Police officers have been assaulted as they clashed with protesters at a “freedom of speech” festival led by the far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, known as Tommy Robinson, Scotland Yard said.
More than 110,000 people gathered in central London for the event. Protesters marched from Southwark to Whitehall draped in the flag of St George and the union flag in what was called the “Unite the Kingdom” demo.
About 5,000 counter-protesters from trade unions and anti-fascist groups marched in a separate route in central London.
Aerial footage shows scale of ‘unite the kingdom’ rally – video
Scotland Yard said there had initially been “no incidents of note” as both groups marched towards Whitehall, but as the marches met one another on either end of the street, divided by metal barriers and lines of police, some supporters had tried to breach the line that was put in place to keep the groups apart.
Skirmishes broke out with the Met police confirming officers were targeted with thrown objects. The force tweeted: “Officers were attacked with projectiles and have had to use force to avoid their cordon being breached.
“Officers are having to intervene in multiple locations to stop Unite the Kingdom protesters trying to access sterile areas, breach police cordons or get to opposing groups. A number of officers have been assaulted,” they added.
skip past newsletter promotion
Get the day’s headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning
Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
after newsletter promotion
In a video from the protest, Yaxley-Lennon said “Britain has finally awoken” and that “this is never going away”.
Members of the far-right rally climbed street furniture carrying wooden Christian crosses as crowds chanted “Tommy”, “Keir Starmer is a wanker” and “England”.
Both the far-right crowds and the antifascists chanted “whose streets? Our streets”.
Apsana Begum, the Labour MP for Poplar and Limehouse, gave a speech to the gathered groups, which included a large Stand Up to Racism contingent, before the anti-fascists set off. She said: “Let’s stand here and send a message to the far right who continue to spread division and hate. Not here!”
Thousands of police officers from the Met and neighbouring forces were in attendance, some of them with short shields and helmets.
