Every year a march is organised through the streets of London to mark Nakba Day, commemorating the 1948 displacement of Palestinians during the creation of Israel.
Organisers say the event is multi-generational and includes elderly survivors of the Nakba, the defining moment in the history of the Palestinian people.
But this year’s march won’t go on its chosen route after police gave the go-ahead for the Unite the Kingdom rally instead. It is organised by the far-right anti-immigration activist known as Tommy Robinson. The alternative route to be taken by the Nakba Day march, which will end in central London, is regarded by those involved as a symbolic relegation of their cause.
The two marches mean the centre of the UK capital will become a flashpoint, presenting the Met Police with a major public order headache on the same day as the FA Cup final.
The force says previous Palestinian marches have led to arrests for anti-Semitic comments, expressing support for Hamas and intifada, while Unite the Kingdom has involved anti-Muslim chanting along with attacks on the police and counter-demonstrators. This potentially combustible situation will be tackled with a massive police presence, with strict conditions to keep both sides apart.
All this comes in the wake of a series of arson attacks on Jewish targets in London, which have left many in the community fearful and blaming the Palestinian marches for stirring up hatred against them. Responsibility for the attacks has been claimed by an Iranian front group.
But the organisers of the Nakba Day march say they have been unfairly made to reroute to accommodate supporters of Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – people it describes as “fascists, racists and Islamophobes”.
A group representing Palestinians in the UK say Unite the Kingdom's organisers have deliberately chosen to stage their event on the same day as the Nakba Day march.
Palestine Solidarity Campaign deputy director Peter Leary told The National: “It’s disgraceful on the part of the police to have allocated Tommy Robinson and his supporters the heart of London for a day.
“They've done so in preference to the Nakba march, denying us our preferred route, even though the Nakba march happens annually and is a long-standing multi-generational event that includes elderly Nakba survivors. It's an entirely peaceful demonstration, bringing together people from every background and all walks of life.”
Mr Leary said the Met Police has taken a “a highly political attitude to our marches, presumably under pressure from the government”.
“We were very critical of the commissioner Mark Rowley over absolutely outrageous and false comments he made about our marches and claiming that we intentionally march near synagogues, something that he knows has never been the case.
“Our marches don't represent any kind of threat to synagogues and involve many thousands of Jewish people. The last time Tommy Robinson was allowed to assemble in the area, his supporters trashed the place, leading to a number of arrests.
“So it's a wrong decision on the part of the police, but nevertheless, obviously the Nakba Day march is going ahead, and we’re looking forward to a successful demonstration.”
To coincide with this year's Nakba Day march, more than 30 celebrities and business leaders have signed an open letter calling on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to formally apologise for what they describe as Britain's unlawful actions in Palestine between 1917 and 1948.
It draws on a 400-page legal petition submitted to the Government in September 2025 by the Britain Owes Palestine campaign. Signatories include singer Paloma Faith, comedian Alexei Sayle and businessman Dale Vince.
The decision by the Met Police led to a group of prominent actors, including Khalid Abdalla and Juliet Stevenson, and British Palestinians to gather outside New Scotland Yard to hand in a letter to the Commissioner of the Met Police, Sir Mark Rowley, calling for him to reverse the decision.
Zena Agha, the interim director of the British Palestinian Committee, said the “rerouting of the march demonstrates a protracted effort at a government level to stymie, if not stop altogether, any public displays of support for Palestine”.
“I feel like it's a further affirmation that the Palestinians, Palestinian history and the Palestinian presence is not welcomed or well understood in this country,” Dr Agha, whose father was displaced by the Nakba, told The National.
She believes “it's not by accident” that Unite the Kingdom chose the day of the Nakba Day march to organise their event. But despite previous violence, “it's our march that has to get rerouted and that gets defamed”, she added.
The Nakba March would have started at Victoria Embankment and followed a path across Westminster Bridge to Waterloo, a route participants had marched three times before.
Instead, the route will begin in Exhibition Road, in south Kensington, near the Victoria and Albert Museum, and will make its way to Pall Mall. Unite the Kingdom will start in Kingsway and end in Parliament Square.
The Met Police said Saturday will be one of its busiest days in recent years, and that it will deploy 4,000 officers, supported by live facial recognition, helicopters, drones, dog units, police horses, armoured vehicles and dedicated investigative teams.
They estimate around 50,000 people will attend the Unite the Kingdom rally, with 30,000 at Nakba Day, with the final bill expected to come in at £4.5 million.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner James Harman said elements on both marches present a threat to public order, and that that “leaves us no choice but to implement a policing plan that imposes the highest degree of control on all groups”.
To the point that the Robinson supporters had usurped the traditional demonstration, put to the Met this week by The National, Mr Harman said that “we haven't given over London to either march”.
“The police will be there to keep those marches safe and to ensure that they can go ahead peacefully," he said. "We police without fear or favour. There is absolutely no question of us preferring one march over the other, but using our resources, we will keep everybody safe.
“They need to keep to the routes that we set because we've set them for a reason. We've set them so the protests can take place safely, but we've not given over London to anybody.”
At the last Unite the Kingdom rally in September, tech tycoon Elon Musk made a speech via video link condemning the UK government and telling protesters to “fight back or die”. Twenty-three participants were arrested, as well as one counter-protester.
The Met Police has been under pressure to curtail or end the fortnightly marches in London for Palestine, which have attracted hundreds of thousands of people, since they began in opposition to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza in 2023.
Two organisers of the marches, Ben Jamal and Chris Nineham, were found guilty this month of breaching conditions imposed ahead of a protest last year. Mr Jamal has since stepped down from his long-standing role as leader of the PSC, citing personal circumstances.
