UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned “harmful” feedback by Elon Musk on Monday, after the X and Tesla proprietor instructed an anti-immigration rally in London that “violence is coming” to the UK and so they should struggle or die.
Addressing the demonstration by video hyperlink, Musk known as for the dissolution of UK Parliament and an early election to take away Starmer’s centre-left authorities.
He instructed protesters, “violence is coming to you,” and “you both struggle again otherwise you die.”
Starmer denounced violence on the fringes of Saturday’s “Unite the Kingdom” demonstration in London organised by far-right campaigner Tommy Robinson.
Police stated 26 officers have been injured, 4 significantly, as protesters tried to breach traces separating them from a smaller anti-racist counter-demonstration.
Twenty-five folks have been arrested on the occasion and the Metropolitan Police stated extra arrests would comply with.
Elon Musk attends a information convention with President Donald Trump within the Oval Workplace of the White Home, 30 Could, 2025 – AP Photograph
Starmer’s spokesperson Dave Pares stated he did not assume “the British public can have any truck with that sort of language.”
“The UK is a good, tolerant and first rate nation, so the very last thing that British folks need is harmful and inflammatory language which threatens violence and intimidation on our streets,” Pares added.
Ed Davey, who leads the Liberal Democrats, the third-largest celebration in Parliament, urged Starmer and Conservative opposition chief Kemi Badenoch to affix him in condemning Musk’s try “to sow discord and incite violence on our streets” and intervene with British democracy.
They need to “think about what sanctions Elon Musk ought to face as a consequence,” Davey stated.
Starmer’s spokesperson stated the federal government had no plans to talk to Musk about his feedback and resisted calls to sanction him for the remarks.
Folks reveal through the Tommy Robinson-led Unite the Kingdom march and rally in London, 13 September, 2025 – AP Photograph
The prime minister wrote on X that peaceable protest “is core to our nation’s values. However we won’t stand for assaults on law enforcement officials doing their job or for folks feeling intimidated on our streets due to their background or the color of their pores and skin.”
This isn’t the primary time Musk, a former ally of US President Donald Trump, has supported far-right figures in Europe, together with Robinson and the Various for Germany (AfD) celebration.
The South African-born Musk can be a critic of makes an attempt by the UK and different European governments to clamp down on dangerous on-line content material, one thing he argues restricts free speech.
Saturday’s demonstration follows rising political concern about unauthorised immigration, particularly the arrival of migrants throughout the English Channel in small boats.
Greater than 30,000 folks have made the harmful crossing from France to this point this yr regardless of efforts by authorities from Britain, France and different international locations to crack down on the people-smuggling gangs behind the journeys.
The usage of inns to accommodate asylum-seekers has turn into a serious political concern in Britain, sparking dozens of small however heated protests over the summer season, a few of which turned violent.
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Flying the flag
Lots of the demonstrators in London waved the UK’s Union Jack or the crimson and white St George’s flag of England.
In current weeks, the flags have proliferated on lampposts, motorway bridges and street intersections across the nation as a part of a seemingly grassroots marketing campaign.
Crimson crosses have additionally been painted on buildings in what some see as an intimidating gesture aimed toward ethnic minorities.
The St George’s flag particularly is a logo used to specific patriotism and satisfaction when supporting England’s sports activities groups, however has at occasions been utilized by anti-immigration protesters and the laborious proper.
The flag featured closely at anti-asylum protests this summer season, which have been attended and in some circumstances organised by far-right activists.
Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer sits at a desk at10 Downing Road in London, 10 September, 2025 – AP Photograph
“Flags can unite and divide as they’re flown by folks with totally different motives and meanings,” stated Sunder Katwala of British Future, a assume tank that appears at points together with integration and nationwide identification.
James Freeman, a senior lecturer in political historical past on the College of Bristol, stated using flags “to intimidate or demark sure areas as being out of bounds” was a historic phenomenon, although the hyperlink between the St George’s flag and the laborious proper is “comparatively current”.
Starmer, who has expressed help for flying flags as symbols of nationwide satisfaction, wrote on X that “Britain is a nation proudly constructed on tolerance, variety and respect.”
“Our flag represents our numerous nation and we’ll by no means give up it to people who use it as a logo of violence, concern and division,” the UK prime minister concluded.