The hard-right Unite the Kingdom march organised by anti-immigration activist Tommy Robinson wound its way noisily through central London on Saturday, down the Strand near Trafalgar Square and towards the Houses of Parliament.Beneath a fluttering sea of Union Jacks, English flags of St George, Iranian royalist flags and a smattering of Irish tricolours, several marchers clutched beer cans and chanted in colourful terms their disdain for UK prime minister Keir Starmer.Suddenly, outside Charing Cross station, there was excitement in the crowd. It was Robinson, who is sometimes named in reports as Stephen Yaxley-Lennon. He jumped out of a side street and joined the throng, surrounded by his security team.Hero-worship of Robinson is a feature of British hard-right rallies. The crowd surged forward, chanting his name. His security formed a protective ring around him as they walked ahead, arms locked on each other’s shoulders, creating a little bubble for him in the centre.One effervescent marcher wearing an England flag as a cape sang loudly to the tune of Frankie Valli’s Can’t Take My Eyes Off You: “I love you Tommy, you are the love of my life. I love you Tommy, I’d let you s**g my wife, I love you Tommy, trust in me when I say…”Robinson threw his head back and laughed. Some of the protesters, to aid the now near-panicking security detail, formed an outer layer of protection, hands locked on shoulders in the same way. They all moved off down Whitehall to parliament with Robinson, clearly enjoying his celebrity status, ensconced in the middle.His last big march in September last year brought at least 150,000 on to London’s streets, although he claimed it was more than a million. Either way, it was still Britain’s biggest hard right gathering in decades, and shocked the Westminster establishment.Saturday’s Unite the Kingdom event seemed smaller, perhaps half the size of the last one. But it still filled Whitehall and Parliament Street all the way from Trafalgar Square to the side of Westminster Abbey, where the stage had been erected.Robinson’s critics accuse him of bigotry and fomenting anti-Muslim sentiment, which he denies, claiming he is only anti-Islam as a religion. It is a common trope at right-wing rallies to blame Muslim men for the rape of British women and children.On Monday before the march, Starmer said he would not allow “far-right agitators” from abroad to attend Unite the Kingdom. Eleven anti-immigration activists due to speak at the event were barred at Britain’s borders, including US activist Valentina Gomez.People take part in a Unite the Kingdom march organised by far-right anti-Islam activist Tommy Robinson in central London. Photograph: Maja Smiejkowska/PA Wire In the days leading up to the event, I asked Robinson what he thought of Starmer’s intervention. He responded at first with an expletive for the prime minister – the same one later chanted incessantly by the crowd – before accusing him of scaremongering about the intentions of marchers, who he claimed were all peaceful.“Anyone with a difference of opinion to the communist Starmer is labelled as an extremist,” said Robinson. “Starmer can’t stop rapists, jihadists from coming into the country ... Yet here he is stopping people with different political opinions. It is two-tier tyranny from the government.”[ Tens of thousands march in London in separate far-right and pro‑Palestinian protestsOpens in new window ]This reporter witnessed little trouble at the event on Saturday, although police later said there were 43 arrests at Unite the Kingdom and another, rival left-wing pro-Palestine march on the other side of London’s West End. About 4,000 police, including some drafted in from Wales, locked down central London to keep the two marches apart.A man at the Robinson march, Bob Ryan from London, carried a flagpole with an Irish tricolour and English flag. He said both his parents were Irish and people at Robinson’s rallies “shake my hand all day long” for bringing a tricolour – concern about “what is happening in Ireland” with Muslim immigrants is a constant conversation topic at these events.“I grew up with an identity crisis,” said Ryan of his heritage. “Then I realised, f**k it, I’m an Englishman with Irish blood. I never felt confident about it until I started coming to marches. What’s happening in Ireland isn’t right – one in five are illegal immigrants.”If that were true, it would be over one million. The real figure is much lower. Bob Ryan, from London, flies the English and Irish flags at the Tommy Robinson March. Photograph: Mark Paul Speaker after speaker from the stage, including long-time Robinson ally Liam Tuffs, hailed the influence of US president Donald Trump. The crowd cheered his image on screen. Robinson later revealed he got funding from US donors to put on the event.He urged protesters to get involved in politics in advance of the 2029 UK general election. “Get ready for the Battle of Britain,” he said. Advance UK leader Ben Habib, who used to be in Reform UK until he fell out with Nigel Farage, was among the speakers. Others included Katie Hopkins and Laurence Fox.Evangelical Christian nationalists were an overt presence. Many of the protesters carried wooden crosses while chants of “Christ is king” regularly broke out among the crowd. Renegade breakaway Anglican bishop Ceirion Dewar gave a fire and brimstone address, lionising Robinson.The police sealed off the West End to separate Robinson’s march from the pro-Palestine Nakba Day demonstration, winding its way along Piccadilly to Pall Mall. It took a half-hour of negotiation and a phone call to the UK’s press card authority for me to get through. The police were apologetic, but skittish about potential violence.Pro-Palestinian demonstrators in Knightsbridge take part in the 78th Nakba anniversary march in London. Photograph: Brook Mitchell/Getty Images The Palestine march also had a heavy contingent of Iranians. Not Shah-fan royalists this time, as were at the Robinson event, but the Communist Party of Iran and also people holding banners in support of the former spiritual leader Ali Khamenei, killed by Israel at the outset of the ongoing war in Iran. Some carried “Glory to the Resistance” banners.The Palestine event was about half the size of Robinson’s and was mostly calm. Most of the attendees did not appear to be Muslims, but rather left-wing British activists. Some Socialist Worker students chanted mockingly about the assassination last year of US right wing figure Charlie Kirk. Greens for Palestine carried a banner saying “Zionism is racism”.Yet overall, the event had a family-friendly appeal. There were specific stop points for children to play and draw in chalk on the road.Back at the Robinson march, another Irish accent rolled across Parliament Square. Robinson had just introduced onstage Tom McDonnell, a right-wing independent councillor from Newbridge, Co Kildare. The Irishman addressed the Unite the Kingdom rally.McDonnell told the crowd Muslim men were making Ireland unsafe. He held the Irish tricolour aloft to cheers from the English nationalist protesters.The evening drew in and the event’s licence was about to expire. The crowd thinned. The waft of marijuana hung in the air while Parliament Square lay half buried under a carpet of empty beer cans. Robinson declared the event a success.Police mostly managed to keep the two opposing sides apart. But the divisions creeping into British society were still plain to see on the streets of London.[ How did Nigel Farage go from crank to bookies’ favourite for prime minister after the next election?Opens in new window ]