London, United Kingdom – A massive crowd gathered in central London on Saturday for the Together Alliance march, an event organizers described as the largest anti-far-right demonstration in British history. The march. Supported by over 500 groups including trade unions, antiracism campaigners, and Muslim representative bodies, brought together people of all ages from across the country, converging on Whitehall near the Houses of Parliament.

Organizers Claim Half a Million Attendees

According to organizers, the event attracted approximately half a million participants. Kevin Courtney. Chairman of the Together Alliance. Told the crowd that the demonstration gives people confidence to continue their efforts against rising far-right influence. However, London’s Metropolitan Police estimated the number at around 50,000, acknowledging that the spread-out nature of the crowd made it difficult to determine an exact figure.

The protest was met with a much smaller group of counterprotesters waving Israeli flags and Iran’s pre-1979 monarchical flag. Aadam Muuse. A trade union activist. Told Al Jazeera that racism and Islamophobia have moved from the fringes into mainstream politics, driven by certain parliamentarians. He emphasized the need to push back against figures like Nigel Farage, leader of the populist Reform party, and defeat them at the ballot box.

Far-Right Influence Grows in UK

Al Jazeera’s Milena Veselinovic, reporting from the march, said demonstrators were pushing back against what they described as the politics of hate and division in the United Kingdom. One of the attendees, activist and writer Hamja Ahsan, was motivated by a recent rally organized by far-right agitator Tommy Robinson, which drew 150,000 people and was marred by violence that injured several police officers. Ahsan said Robinson is reportedly planning another rally in May.

“We need to show them that we’re the majority,” Ahsan said. “At a street level, the far right won’t take over our streets.” He described the atmosphere as akin to the Notting Hill Carnival, with people from all backgrounds, “from pensioners to children,” uniting for the cause.

Museum worker Charlotte Elliston told Al Jazeera she feels unsettled by the far right’s growing influence. “You think this would never happen here, and then all of a sudden this might happen,” she said. “You see that it is getting scary.”

Left-Wing Politicians Join the March

Several left-wing politicians joined the demonstration. Independent MP Jeremy Corbyn posted on X that the problems facing the UK are not caused by migrants or refugees, but by an economic system that favors corporations and billionaires. MP Zarah Sultana said on X, “There’s one minority we should be angry at: the billionaires funding division while working class people can’t make ends meet.” Green Party leader Zack Polanski, Dianne Abbott, and Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham were also among the attendees.

Amnesty UK praised the event as a “historic demonstration,” stating that marchers were calling for a society built on dignity, compassion, and human rights. A separate march organized by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which assembled at Exhibition Road near Hyde Park, joined the main demonstration during the afternoon.

Eighteen people were arrested outside New Scotland Yard on Saturday after staging a protest in support of Palestine Action, a group that remains proscribed under the Terrorism Act despite a High Court ruling in February that the government’s decision to ban it was unlawful.

The march comes amid a rise in far-right influence, with Farage’s Reform party surging in the polls. Hope Not Hate, an antiracism campaign group, warned earlier in March that the British far right is now “bigger, bolder and more extreme than ever before.”

With the far-right gaining momentum, the demonstration served as a reminder of the deepening political and social divisions in the UK. The event’s scale and the diverse participation of attendees show the growing concern over the rise of extremist ideologies and the need for a unified response.

What’s next remains uncertain, but with the Reform party’s increasing popularity, the battle against far-right influence is likely to intensify in the coming months. The government faces mounting pressure to address the root causes of the far-right’s appeal, including economic inequality and rising xenophobia.