The UK offshoot of a US conservative group founded by Charlie Kirk is set to hold a vigil in his memory after he was shot dead.
Mr Kirk, a Donald Trump ally and co-founder and chief executive of the youth right-wing organisation Turning Point USA, was shot and killed at a Utah Valley University show on Wednesday, in what authorities called a political assassination.
Turning Point UK has said its activists will gather on Friday evening by the Montgomery Statue in Whitehall, London in order to “join us in remembering Charlie”.
Jack Ross, the group’s chief executive, told Sky News: “It’s absolutely shocking, we’re heartbroken over here in the UK.”
Stunned spectators were heard gasping and screaming before people started to run away.
US President Mr Trump recorded a video from the White House in which he called Mr Kirk a “martyr for truth and freedom” and blamed the rhetoric of the “radical left” for the killing.
Political figures in the UK spoke out against political violence following Mr Kirk’s death.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer expressed his condolences online, adding: “My thoughts this evening are with the loved ones of Charlie Kirk.
“It is heartbreaking that a young family has been robbed of a father and a husband.
“We must all be free to debate openly and freely without fear – there can be no justification for political violence.”
Kim Leadbeater, whose sister Jo Cox was killed in 2016 when she was shot and stabbed by a neo-Nazi outside her constituency surgery a week before the EU referendum, wrote: “This is dreadful.
“Whatever our political views and differences, there is no place for violence in our politics.
“Tonight two children have lost their Dad. Devastating. We need a global reset on what we want our politics to look like.”
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, who said she is “deeply shocked” by the killing, added: “Political violence has no place in our societies.
“Our thoughts and condolences are with his family.”
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch describing the shooting as “a blow to everything Western civilization stands for”.
She posted online: “There are no words good enough to express the horror of this.
“The killing of Charlie Kirk is a blow to everything Western civilization stands for: open discourse, robust debate and peaceful dissent. He lived his life by those very principles, no matter the danger it put him in.
“This may have happened far from our shores, but the rising intolerance of opposing views affects us all. We cannot turn a blind eye to it.
“My thoughts are with Charlie’s family, his wife Erika, and their children.”
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage posted a black and white photograph of himself with Mr Kirk, along with the message “this is a very dark day for American democracy”.
He added that he is “desperately sad” for Mr Kirk, his wife and children.
Former Tory prime minister Boris Johnson believes Mr Kirk is now “a shining new martyr to free speech” and described the killing as “a tragedy, and a sign of the utter desperation and cowardice of those who could not defeat him in argument”.
He posted online: “Charlie Kirk has been killed not for espousing extremist views – because he didn’t.
“He has been killed for saying things that used to be simple common sense. He has been killed because he had the courage to stand up publicly for reasonable opinions held by millions and millions of ordinary people both in the US and Britain. The world has a shining new martyr to free speech.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and loved ones.”
Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey added: “Absolutely horrifying news of Charlie Kirk’s murder. Political violence should have no place in society.
“My prayers are with his family, I can’t imagine the pain they must be going through.”
In a US press conference, Utah Governor Spencer Cox said the attack was a “political assassination”.
Two people were detained on Wednesday, but neither was determined to have had any connection to the shooting and both have been released, Utah public safety officials said.
