Thousands of protesters met on Exhibition Road in Kensington, then walked via Knightsbridge and Piccadilly, ending at Pall Mall.
One congregant, the broadcaster and commentator Josh Howie, posted a video clip of himself on social media walking to the synagogue from South Kensington Tube station, outside which protesters were gathering and shouting slogans.
"This is what it is to be a Jew in the UK particularly in London in 2026. This is what it takes to go to my synagogue," he said.
A number of Labour MPs and the leader of the opposition, Kemi Badenoch, had called for this year’s march to be banned, given the recent wave of high-profile antisemitic attacks.
A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said that the closest point of the march to Westminster Synagogue had been the assembly point on Exhibition Road, about half a mile from Westminster Shul.
He added: “We had a significant policing presence in the area to ensure there was no adverse impact on the synagogue. We were in contact with representatives throughout and we had no reports of any incidents.”
Police monitor the situation as people take part in a Unite The Kingdom far right protest on May 16 (Photo: Getty)Getty Images
More than 4,000 police were deployed in central London yesterday as the Nakba rally took place on the same day as the Unite the Kingdom march, led by far-right figure Tommy Robinson, and the FA Cup final.
The Met spokesperson confirmed that 12 arrests had been made in connection to the Nakba march, two for hate crime offences, and a further seven hate crime offences remained under investigation, with outstanding suspects.
They said that 20 arrests had been made at the Unite the Kingdom march, nine for hate crimes offences.
At the Nakba march, which had also been billed as a protest against the far right, a placard was seen glorifying “martyrs” and calling for “revolution”, and there were shouts of “Baby murderer”, allegedly towards a Jewish bystander, and chants of “Intifada revolution”.
At the Unite the Kingdom march, a large banner with the words: “End Zionist occupation of Britain! Stop white replacement” was held.
On X, commentator Nicole Lampert, who has won awards for fighting antisemitism, posted: “The horseshoe has met, as it was always going to.”
The horseshoe effect is a political theory, referring to when the far left and far right converge on a common cause.
