A Cabinet minister has criticised Elon Musk for telling supporters to “fight back or die” during Tommy Robinson’s Unite the Kingdom rally in central London.
The tech billionaire appeared in front of the Unite the Kingdom rally crowd via video link on Saturday afternoon and claimed "massive uncontrolled migration" was leading to the "destruction of Britain".
Musk said that "violence is coming" and urged the crowd to "fight back or you die".
When asked if he thought Musk was trying to incite violence, Business Secretary Peter Kyle said the comments were “slightly incomprehensible” and “totally inappropriate”.
“I thought that they were slightly incomprehensible comments that were totally inappropriate,” he said on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme.
He went on: “But what we saw yesterday was over 100,000 people who were expressing freedom of association, freedom of speech, and proving that both of those things are alive and well in this country.
“A small minority of people who are protesting committed acts of violence against our police for which they should and they will be held accountable.”
The Unite the Kingdom rally on Saturday drew between 110,000 – 150,000 people.
The Metropolitan Police have reported that in scenes of “unacceptable violence”, 26 officers were injured and four were seriously hurt, resulting in 25 arrests.
Elon Musk has told Tommy Robinson that protesters must “either fight back or you die” as he appeared via video at the huge march organised by the far-right figure on Saturday in London.
Musk spoke on stage with Robinson in the afternoon, claiming the UK needed a “dissolution of parliament” and a “change of government”.
The comments were condemned by political leaders.
Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said that he “doesn’t care about the British people or our rights”.
A Labour source said that politicians who believe in democracy “should distance themselves from these disgusting comments”.
The rally was met with counter-protests organised by Stand Up To Racism, which saw a turnout of around 5,000 people. The police deployed a force of 1,000 officers to prevent clashes.
