Rival Protests Take Place in London, With a Major Security Effort

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The police have deployed thousands of officers, partly to keep far-right and pro-Palestinian marchers apart. The events drew tens of thousands to London.

Screenshot taken from this NYT article. | Supporters of the British far-right activist Tommy Robinson, left, and antiracism activists and pro-Palestinian marchers, right, in London on Saturday. | Justin Tallis/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images; Thomas Krych/Associated Press
The streets of the British capital hosted an ideological split-screen on Saturday as separate, far-right and pro-Palestinian demonstrators competed for attention in dueling protests.

Marching through central London, tens of thousands of far-right protesters wearing “Make Britain Great Again” hats and draped in Union flags demanded support for white culture and an end to migration.

Along another route, similar numbers of pro-Palestinian and anti-fascism demonstrators decried racism as they carried signs and banners calling for freedom for Palestinians in Gaza and an end to the genocide they said was taking place there.

The groups largely stayed separate, with few reports of arrests or violence, after what London police said was an “unprecedented” security operation designed to keep the protests from descending into a riot. » | Michael D. Shear and Megan Specia | Reporting from London | Saturday, May 16, 2026