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We are in London, and spent the morning touring Parliament. When we emerged from the Palace of Westminster, a demonstration was in progress in Parliament Square. There were Union Jacks and St. George’s Crosses everywhere. There were a few Israeli flags, too, and we saw at least one Trump sign. I filmed this short video:

News coverage of the protest was rather breathless:

Thousands of Tommy Robinson supporters packed central London as a sea of massed protesters saw the capital’s streets bubbling with rage.

We didn’t see any rage. The mood of the pro-U.K. protest was festive and cheerful. There were screens on which videos were shown, and apparently a band had played earlier. Tommy Robinson himself was not present. He organized the rally but was arrested yesterday and incarcerated. So he appeared by video; I think he was on the screen while we were watching.

Police have been drafted in from across the country to keep order today, with three separate demonstrations marching through the city.
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Tensions are high across the city, with one protester suggesting they ‘burst through’ the police line, Metro reports, and Laurence Fox avoiding the rally over fears it could ‘descend into chaos’.

Tensions were not high, as far as we could see. Many thousands of people were out and about, with many, like us, being rerouted to avoid protests. It looked like a typical day in St. James’s Park, only with more people walking about, feeding squirrels, and so on.

Counter protesters organised by Stand Up to Racism also packed London with yellow signs, while elsewhere in the city demonstrators marched with Chris Kaba’s family, remembering people killed by police officers.

The main effort on the part of police was to keep the pro-U.K. protesters separate from the Stand Up to Racism protesters. By “racism,” I take it they mean opposition to unfettered, mass third-world immigration. As far as we could see, the police were entirely successful in that effort, and in fact we never caught a glimpse of the “Stand Up to Racism” demonstration. This photo is from the linked Daily Mail story:

Usually, Saturday is the day reserved for anti-Semitic demonstrations in London, as well as pro-Israel counter-demonstrations. The anti-Semites generally gather in Trafalgar Square. Driving by the Square yesterday, we saw barriers and other equipment being set up. Our cab driver explained the police were getting the area ready for Saturday’s protest. So I assume the anti-Semites did their usual thing at Trafalgar, but I have seen nothing about it in the news.

It is possible, I suppose, that violence may break out at some point today. But it seems that these protests and counter-protests have become stylized and ritual. Saturday is demonstration day in London, and, while the protests do disrupt vehicle and pedestrian traffic to some degree, everyone seems to take them in stride.