Far-Right Rally in London Draws Huge Crowd and a Counterprotest

Tens of thousands of demonstrators marched through central London on Saturday in a rally organized by the far-right activist Tommy Robinson, setting off sporadic clashes with the police and putting the British capital on edge, as Elon Musk told the crowd via a video link that the left was “the party of murder” and urged protesters to “fight back.”

Thousands of antiracism protesters massed in a counter-demonstration away from the far-right marchers. About 1,000 police officers set up barriers between the dueling protests near the Houses of Parliament.

Some far-right protesters battled with the police after trying to breach the barriers. The Metropolitan Police said that its officers had been assaulted and struck by bottles and that it had brought in reinforcements on horses to keep the crowd back. Video shared by the Metropolitan Police showed protesters skirmishing with officers, who said they had arrested nine people by 5 p.m.

Earlier, under the banner “Unite the Kingdom,” they marched across the Thames and past Big Ben, a sea of Union Jacks and English and Scottish flags rippling amid sporadic gusty downpours. Some carried placards calling for the deportation of asylum seekers who cross the English Channel in small boats.

It was a muscular display of support for Mr. Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon. A divisive figure who has roamed the fringes of the British right for decades, he has served multiple prison sentences, most recently after being sentenced to 18 months in 2024 for defying a court order by repeating false claims about a teenage Syrian refugee who had sued him for libel.

Mr. Robinson, 42, was released in May after a court reduced his sentence to seven months. He vowed then to organize a free-speech festival for his supporters, which took on greater resonance after the fatal shooting of the American right-wing activist Charlie Kirk this week on a college campus in Utah.