We are now mainstream.”

Other speakers included the leader of Ukip, Gerard Batten, the Vice magazine co-founder Gavin McInnes, the YouTube personality Sargon of Akkad, Anne Marie Waters of the political party For Britain and the former Breitbart senior editor Milo Yiannopoulos. As most Britons spent their bank holidays bathing in the summer sunshine, it was easy to miss the fact that thousands of protesters marched on Whitehall to “protect freedom of speech”. Or as Tommy Robinson put it when he addressed the rally: “The people of this country have been silenced for 20-30 years with the tag of racists. They have managed to silence people so that they are too scared to speak up when they see things that are wrong.”

Robinson is tapping into that hoary old Nixonian trope, “the silent majority”. Whatever the response to the weekend’s rally is, it can’t come soon enough.
Thousands of far-right activists attend a protest in London, United Kingdom amid a recent crackdown on far-right activity on social media. Guest speakers included former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson, Vice magazine co-founder Gavin McInnes, and UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Gerard Batten.