A pro-Palestinian march marking Nakba Day and a 'Unite the Kingdom' rally took place concurrently on Saturday in London. Police deployed 4,000 officers, including reinforcements from outside the capital, and pledged "the most assertive possible use of our powers" in what they called their biggest public order operation in years. The commemoration of the Nakba, or ‘the catastrophe’ in Arabic, marks the start of the 1948 war, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forcibly evicted from their homes in what was then known as Mandatory Palestine. The 'Unite the Kingdom' rally was organized by the far-right and anti-Islam activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, better known by his pseudonym Tommy Robinson. While protesters held a range of views, police said they routinely made arrests for racially and religiously aggravated public order offences, inciting racial hatred or supporting proscribed organizations. #palestine #protest #farright #racism #nakba #london