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London police said Sunday officers arrested 20 people the previous day at a march organised by\u00a0far-right activist Tommy Robinson and 12 people at a counter-demonstration fused with a pro-Palestinian protest.<\/p>\n
The city’s Metropolitan Police — which had already disclosed making 43 arrests Saturday after tens of thousands people attended the duelling events — added 11 of those detained were either non-affiliated or their links was unconfirmed.<\/p>\n
The force had mounted its biggest operation in years to manage both Robinson’s “Unite the Kingdom” march and the anti-fascism rally organised by the Stand Up to Racism group combined with protests marking Nakba Day.<\/p>\n
The latter commemorates the 1948 displacement of Palestinians during the creation of Israel.<\/p>\n
Police had feared clashes after violent confrontations at Robinson’s last London event in September, when up to 150,000 people turned out, and various incidents at dozens of pro-Palestine demonstrations since 2023.<\/p>\n
Around 60,000 attended Saturday’s Unite the Kingdom event while 15,000 to 20,000 were at the Nakba Day gathering, according to Met estimates cited by UK media.<\/p>\n
The force did not respond to an AFP request for comment on the numbers.<\/p>\n
Organisers of both marches had claimed far greater turnouts.<\/p>\n
In its arrests update Sunday, the Met said there were 11 arrests for hate-crime related offences, with nine of those at the Unite the Kingdom event and two at the Nakba Day march.<\/p>\n
“They included offences motivated by race, religion, sexuality and disability,” the force said, adding a further seven suspected hate crimes at the pro-Palestinian protest remain under investigation.<\/p>\n
The other arrests at Robinson’s rally ranged from public order and drunk and disorderly offences to suspects being held for previous grievous bodily harm and telecommunications offences.<\/p>\n
There were two arrests for assault on an emergency worker and one for possession of an offensive weapon.<\/p>\n
At the Nakba Day demonstration, the arrests included three for failing to remove a face covering, one for assault on an emergency worker and one for supporting a proscribed organisation.<\/p>\n
Robinson — a former football hooligan turned anti-Islam activist whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon — had urged his attendees not to wear masks or drink excessive alcohol, and to be “peaceful and courteous”.<\/p>\n
From a stage in Parliament Square, which featured various far-right and other speakers, he claimed to be spearheading a “cultural revolution” and urged attendees to get politically active ahead of “the battle of Britain” in 2029, when the country’s next general election is due.<\/p>\n
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