Rival London marches pass off peacefully amid heavy police presence

Right-wing, anti-immigrant protesters and opposing anti-racism demonstrators held large rallies in London on Saturday, with both passing off peacefully amid a beefed-up police operation to prevent any clashes between the rival groups.

Several thousand people waving English and British flags joined the "Unite the Kingdom" nationalist rally by parliament, organised by anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, known by the pseudonym Tommy Robinson.

A counter-protest of anti-racism campaigners and trade unionists also took place nearby, with marchers carrying banners saying "Refugees Welcome" and "Smash the Far Right".

Police officers were drafted in from around the country to avert possible unrest, but the London force said on X only a handful of arrests had been made. Britain saw days of rioting in towns and cities across the country at the end of July in the wake of the murder of three young girls at a dance workshop in Southport, after misinformation on social media wrongly identified the suspected killer as a Muslim migrant.

The unrest, which Prime Minister Keir Starmer described as racist and blamed on far-right thuggery, targeted hotels housing asylum seekers and mosques. It ended after police made more than 1,500 arrests and charged about 1,000 people.

The right-wing protesters who marched on Saturday describe themselves as "patriots", and say Britain is under threat from migrants and Islamification. Their critics, including most lawmakers, say their number includes racists, far-right supporters and soccer hooligans bent on violence.

Yaxley-Lennon, who was accused by some media and politicians of inflaming tensions which led to the July riots, was not present at the march as he is being held in police custody ahead of a contempt of court case to be heard on Monday.

On Friday, he was also charged under terrorism laws with failing to provide his mobile phone PIN code when he left Britain in July.

Saturday's protests came as official figures showed the number of asylum seekers crossing the Channel this year from Europe in small boats - an issue that has angered many in Britain - had hit 29,578, more than for the whole of 2023.