Thousands of supporters of jailed British far-right figurehead Tommy Robinson marched through central London on February 1, with anti-racism demonstrators staging a counterprotest nearby.
Robinson supporters chanted “We Want Tommy Out” and “We Want Our Country Back,” as they crossed London’s Westminster Bridge during what the organizers call a "Uniting the Kingdom" demonstration.
Some protesters were wearing “MEGA -- Make England Great Again” hats, while others carried a “Stop the Boats” sign, a reference to illegal migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats to enter Britain.
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Supporters Demand Release Of U.K. Far-Right Activist In London; Counter March Also Held
Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is one of the most influential far-right figures in Britain. He has co-founded the now-defunct nationalist and anti-Islamist English Defense League.
Robinson, 42, was jailed for 18 months in October after breaching a court order imposed over his repeated libeling of a Syrian teenage refugee. Robinson has in the past also been convicted of several other crimes, including assault and mortgage fraud.
Robinson was also blamed for stirring up riots across Britain in July last year after social media users falsely identified the suspect in a stabbing rampage as a Muslim immigrant. A British national, Axel Rudakubana, 18, was convicted of carrying out that attack, which killed three young girls in the seaside town of Southport.
Tommy Robinson, aka Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (file photo)
The Uniting the Kingdom demonstration on February 1 was countered by a rally organized by the Stand Up to Racism movement.
“We stopped the far right from attacking communities in the summer and we stand in a powerful tradition of challenging the far right and fascism,” the movement’s joint secretary Sabby Dhalu told the rally, adding: “Now we have a big job to do.”
Supported By Elon Musk
Robinson’s representatives claimed in January that Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has agreed to pay some of the legal fees racked up by their client.
There was no comment from Musk on the claim. But Musk, the Tesla CEO and close ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, has regularly used his social media platform X to call for Robinson's release from prison, claiming that he was jailed for telling the "truth."
In a post on X, Musk has demanded the ouster of Reform UK leader Nigel Farage after the populist politician distanced his right-wing challenger party from Robinson and said he would refuse to admit him as a member. Farage had been widely known as a Musk ally.
Musk has used X to unleash a barrage of attacks on the U.K. government and Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Robinson was banned from Twitter in 2018 for violating the platform's rules regarding "hateful conduct," but his account was reinstated after Musk bought the social network and renamed it X.