Thousands of protesters gathered in central London today to call for a hardening of the government’s stance on illegal immigration and to support Tommy Robinson, who was taken into custody in the UK yesterday.

The march, which was mostly male, started at Victoria Station and made its way to Parliament Square, with participants rhythmically chanting “Tommy” and calling for him to be released.

The demonstration had been planned before Robinson’s arrest and was held under draconian security measures, with dozens of police officers deployed along the route and around the square where a concert was held. Some were holding placards with slogans against Prime Minister Kir Starmer and in support of the Reform UK party. Some placards had the slogan “Donald Trump 2024” on them, while several in the crowd were holding British and Israeli flags.

The protesters were calling for the reinstatement of the Rwandan migrant deportation plan, which was abandoned by Labour in July. They also demanded that boatloads of migrants arriving on the English coast be stopped.

Tommy Robinson, 41, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is accused by British authorities of instigating this summer’s worst riots Britain has seen in a decade. The riots broke out in July after three young girls were killed after being attacked with a knife in the north-west English town of Southport. Robinson, the co-founder of the anti-immigration group English Defence League, took this opportunity to demonstrate his influence on social networking sites. On Friday he was remanded in custody and on Monday he is expected to appear before a court in London. He is alleged to have breached a 2021 High Court order, which at the time banned him from repeating defamatory comments against a Syrian refugee who went to court and was vindicated.

In parallel, a counter-demonstration was organised today by the group “Resist Racism”, which includes trade unions NGOs and far-left groups. This march also ended up near Parliament Square, an area frequented by many tourists, and London police blocked access to this area to prevent participants in the two demonstrations from crossing each other.