Far-right activist Robinson holds concert to ‘put Christ back into Christmas’

Far-right activist Tommy Robinson has led a carol concert to “put the Christ back into Christmas”.

The Unite The Kingdom event was kept away from a counter protest organised by Stand Up To Racism in central London.

Police suffered violence when the two groups faced off at the same spot on Whitehall earlier this year but Saturday’s protest appeared to be peaceful.

Hymn sheets were handed out to the crowd and a woman walked around selling St George’s flags and Santa hats.

Robinson told the event he used to “hate the church” but met a pastor in prison who taught him about the bible.

Posting on X beforehand, Robinson said: “I want to remind everyone this is a religious celebration, this is not a political event.

“No face coverings, and no drinking please, as we have always done, let’s self police, behave respectfully and let’s make sure we honour our faith, our culture, and our heritage in the very best way we can.”

A priest sitting among the crowd shouted that Jesus had been a migrant.

“I’ve worked with lots of former offenders like Tommy Robinson,” she said, offering to speak to attendees about Christianity.

Commander Adam Slonecki, who was in charge of the policing operation, said: “Every weekend in London is busy but that is especially the case at this time of year when the transport network, shops and public spaces will see much higher footfall.

“In that context, it is particularly important that we ensure that where groups are exercising their lawful right to protest, we use the powers available to us to ensure those protests don’t cause serious disruption to the many other people – Londoners and visitors alike – going about their lives.

“We have imposed a series of Public Order Act conditions setting out limits on locations and timings of the protests.”

The force said there was an arrest for an assault on a mounted officer nearby, and a man suspected of directing homophobic abuse towards an officer at a previous protest was also arrested.

In September, Robinson organised a Unite The Kingdom rally in central London attended by between 110,000 and 150,000 people.

More than 150 reports of anti-Muslim hate were made to the Tell Mama charity monitoring the issue in the seven days following the rally.

Officers were assaulted as they faced “significant aggression” from protesters, the force said.

Projectiles were thrown by Robinson protesters towards the counter-demonstrators as thousands from both sides stared each other down on Whitehall.