"Unite the Kingdom" rally: UK PM defends right to protest, denounces assault on cops, racism

London [UK], September 14 (ANI): UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Sunday backed the people's right to protest after the "Unite the Kingdom" rally that took place on Saturday. However, PM Starmer denounced the attacks on the police personnel.
Starmer also condemned the racism in the nation, calling for tolerance.
In a post on X, he said, "People have a right to peaceful protest. It is core to our country's values. But we will not stand for assaults on police officers doing their job or for people feeling intimidated on our streets because of their background or the colour of their skin. Britain is a nation proudly built on tolerance, diversity and respect. Our flag represents our diverse country and we will never surrender it to those that use it as a symbol of violence, fear and division."

People have a right to peaceful protest. It is core to our country’s values.

But we will not stand for assaults on police officers doing their job or for people feeling intimidated on our streets because of their background or the colour of their skin.

Britain is a nation…

— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) September 14, 2025

Over 1,10,000 people protesting against immigration marched through the United Kingdom's capital, London, in one of the country's biggest right-wing demonstrations, with some protesters clashing with the police and wounding at least 26 officers.
The violence at the "Unite the Kingdom" march on Saturday came as police tried to keep the right-wing protesters apart from a group of some 5,000 rival demonstrators gathered at White Hall in central London.
London's Metropolitan Police said the march, organised by anti-immigrant activist Tommy Robinson, drew an estimated 1,10,000 to 1,50,000 people, far surpassing expectations.
The police force said its officers faced "unacceptable violence" from some of the protesters and that four of them sustained serious injuries, among them broken teeth, a possible broken nose, a concussion, a prolapsed disc and a head injury.
"There is no doubt that many came to exercise their lawful right to protest, but there were many who came intent on violence," Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist said in a statement, as per Al Jazeera.
"They confronted officers, engaging in physical and verbal abuse and making a determined effort to breach cordons in place to keep everyone safe," Twist said.
At least 25 people were arrested over the violence, Twist said, describing the detentions as "just the start," as per Al Jazeera.
"We are identifying those who were involved in the disorder, and they can expect to face robust police action in the coming days and weeks," he added, as per Al Jazeera.
UK Secretary of State for the Home Department Shabana Mahmood also condemned "those who have attacked and injured police officers" and insisted that "anyone taking part in criminal activity will face the full force of the law," as per Al Jazeera.
Robinson's latest "Unite the Kingdom" march comes at the tail end of a highly charged summer in the UK that featured several protests staged outside hotels housing asylum seekers in England, following the arrest of an Ethiopian man who was later convicted of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in a London suburb, as per Al Jazeera.
Demonstrators carried the Union flag of the UK and the red and white St George's Cross of England, while others brought those of the United States and Israel. Some wore the "Make America Great Again", or MAGA, hats of US President Donald Trump.
They chanted slogans critical of Prime Minister Keir Starmer and carried placards, with some saying, "Send them home".
Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, and who is known for his anti-immigrant and anti-Islam views, called the march "a show of patriotic unity like nothing seen before," Al Jazeera reported.
"Today is the spark of a cultural revolution in Great Britain. This is our moment," the 42-year-old activist told his supporters.
He billed the march as a demonstration for free speech, British heritage and culture, and pumped up the crowd with claims that migrants now had more rights in court than the "British public, the people that built this nation".
Other speakers at Robinson's event included US billionaire Elon Musk, who joined via video-link, French far-right politician Eric Zemmour, and Petr Bystron of the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, as per Al Jazeera.
"There's something beautiful about being British, and what I see happening here is a destruction of Britain, initially a slow erosion, but rapidly increasing erosion of Britain with massive uncontrolled migration," Musk said, calling for a change of government in the UK.
Several speakers also paid tribute to slain US conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was remembered in a moment of silence, followed by a bagpiper playing Amazing Grace.
Several people who attended the rally said they were motivated by concerns over immigration.
At the counterprotest, organised by the "Stand Up to Racism" campaign group and attended by left-wing lawmakers Zarah Sultana and Diane Abbott, the crowd held signs saying, "Refugees welcome" and "Smash the far right", and shouted "Stand up, fight back!".
Abbott accused Robinson and his allies of spreading "nonsense" and "dangerous" lies that asylum seekers were a threat, Al Jazeera reported.
The number of arrests at Saturday's rally also contrasted sharply with the 890 people detained at the previous week's Palestine Action protest, where protesters holding up placards calling for the UK's ban on the group to be lifted, and for a stop to the Israel-Gaza conflict, had demonstrated peacefully. (ANI)