A “paedophile hunter”, a disgraced former MP, and TV personality Ant Middleton are among the eclectic line-up of Tommy Robinson allies due to speak at his Unite the Kingdom march this weekend.
Plans for the major rally through Whitehall in London have been thrown into disarray by travel bans issued by the Home Office to prevent extremist preachers and far-right figures from coming to the UK.
At least seven people, including Polish MEP Dominik Tarczynski and anti-Islam influencer Valentina Gomez, have been blocked from entering the UK to attend the march, which is being organised by British far-right activist Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon.
Police are preparing for around 50,000 people to attend the march and around 30,000 people to attend a separate pro-Palestine Nakba Day rally on Saturday, with up to 100,000 protesters expected in the capital, as well as football fans heading to the FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium.
Metropolitan Police deputy assistant commissioner James Harman said Saturday has the “potential to be one of the biggest days of policing in London in recent years”. Some 4,000 officers, including 660 from other forces from across England and Wales, will be deployed, along with helicopters, drones, dog units, police horses, and armoured vehicles, which will be on hand if they are needed.
Policing across the events will cost around £4.5m, with £1.7m being spent on bringing additional officers into London.
Live facial recognition will also be deployed in Camden, where some people attending Robinson’s march are due to gather, checking people against a pre-existing watch list.
DC Harman warned that “if hate speech is used at the rally, we, the police, will intervene then and there with the speaker”. There will also be “a responsibility with the organiser as well as the speaker to stay within the law with hate speech”, he added.
The march has been billed as “the ultimate stand for those who refuse to let their culture be sidelined” and will be about “capitalism, democracy and faith”, according to promotional material.
The first Unite the Kingdom demonstration, which drew up to 150,000 people in September last year, was condemned as “plastic patriotism” by Sir Keir Starmer at the time. Some 22 people were arrested at that march, and there were clashes between groups of protesters. Tech billionaire Elon Musk told marchers to “either fight back, or you die” in comments that were denounced as “inappropriate” and “disgusting”.
Those planning to speak at Saturday’s event include the British former soldier Ant Middleton, best known for his role as former chief instructor on Channel 4’s television series SAS: Who Dares Wins. He has said that he will use Mr Musk’s Starlink service to speak to the march via video link from Mount Everest base camp.
An anti-migrant vigilante and self-styled paedophile hunter, named Alex Cairnie, is also expected to speak at the event. Mr Cairnie has a previous conviction for abducting a man suspected of a child sex offence.
At his sentencing, Sheriff Brian Mohan, of Paisley sheriff court, said Cairnie and his group had been “running about like cowboys” and warned that his “well-motivated action knows no boundaries”.
Andy Malone, an Irish anti-immigration Christian influencer who lives in Dubai, had been expected to speak at Saturday’s event. However, he told his 174,000 Instagram followers this week that he had to cancel his flights to the UK after he was “contacted and told that I will be arrested on arrival”.
Another anti-migrant influencer with more than 200,000 Instagram followers, who goes by her social media handle Based and Bougie, will address the crowds. In a video promoted by Mr Robinson, she claimed it would be the “biggest rally that the world has ever seen”.
Based and Bougie, who has claimed that LGBTQ rights are being “forced on Christians”, said the march would show “who London’s streets belong to” by “reclaiming” them from the “Communists, Marxists and Islamists”.
Former Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen is also on the bill, although he was not able to speak last year as the organisers ran out of time. Mr Bridgen was expelled from the Tory party after comparing Covid-19 vaccines to the Holocaust. Mr Robinson has also said that Siobhan Whyte, the mother of Rhiannon Whyte, will be speaking. Ms Whyte was murdered by an asylum seeker who was staying at the hotel where she worked.
Rikki Doolan, a self-styled pastor and musician, will also be returning and has promised to lead the crowds in a rendition of his new song written for the event.
Among those banned from attending the event is right-wing Polish politician Dominik Tarczynski, who was criticised earlier this year for posting “Good job ICE” in response to the fatal shooting of Renee Good by a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minnesota.
He said on Wednesday that the Home Office had cancelled his electronic travel authorisation, preventing his arrival in Britain, and threatened to sue the prime minister.
Other right-wing personalities claiming to have been barred include Belgian politician and commentator Filip Dewinter, anti-Islam influencer Valentina Gomez, right-wing US commentator Joey Mannarino, Spanish personality Ada Lluch, Dutch anti-immigration activist Eva Vlaardingerbroek and US-based podcaster Don Keith.
