More than 100,000 people displayed the hatred and anger of the far right in central London.

LondonElon Musk and Eric Zemmour, some of the best-known names on the international far right, joined the British far right this Saturday, represented from outside the parliamentary system by the notorious fascist agitator Tommy Robinson, in a demonstration that brought together more than 110,000 people in central London. With the slogans "For freedom of speech" and "Unite the Kingdom," the protest demonized everything that is not white, Anglo-Saxon, and of the Christian faith. Protesters used freedom of speech to chant "Take back our country," "Kick them out," and "Stop the boats," for example. The rally can be described as historic, given its scale, and marks the culmination of a series of protests that have taken place throughout the summer, with migrants and asylum seekers as targets of anger and frustration. In short, a very disturbing show of ultra-right strength.

The march started shortly after 11 a.m., near Waterloo Station. The goal was Whitehall Avenue, where the bulk of the British administration is concentrated and where Downing Street, the official residence of the Prime Minister, is accessed. The stage was a few meters below, heading toward Parliament Square. And from the stage, the speakers—Musk via videoconference—drenched the scarecrow of the end of Western civilization.

The London Metropolitan Police (Met) was overwhelmed by the large turnout. The forecast was 40,000 attendees. When many of the participants tried to leave the route established by Scotland Yard officers, the far-right extremists began to display "unacceptably violent" behavior, according to the Met. The officers were kicked, punched, hit, and fired projectiles and flares, and they turned around, charging violently. Even a police horse was hit by a glass bottle. Nine people had been arrested by late tonight, although the police themselves have already warned that they will identify many more based on the footage.

The incidents were predictable, as with any Robinson gathering. What was surprising was the scale of the gathering and the parade of star guests, all of whom were emboldened. Éric Zemmour, former French presidential candidate and propagator of the theory of great replacement, warned the audience—in French and translated—"Our villages are in danger." The translation was not at all clear over the PA system, but the faithful were still enthusiastically calling out.

Representatives of the Nordic far right were also present. Morten Messerschmidt, of the Danish People's Party, asserted: "Wanting safe streets and secure borders does not make us criminals, it makes us patriots." Petr Bystron, a Bundestag member from the AfD, affirmed that his fight and that of the British is the same: to protect sisters and daughters from "migrant rapists." The same recycled rhetoric circulating across the continent resonated this afternoon in Whitehall, threatening liberal democracies, exhausted for complex reasons that perhaps have their initial roots in enormous economic inequalities.

The inevitable memory of Charlie Kirk

The highlight arrived via video call: Elon Musk. The Tesla and X magnate, turned oracle of the global right, appeared on screens to say that "there is a beauty in being British that is being destroyed by massive and uncontrolled erosion caused by immigration." Musk, who in other forums often talks about colonies on Mars, has resurrected the image of the hordes arriving in small boats, a message that, from within the Commons, Nigel Farage, also an ultra, repeats this., leader of the Reform Party. All of this is wrapped up in his diagnosis of British children being "mass raped" by a cowardly government.

The tycoon, as expected, He referred to the murder of the American ultraconservative Charlie Kirk.And he did so in the same terms as his former friend, Donald Trump, trying to point the finger at the left. "There is so much violence on the left, with our friend Charlie Kirk murdered in cold blood this week and people on the left openly celebrating it. The left is the party of murder and the celebration of murder," Musk said.

The English polemicist and extremist provocateur Katie Hopkins summed up the movement after the protest: "If you don't want to love our flag, you can fuck up the countryside." In other words, thunderous nationalism, which Hopkins practices so well and which Robinson likes very much.

The organizer of the rally, the aforementioned Robinson, could not be left behind. From the stage, he proclaimed that politicians are now "repeating" what they have been saying "for 15 years," a reference to Farage—who also said it 15 years ago—but also to the Conservatives and Labour, all contaminated by a xenophobia that ignites like wildfire. He called on the crowd to mobilize to revive "the 20 million Britons" who, in his opinion, are waiting for the moment to "take back the country" in a speech that mixed delusions of grandeur with complaints of martyrdom.

All this happened in Whitehall and, a few meters away, on the same avenue and separated by police officers, the counter-demonstrators ofStand Up to Racism –about 5,000– shouted: "Whose streets? Ours!" and "Refugees welcome!" Independent MP Diane Abbott – a former Labour member, expelled from the party for not following the soft slogans of Prime Minister Keir Starmer – accused Robinson and his allies of being "deeply anti-women forces" who exploit fear of sexual assault while disdaining equality and feminism. Abbott concluded that fascists "never walk the streets of London unopposed." But the truth is that this Saturday, opposition to fascism was swallowed up by an emboldened fascism, disguised as patriotic with the Union Jack –the British flag– and the English flag as their great exclusionary symbols.

This Saturday's demonstration once again highlights the crisis of liberal democracies, besieged by a violent far right that has managed to capitalize on the debate. The worst is yet to come. Because if Tommy Robinson is the battering ram from outside the establishment, Nigel Farage is the one from within the Commons. And scenes like those seen today in central London only add to his votes. Traditional British two-party system is trembling, and in Downing Street, Prime Minister Keir Stermer is failing.