On Saturday there was a struggle between demonstrators and police in the center of London. The authorities detained at least nine people after they forcibly responded to police efforts to maintain order during a large -scale assembly organized by the far -right activist Tommy Robinson and concomitant minor anti -nemonstrations. According to AFP and AP reports, TASR reports this.
Since late morning, crowds of people were collected in English and British flags in Westminster and its surroundings. More than 100,000 people visited the “Unite The Kingdom” event, and Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, known under the pseudonym Tommy Robinson, promoted it as “the greatest festival of freedom of expression”. Representatives of the far right from all over Europe and North America performed at the gatherings. “The silent majority will no longer be silent,” Robinson told the crowd. “Today is the beginning of the cultural revolution,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, approximately 5,000 people also participated in the “Stand Up To Racism” anti -illegation (face racism), while the London metropolitan police deployed about 1,000 police officers to keep the rival groups apart.
They were throwing objects
The marches were mostly calm, but the evening fans of the “Unite The Kingdom” movement began throwing objects in anti -monitors and trying to get to the barriers to separate both groups.
The police tried to keep order, and the demonstrators attacked their fists, kicked them and throwing bottles, the metropolitan police said. “We are still witnessing a considerable aggression against police officers by” Unite The Kingdom, “the police said on the X platform.
Demonstrations and anti -Imonstrations are held in the country at a time of growing hostility towards immigrants, while in polls of public opinion, the right -wing Populist Party of the Reform UK leads to Brexit. The protesters often focus on hotels where asylum seekers are accommodated, AFP writes.
Forty -two -year -old Robinson, who founded the extreme right -wing English defense league (EDL) in 2009, was repeatedly sentenced for disrupting public order and contempt for the court. It is also accused of inciting racially motivated riots that shook the country in 2024. Robinson denies these accusations and declares that Britain is currently hostile to freedom of expression.
