Police are searching for a man who called for Keir Starmer to be killed during Saturday’s “Unite the Kingdom” rally in London, with further arrests expected in the coming days after outbreaks of violence.
Police estimated that between 110,000 and 150,000 people attended the far-right event, organised by the activist known as Tommy Robinson, which was described by a cabinet minister on Sunday as a “klaxon call” for the government.
A total of 26 police officers were injured in clashes as projectiles were hurled, and the Metropolitan police said on Sunday that 24 people were arrested for a range of alleged offences including common assault and violent disorder.
The force said a post-event investigation was under way, with officers working to identify other people involved in disorder with a view to making further arrests.
The oldest person arrested was 58, the youngest 19, and the average age of those arrested was 39. Three of those arrested at the protest were women.
A man who said on camera that “Keir Starmer needs to be assassinated” and “someone needs to shoot Keir Starmer”, and whose comments were published online, is among those being sought by police.
A Met spokesperson said: “We’re aware of a video circulating on social media from the ‘Unite the Kingdom’ protest on Saturday. Officers are investigating and enquiries are ongoing to identify a man.”
Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was among those who addressed the crowds from a stage, along with a range of other far-right figures. However, there were no-shows by promised speakers including Steve Bannon, a former strategist for Donald Trump, and Jordan Peterson, the Canadian psychologist and culture warrior.
Speakers included the owner of X, Elon Musk, who claimed a “dissolution of parliament” was needed and said “massive uncontrolled migration” was contributing to the “destruction of Britain”, in comments made via video link.
Others who appeared on the same stage included the former Reform UK deputy leader Ben Habib, who is setting up a rival party to the right of Reform known as Advance UK, which Robinson says he has joined. European far-right figures including the former French presidential candidate Éric Zemmour and Danish and Germany parliamentarians also took part.
The counter-extremism campaign group Hope Not Hate described it as Britain’s largest ever far-right protest. It said: “Seeing such a big crowd cheering speeches that called for banning all public expression of non-Christian religions, demanded the ‘remigration’ of legal migrants, pushed Covid conspiracy theories, and claimed Britain is being ‘invaded’ and its population ‘replaced’ is unprecedented.”
The business secretary, Peter Kyle, said on Sunday that the turnout at the protest was a “klaxon call” for those in power to redouble efforts to address immigration and other concerns that the public have.
“What worries me most is the divisions in our society and other societies and other democratic societies … it’s not even the left and the right at the moment,” he told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg. “There are communities that are being driven further apart, and there are figures such as Tommy Robinson that are able to touch into a sense of disquiet and grievance in the community in our society.”
Kyle said much of this had its roots in the financial crisis and the impact that had on communities. “So I think these are moments that are klaxon calls to us in public life to redouble our efforts to address the big concerns that people right across our country have, and immigration is a big concern.”
The rally was opposed by a smaller counter-protest organised by Stand Up to Racism, which estimated that between 15,000 and 20,000 had taken part. Organisers said some of them were assaulted by those taking part in the far-right rally and were hit by projectiles.
At one point the counter-demonstration was broken into two parts while Robinson supporters who had blocked the opposing protesters from leaving Whitehall had to be moved by police.
