\n<\/p>\n
Here are some images coming in today via the newswires of crowds gathering in central London<\/strong> for a march featuring far-right activist Tommy Robinson<\/strong>, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The rally is expected to attract upwards of 40,000 attenders, according to the anti-extremism group Hope Not Hate<\/strong>. A smaller gathering organised by the group Stand Up to Racism<\/strong> is also taking place.<\/p>\n <\/span>People carrying flags and banners gather in London for a march involving far-right activist Tommy Robinson.<\/span> Photograph: Anadolu\/Getty Images<\/span>People carrying flags and banners gather in London for a march involving far-right activist Tommy Robinson.<\/span> Photograph: Anadolu\/Getty Images<\/span>People carrying flags and banners gather in London for a march involving far-right activist Tommy Robinson.<\/span> Photograph: Anadolu\/Getty ImagesShare<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a006.00 EDT<\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n <\/span>Show key events only<\/p>\n Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span>Sammy Gecsoyler<\/span><\/p>\n Large crowds have begun marching across Westminster Bridge<\/strong> towards Whitehall<\/strong>, with various chants of \u201cTommy\u201d, \u201cKeir Starmer is a wanker\u201d, \u201cWhose street? Our street\u201d and \u201cEngland\u201d.<\/p>\n Some are holding signs in support of Tommy Robinson<\/strong>, <\/strong>whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.30 EDT<\/p>\n Robyn Vinter<\/span><\/p>\n Thousands of counter-protesters are wrapped around one side of Russell Square<\/strong>, coming from trade unions and anti-racist groups including Stand Up to Racism<\/strong>. The crowd is chanting \u201crefugees are welcome here\u201d.<\/p>\n <\/span>Counter-protesters and police in Russell Square.<\/span> Photograph: Robyn Vinter<\/p>\n The MP for Poplar and Limehouse<\/strong>, Apsana Begum<\/strong>, is giving a speech calling for solidarity among communities in the UK in opposition to fascism.<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s stand here and send a message to the far right who continue to spread division and hate,\u201d she said. \u201cNot here!\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Fiona Sutherland from Tottenham holding a placard that reads \u2018the problem isn\u2019t the small boats, it\u2019s the super yachts.\u2019<\/span> Photograph: Robyn VinterShare<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.26 EDT<\/p>\n Ant Middleton<\/strong>, Katie Hopkins<\/strong> and an MEP for the populist German AFD party<\/strong> featured in a video posted by Tommy Robinson<\/strong>, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon<\/strong>, titled \u201cthe A team\u201d on X.<\/p>\n They, along with other right-wing social media personalities were sitting and laughing around a table, waiting for the march to Whitehall<\/strong> to begin, reports the PA news agency.<\/p>\n Outside on the streets, people waving flags, some adorned in knight outfits or union jack flag suits could be heard chanting Robinson\u2019s name on his livestream which at the time of reporting had more than 250,000 viewers.<\/p>\n From the crowd, a man from New Zealand<\/strong> said he had flown over with \u201cabout 100 of my warriors\u201d to take part in the march, reports the PA news agency.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.27 EDT<\/p>\n Far-right activist Tommy Robinson said the \u201crevolution is on\u201d in a video posted to X where he claimed his \u2018unite the kingdom\u2019 protest was the largest demonstration in British history.<\/p>\n As we mentioned previously, any estimate on numbers at this stage is exactly that \u2013 an estimate \u2013 and organisers of marches are likely greatly inflate the number of those present.<\/p>\n Robinson told his followers that London was full of \u201cpatriots\u201d before saying \u201cthe spark has started, the revolution is on\u201d.<\/p>\n There are more than 400,000 people watching Robinson\u2019s live stream on X as they chanted his name and \u201cKeir Starmer is a wanker\u201d.<\/p>\n A presenter on the stream said Robinson is \u201con his way\u201d to the protesters now.<\/p>\n ShareHelen Pidd<\/span><\/p>\n Here are some images from one of our reporters on the ground, Helen Pidd:<\/p>\n <\/span> Photograph: Helen Pidd\/The Guardian<\/span> Photograph: Helen Pidd\/The Guardian<\/span> Photograph: Helen Pidd\/The GuardianShare<\/p>\n Counter-protesters in Russell Square, meanwhile, are milling around with placards that say \u201crefugees welcome\u201d and \u201coppose Tommy Robinson\u201d, chanting: \u201cSay it loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span> Photograph: Pol Allingham\/PAShareHelen Pidd<\/span><\/p>\n Many thousands of people are gathering for the march on Stamford St near Waterloo.<\/p>\n The crowd is 70-80% male and almost exclusively white.<\/p>\n Flags and banners are everywhere and people keep singing \u201cKeir Starmer\u2019s a wanker\u201d to the tune of Seven Nation Army.<\/p>\n <\/span>A man has his face painted in the cross of St George.<\/span> Photograph: Tayfun Salc\u0131\/EPAShare<\/p>\n Hundreds of people were gathered outside Blackfriars station and lined along Blackfriars Bridge before the rally, PA reports.<\/p>\n Pockets of the crowd started chanting \u201cfuck you Starmer\u201d while many were wearing or holding England and Union flags<\/p>\n London Underground trains heading towards the station were packed with people seemingly on the way to the demonstration.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n We\u2019ve got a few more pictures from central London:<\/p>\n <\/span> Photograph: Tayfun Salc\u0131\/EPA<\/span> <\/span> Photograph: Tayfun Salc\u0131\/EPA<\/span>Counter protesters against Robinson\u2019s rally.<\/span> Photograph: Pol Allingham\/PAShare<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a007.20 EDT<\/p>\n As ever with large protests or marches, it can be hard to get an accurate figure on how many people are attending, with estimates often relying in inflated figures from organisers.<\/p>\n However, the PA news agency is reporting that the number of attendees is already in the \u2018thousands\u2019.<\/p>\n <\/span>Front loop rightwing rally<\/span><\/p>\n The \u2018unite the kingdom\u2019 march and rally organised by Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, began in Stamford Street near Waterloo Bridge with crowds building since mid-morning.<\/p>\n The crowds will march towards the southern end of Whitehall.<\/p>\n Around 1,000 officers will be deployed in London in a bid to prevent clashes between protesters with opposing views.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a007.15 EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Crowds gather in London for ‘unite the kingdom’ march featuring Tommy Robinson Here are some images coming in today via the newswires of crowds gathering in central London for a march featuring far-right activist Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon. The rally is expected to attract upwards of 40,000 attenders, according to the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21031,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[12904,8305,2762,11192,132,1661,124,7696,1152,3622],"class_list":{"0":"post-21030","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics","8":"tag-counterprotest","9":"tag-farright","10":"tag-gather","11":"tag-kingdom","12":"tag-live","13":"tag-london","14":"tag-politics","15":"tag-rally","16":"tag-thousands","17":"tag-unite"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21030\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}