On Saturday 26 October 2024, an estimated 20-25,000 people attended far-right activist Tommy Robinson’s ‘Unite the Kingdom’ rally, and over 20,000 people attended Stand Up To Racism’s counterprotest.

This was the third and largest of Robinson’s protests since June, each of which have drawn crowds of tens of thousands.

Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was a founding member of the English Defence League (EDL) in 2009 and has strong links with far-right organisations and political parties.

He endorsed UKIP in 2013 and encouraged his supporters to vote for the same party, now known as Reform UK, once again in 2024.

Robinson himself was not in attendance at the rally on the 26th as he was arrested under schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act the previous day.

He has since been sentenced to 18 months in prison in what is the latest in a string of previous convictions for various offences.

Despite the large numbers of Robinson’s supporters present, the counterprotest also united more than 20,000 people from hundreds of organisations across the UK.

The counter protesters sought to stand in solidarity with immigrants and asylum seekers and, in the words of NEU member Richard Mathewson, to show “the racists and the bigots … that they are in the minority”.

Charlotte Khan, who works for refugee charity Care 4 Calais, recalls “getting messages from absolutely terrified people locked inside their rooms watching right-wing thugs outside trying to break in” during the riots following the Southport killings in August. 

She feels this is a symptom of “a growing change in rhetoric, not just on the streets [but], sadly, in parliament”, pointing to the “despicable” comments made by MPs such as Lee Anderson and Nigel Farage towards asylum seekers. 

In an interview with the Spectator’s editor Fraser Nelson in 2023, Farage claimed that “even travel, even the length of journeys, potholes in the roads, these are all symptoms of a population crisis” caused by mass immigration.

NEU member Amena Rawat believes “it starts from on top and it has trickled down”, and politicians have “empowered” and “fuelled” anti-immigrant sentiments.

Khan urges supporters of Robinson, “Don’t believe the lies of the men who are leading you. Nigel Farage and Tommy Robinson have nothing in common with you.”

“We all want a better UK,” she says, “We all want a better standard of living, but you need to be putting the blame in the right place, and that certainly isn’t with the very few people who come here seeking sanctuary.”