A Ukip demonstration has been banned from an area with a large Muslim population because of a “realistic prospect of serious disorder”, police say.
The event was initially advertised as a march from Whitechapel station in east London, but later revised to be an assembly in the same area.
It was originally due to take place on Saturday afternoon, according to the Metropolitan Police.
It was part of a series of events across the UK promoted as a “mass deportations tour”, with organisers calling on attendees to “reclaim Whitechapel from the Islamists”, the force said.
A counter-protest, organised by Stand Up To Racism and a number of local groups, was also expected, police added.
On Tuesday, police said they had imposed Public Order Act conditions meaning Ukip cannot hold its protest in Whitechapel or anywhere else in the borough of Tower Hamlets.
Commander Nick John, who is in charge of the public order policing operation in London this weekend, said: “Tower Hamlets has the largest percentage of Muslim residents anywhere in the UK and the prospect of this protest taking place in the heart of the borough has been the cause of significant concern locally.
“It is our assessment that there is a realistic prospect of serious disorder if it was to go ahead in the proposed location.
“This is in addition to the disruption that two large protests taking place on a key arterial route through east London would cause.”
He added: “Ukip are free to organise their protest in an alternative location but they will not be holding it in Tower Hamlets.
“Anyone who tries to assemble, in breach of the conditions, or who encourages others to do so, will face arrest.”
In a post on X from the party’s main account, Ukip said police had “caved into the Islamists and violated our democratic right to peaceful assembly in Whitechapel this Saturday” and that it was in the process of re-organising the march for another location in London.
Writing on X, mayor of Tower Hamlets Lutfur Rahman said the Ukip demonstration “would have caused significant disruption and intimidation in our local community, and spread fear and prejudice”.
He said: “We will still hold our peaceful march in Whitechapel on Saturday to celebrate our diversity and unity.
“From the Battle of Cable Street to today, the far right has never succeeded in dividing our community and they never will.”
Ukip was founded in the 1990s with the help of now-Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, who later went on to lead the party.
It was instrumental in paving the way for the in-out referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU and received 3.9 million votes under Mr Farage’s leadership in the 2015 general election.
Mr Farage quit Ukip in December 2018, saying he was uncomfortable with the direction the party had taken having criticised then-leader Gerard Batten for appointing English Defence League (EDL) founder Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, as an adviser.
