'Traitors in Westminster are watching and cowering' says Tommy Robinson as London draped in sea of England and Union flags

LONDON is draped in a sea of England and Union flags as Tommy Robinson's Uniting the Kingdom Free Speech Festival event is underway.

Speeches have started at Whitehall with Robinson now on the stand. Watch it live here.

He said: "The traitors in Westminster are watching right now, cowering and trembling. Keir Starmer, the Labour Party, the revolution has started.

"They managed to silence us for 20 years with labels - racist, Islamaphobic, far right. They don't work any more, the damn has well and truly burst.

"The silent majority will be silent no longer. Today we are sending shockwaves through the corridors of power of the elite like a bloody earthquake."

Robinson earlier posted on X that police estimated up to "three million patriots" had come to the capital, but no official estimates have been released by the Met Police.

Arial images show thousands lining the streets from the start of the march to Whitehall.

The march was led by Robinson with other right-wing activists, including Laurence Fox, Katie Hopkins and Ant Middleton.

A separate counter march by Stand Up To Racism from Russell Square to the Strand looks less well attended.

Robinson has been posting for weeks ahead of the event on X for there to be no violence and it to be a family event.

He urged for those attending to refrain from drinking alcohol and for no one to wear masks.

He said the British Government would want the event to descend into scenes of violence and rioting.

The Met Police posted on X: "The ‘Unite the Kingdom’ march has set off from Stamford Street towards Whitehall.

"The front of the march is currently on York Road heading towards Westminster Bridge. There have been no incidents of note so far."

A separate post said: "The Stand Up To Racism march has now set off from Russell Square, heading to the northern end of Whitehall via Aldwych and the Strand.

"There have been no incidents of note at the protest so far."

On Friday the force said there would be a significant visible policing presence across London on Saturday with a number of demonstrations, football fixtures and other events due to take place.

More than 1,600 officers have been deployed as part of the overall public order policing operation, including 500 brought in from other forces.

Commander Clair Haynes, who is in charge of the public order policing operation in London this weekend, said: “This will be a very busy day with protest, sporting fixtures, concerts and other events. The Met is used to delivering the sort of complex and large-scale policing operation that is required to keep the public safe and we have a detailed plan to do so on Saturday.

“I am grateful to the many hundreds of Met officers who are being deployed away from their day to day roles and to the 500 or so officers from around the country who have responded to our request for support.

“The main focus of the operation is on the two protests in central London. We will approach them as we do any other protests, policing without fear or favour, ensuring people can exercise their lawful rights but being robust in dealing with incidents or offences should they occur.

“In the run up to the protests we have been in close contact with the organisers, with local business and community representatives and with representatives of communities across London more broadly.

“We would ask all those taking part in the protests to be considerate of the communities they are passing through to ensure disruption is kept to a minimum. Officers will take a firm line on behaviour that is discriminatory or that crosses the line from protest into hate crime.

“We recognise that there are particular concerns for many in London’s Muslim communities ahead of the ‘Unite the Kingdom’ protest given the record of anti-Muslim rhetoric and incidents of offensive chanting by a minority at previous marches.

“There have been some suggestions that Muslim Londoners should change their behaviour this Saturday, including not coming into town. That is not our advice. Everyone should be able to feel safe travelling into and around London. Our officers are there to ensure that is the case and we’d urge anyone who is out on Saturday and feels concerned to speak to us.