the Kingdom march
Several days before the protests, Starmer accused the Unite the Kingdom march organisers of “peddling hatred and division,” calling it “a reminder of what we’re up against.” He also described some participants as “convicted thugs and racists,” with prosecutors warning that anti-Semitic or racist chants would be prosecuted. Anti-Semitism is on the rise in the UK, and the government has raised the national threat level from “substantial” to “severe.”
In a statement on Friday, Starmer said: “We’re in a fight for the soul of this country, and the Unite the Kingdom march this weekend is a stark reminder of exactly what we are up against. Its organisers are peddling hatred and division, plain and simple. We will block those coming into the UK who seek to incite hatred and violence. For anyone who sets out to wreak havoc on our streets, to intimidate or threaten anyone, you can expect to face the full force of the law.”
The march also coincided with the British economic crisis and the disastrous results of this month’s local elections, following which Starmer is facing growing calls for his resignation. A fifth of all MPs from Starmer’s own party called on him to step down, and four members of his cabinet resigned this week in an attempt to force him out. However, the attempt to limit the influence and spread of the protest was a rather mixed affair, given that of all the political protests Britons have seen since Labour’s victory in the general election in summer 2024, it was this particular one that Starmer repeatedly chose to obstruct.
“Yet this outlier was the first march Keir Starmer decided to speak out against since taking office as Prime Minister, threatening police action and the full force of the law against those involved, and pulling out all the stops to block foreign speakers from entering the country at the last minute,” noted Jonathan Sacerdoti, a British analyst, in his popular article in The Spectator.
In fact, although in updated information released on Saturday evening, the police reported that during two protest events, both of which had ended by 18:30 GMT, officers had made 43 arrests, the Unite the Kingdom march was peaceful and without any hint of radicalism. Among the crowd of Unite the Kingdom supporters, there were no heard calls for violence or the destruction of other countries, and no one was exploiting religious texts to incite hostility. People were not concealing their faces, and no banned flags of terrorist groups or dictatorships were visible amongst them.
Meanwhile, supporters of left-wing ideas took to the streets waving PLO and Iranian flags – flags representing the regime of the Islamic Republic, rather than the flag with the sun and lion, symbolising solidarity with the Iranian people. Some even wore the red triangles of the Al-Qassam Brigades, a symbol made popular by terrorists who used it to mark targets for destruction in videos.
“Much of the traditional media coverage referred to these two marches as the ‘far-right’ march and the ‘pro-Palestine’ march, representing another imbalance in how the marches were treated. The left-wing march was afforded the courtesy of being described as it wished to be, but not a single person I met at the other one would have identified with the ‘far-right’ description,” Sacerdoti added.
Sacerdoti pointed out the main marker of maturity for any national leadership is the ability to treat protesters equally, regardless of their loyalty to the current government. But last Saturday, according to him, this principle was completely ignored. One group of protesters was strictly monitored using facial recognition systems and had been previously labelled a threat to society, as another – despite years of aggressive behaviour, destabilisation and blatant extremism – was granted the most favourable conditions for their march.
The analyst concluded: if Starmer truly wishes to lead a debate on “defending values,” he should first explain why displays of patriotism frighten his government more than open propaganda for radical violence.
