Led by Great Britain’s Tommy Robinson, hundreds of thousands of people gathered in the streets surrounding the Parliament buildings in London, for the Unite the Kingdom protest on Saturday.
Protesters said they were there to demand the right to free speech and urged lawmakers to crack down on mass immigration. Though planned before his assassination, the crowds also mourned the death of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.
Ahead of the protest in London, a group of men from Birmingham lowered a massive Union Jack flag from the White Cliffs of Dover in Southeast England. The flag displayed the words, “Unite The Kingdom.” Other flags on land read, “Stop The Boats” and “RIP Charlie Kirk.”
Robinson was released from solitary confinement in May, having served for showing a documentary he made to a large rally in Trafalgar Square.
The United Kingdom has faced increasing scrutiny over their arrests for speech crimes.
‘They will not stop us now’
On stage at the event, political commentator Katie Hopkins referenced Robinson’s imprisonment, Kirk’s murder and her own censorship.
“But it doesn’t matter,” she said. “They can put us in prison. They can shoot us. They can lock us up, but they will not stop us now.”
Hopkins continued, “Because we are not here because we hate. We are not here because we want bad things for other people. We are here because we grew up knowing freedoms, and we will get those freedoms back for our kids and our grandchildren.”
Elon Musk also joined the rally on Zoom, calling for a dissolution of parliament and new elections. Jonathan Sacerdoti, a British journalist, recalled in The Spectator that this suggestion was met by cheers.
“Our friend Charlie Kirk [was] murdered in cold blood this week,” Musk said. He then critiqued “people on the left celebrating it openly.”
Also in attendance was the 13-year-old girl who was famously sent home from school early on “culture day” for wearing a Union Jack dress.
“Britain is our home,” she said. “It’s a place built on courage, sacrifice and freedom. Millions before us fought to protect it, and it’s our duty to love it, respect it and keep it strong.”
The rally was ‘terrifying,’ one MP says
A Member of Parliament for Perth and Kinross-shire, Scotland, Pete Wishart said on X, “Tommy Robinson’s march yesterday was terrifying.”
“The fact the far right can mobilize so many on to the streets shows how giving into their agenda has failed. The future of the U.K. could well be there’s and what a chilling prospect. Scotland has to decide whether this is for us,” he said.
Rallies erupt around the world
Also on Saturday in Seoul, South Korea, thousands of young conservatives marched with American flags, chanting, “We are Charlie Kirk.”
Kirk had visited South Korea and Japan the week before his assassination, urging young people to have more children and embrace Christianity, per the South Korean paper, Chosun Daily.
“Do not wait for politics to change your life someday,” Kirk had told the young group of South Koreans. “You must change politics in your life now. It is time for South Korean youth to step forward.”
In Australia, rallies erupted across different states, bringing thousands on both sides of the aisle to the streets.
In Brisbane, protesters carried signs saying, “Je Suis Charlie” and “Charlie Lives Matter.”
In New South Wales, people gathered in Hyde Park and listened to speakers call for an end to mass immigration. Meanwhile, a counter protest organized by the Black Caucus of about 1,000 rallied against fascism, racism and “Neo-Nazis,” per ABC.
In South Australia, rally organizer Mark Aldridge led a minute of silence for Kirk, and speakers called for the country’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese, to resign.