What is ‘Unite the Kingdom’ anyway?
Tommy Robinson, real name Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon, is a British far-right activist and one of the UK’s most prominent anti-Islam campaigners. He’s also a former football hooligan and founder of the notorious English Defence League (EDL).
He called on his followers to ‘Unite the Kingdom’ in a march against what he sees is causing the UK to fall into decline: immigration. However, as Sky News writes, ‘What exactly it was that “United the Kingdom” [stood for] was left vague,’ allowing people to ‘cheer their own particular cause.’
Flags signifying different parts of the UK could be seen draped from protestor’s shoulders, whether it was the Yorkshire roses or diamonds of Isle of Wight. Chants like ‘we want our country back’ and placards that read ‘Send them Back’ were other standout messages from the crowd.
Some people brandished Christian symbols, such as the sign of the cross. Others carried crucifixes. Another standout group waved large Israeli flags. It remains unclear what exactly Israel has to do with ‘uniting the United Kingdom,’ or the sentiments of the people participating in the rally, other than perhaps a shared disdain for the global Arab population and the religion of Islam.
You don’t have to look (or think) very hard to figure out that the ‘United the Kingdom’ rally is motivated wholly – or at least in part – by racism. Most of the attendees were middle-aged white males, who were happy to offer racially charged or anti-immigration sentiments when a mic was shoved before their gobs.
‘Respect the Kingdom!!!’
Though thousands of people turned out over grave concerns that their beloved Britannia was losing its culture as a result of people immigrating from foreign nations, not everyone in attendance at the rally was behaving in ways that showed respect for it.
Videos showed numerous men urinating against walls of the city in broad daylight. Is this the culture they apparently are so proud of and intent on protecting?
In areas where protests took place, litter lined the streets, hugging the pavements and acting almost as a way to follow what paths the protestors followed.
Perhaps in the most ironic twist of all, many British nationalists, racists, anti-immigration campaigners – whatever you want to call them – took a break from their march to grab some nosh at foreign food takeaways at a nearby market.
Yes, the same people yelling ‘we want our country back’ were seen queuing up for Afghan and Indian takeaways – from naan wraps to rice bowls… who knows, maybe even a cheeky Lebanese wrap?
As I said, if the whole confused sentiment of the Unite the Kingdom rally wasn’t so disgusting, the level of hypocrisy and irony might actually be hilarious.
Who, exactly, has the right to protest?
The cherry on top, really, has to be Prime Minister Kier Starmer’s response to all of this.
As the march began to turn violent around midday, Starmer posted on X: ‘People have a right to peaceful protest. It is core to our country’s values.’
Sure, Starmer went on to condemn the aggression faced by police, saying he would not stand for it. But it’s all quite confusing, really, when you think about the now 890+ people (most of them pensioners) who were arrested for peacefully protesting the UK’s complicity in a genocide happening in Gaza at the hands of the Israeli government.
The Met Police has said they will continue to identify those who committed acts of violence over the weekend and make arrests accordingly. Still, the lack of police incentive to arrest and charge those perpetrating actual violence in the streets of the UK’s capital – the most ethnically and culturally diverse part of the entire country – is alarming.
The entire event was a march of hypocrisy, with the very people demanding so-called ‘improvements’ in their country proceeding to destroy public property, litter city streets, and support local businesses run by the very demographic of people they’d been shouting about deporting all day long.
Police responses in the face of serious violence were meek at best, showing that the Met can only muster the energy to flex their power in the face of senior citizens and other peaceful protesters seated in a park, quietly holding placards.
And when it comes to PM Kier Starmer, it seems that may be the only part of Unite the Kingdom’s rally I can get behind.
Given his terrible economic decisions and spineless inability to stand up to Israel as it commits genocide against the Palestinian people, I will agree: it seems that he is not the man for the job.
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