Thousands of protesters began gathering in the British capital on Saturday morning for two contrasting rallies, separated by what the London police called an “unprecedented” security operation.
Amid fears that far-right demonstrators from one rally could clash with antiracism activists and pro-Palestinian marchers of the other, 4,000 police officers, as well as helicopters, armed vehicles and drone teams, were deployed, the police said. Adding to the complexity, the FA Cup final, a major soccer competition, will also be held on Saturday afternoon, and it is expected to bring large crowds to the city.
“The scale of the operation is unprecedented in recent years,” said Cmdr. James Harman, the deputy assistant commissioner of London’s Metropolitan Police Service, in a Wednesday news briefing ahead of the protests. “The planning for it has been ongoing for months.”
Protesters carrying flags and banners began arriving early in the morning as they made their way along London’s streets to the meeting points for the competing marches.
One demonstration is being organized by Tommy Robinson, a far-right, anti-Islam agitator whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, and his supporters, under the banner, “Unite the Kingdom.” Mr. Yaxley-Lennon, who has several criminal convictions and has served several stints in prison, says it is a demonstration for “national unity, free speech and Christian values.”
The other protest is an annual Nakba Day demonstration, commemorating the mass displacement of Palestinians from their homes in 1948 during the Arab-Israeli War, that organizers say also stands “united against Tommy Robinson and the far right.” That rally is organized by a coalition of groups, including the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Stop the War Coalition and others, and they will be joined by “Stand Up To Racism,” a group opposing Mr. Robinson’s march.
Both demonstrations are taking place against an increasingly tense political backdrop, with the country’s terrorism threat level increased in recent weeks amid rising antisemitism, Islamophobia and extreme right-wing sentiment. Tensions over the wars in the Middle East could stoke conflict on the streets of London, the authorities warned.
Protesters will be required to stick to prearranged routes and to disperse by a designated time, or face arrest. The police also have extended powers to arrest any speakers who use the events “as a platform for unlawful extremism or for hate speech,” Commander Harman said, noting that it was the first time these restrictions had been imposed for a rally of this type since the powers were enacted recently.
“We have every hope and every expectation that it should go peacefully and well,” he said.
Live facial recognition technology is being used for the first time in policing a protest, in a part of the city where people taking part in the right-wing rally are expected to gather beforehand. The technology will compare those walking by with “the faces of those on a specific watchlist” of people wanted for suspected criminal offenses, Commander Harman said.
Some foreign far-right activists have also been barred from entering Britain for that demonstration, the government announced this week.
“We will not allow people to come to the U.K., threaten our communities and spread hate on our streets,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a speech on Monday. “This is nothing less than a battle for the soul of our nation.”
Britain late last month raised its national terrorism threat level to “severe” from “substantial,” the fourth of five levels on its scale, meaning officials assessed that an attack was highly likely in the next six months. The Joint Terrorism Analysis Center, which is responsible for the assessment, announced the change after a stabbing attack on two Jewish men in the north London neighborhood of Golders Green and a series of other antisemitic attacks.
The center said the increase was “not solely a result of that attack,” but also of broader concerns about an “increasing threat of Islamist and extreme right-wing terrorism in the U.K.”
Ahead of the protests, “fears in Jewish communities are particularly heightened, but we’ve also seen increased concern more broadly, including in Muslim communities,” Commander Harman said.
The police are well aware of the risks the opposing demonstrations could pose. In September, Mr. Robinson and his supporters gathered in London in a protest that devolved into violence when several people involved clashed with the police. At that time, antiracism protesters had also gathered in a counter-demonstration elsewhere in the city, and around 1,000 police officers had set up barriers between the dueling protests.
The bulk of the policing operation on Saturday will be focused on keeping the two marches apart. At one point, the rallies will converge on the same area of the city, near government buildings — at their closest, separated by just over 500 yards.
“We can’t ask a counterprotest to be in a completely different area of London,” Commander Harman said during a briefing on Wednesday. “They have to have an amount of proximity in order to make their point. We think we’ve come up with the right policing plan to keep people safe on the day, although it’s challenging.”
Megan Specia reports on Britain, Ireland and the Ukraine war for The Times. She is based in London.
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