Tens of thousands of people turned out for the UK’s “largest ever anti-far right” march in central London today, organised by the Together Alliance.
Protesters carried placards saying “No to racism, no to Trump”, and “Refugees welcome” as they marched through the capital to Whitehall amid a heavy police presence, with officers lining the streets.
Organisers claimed up to half a million people attended the demonstration, although the Metropolitan Police later stated the figure was closer to 50,000 - adding it was hard to specify an exact number as crowds dispersed through the city.
The force added there was a total of 25 arrests during the protest, with 18 people apprehended for showing support for Palestine Action and two for climbing up the National Gallery columns, alongside five other arrests.
Organisers told media that people had gathered for a “peaceful” demonstration to mark their opposition to “hatred and division and racism”.
Rally co-organiser Kevin Courtney, chairman of the coalition, told crowds gathered on Whitehall: “Our estimate is now that there are half a million people on this demonstration – the biggest demonstration ever against the far right.
“And it gives us all confidence to carry on. Thank you very much.”
Speakers included former Labour MP Diane Abbott, who now sits as an independent in Parliament.
She told a cheering crowd: “The turnout today is the largest anti-racist march that I have seen in my lifetime, and you should all be proud of yourselves for coming out in such numbers today.”
UB40 drummer Jimmy Brown stood beside his bandmates as he delivered a speech, saying the reggae group has visited “all kinds of places” to perform.
He added: “One thing that we’ve come to the conclusion of is that working people around the world have more in common with each other than they do with their elite, and the billionaire class.”
He was met with cheers and thanked the crowd, adding: “There are more of us than there is them and I want to thank the organisers here. This has been such an amazing turnout, it’s absolutely incredible.”
Green Party leader Zack Polanski told the crowd: “The tide is turning, there have been dark times. I know people have been scared, and we have been afraid, but days like this are here to send a message, a message to Tommy Robinson, to Nigel Farage, to those who appease them.
“The message is, when we turn up, in our hundreds, in our thousands, in our hundreds of thousands, we are unstoppable.”
Singer Billy Bragg, who previously blasted US president Donald Trump for using “the politics of division”, also performed some protest songs onstage at Whitehall. He said while some concerns about migration may be justified, “their solutions are not justifiable in any way or sort”.
He added: “Re-migration, the forced deportation of our fellow citizens, we’ve seen what that looks like in the United States of America.
“And if it does come to that in this country then we will have to be as courageous as the people of Minneapolis who stood in the streets to deny (deportations).”
Sabby Dhalu, joint secretary of the Together Alliance and co-convenor of Stand Up To Racism, said the UK is seeing an “unprecedented growth” in support for far-right organisations.
She said she believed the size of attendance today “intimidated the far right” away from a counter-protest.
But not everyone was supportive of today’s march.
Russell Langer of the Jewish Leadership Council, told the Jewish Chronicle that some organisations that gave their backing to the rally had “sympathy with Islamist or antisemitic ideological positions”.
He wrote: “The sort of hateful rhetoric we see on these marches is not just tolerated; in some circles it appears increasingly normalised as a condition of social acceptance.”
