Billy Bragg has spoken about yesterday’s huge march in London, saying it’ll ship a message to the “shysters” on the far proper within the UK.
The protest on Saturday (March 28) was organised by the Collectively Alliance and they claimed that half one million folks took to the streets of central London to face up for unity and to construct public consciousness in regards to the rising menace of the far proper within the UK and past.
Bragg was one of many performers to play on the ‘Home In opposition to Hate’ stage that was assembled in Trafalgar Sq. for the demonstration, alongside the likes of Self Esteem, Sizzling Chip, Jessie Ware and Katy B, and he has now shared a mirrored image on the expertise.
Writing on Instagram, Bragg stated that he felt “drastically impressed” by the protest, including: “The issues that folks have about rising price of residing, widening gaps between the wealthy and poor, an over-stretched NHS, the shortage of reasonably priced housing and the consequences of the local weather disaster can’t be solved by rounding up folks of color and forcing them to ‘remigrate’.”
Addressing the goal of the demonstration, he continued: “Between now and the subsequent election, there shall be politicians of the Far-age proper and the far proper who will bang the drum for remigration within the hope that nobody will ask them how they intend to handle these aforementioned issues. Yesterday means that the folks of Britain won’t enable themselves to be fooled by such shysters.”
He likened the occasion to the Rock In opposition to Racism and Anti-Nazi League campaigns of the late ‘70s, and famous that he was joined on stage yesterday by The Specials’ Jerry Dammers, one other veteran of these earlier actions.
“What I discovered most encouraging yesterday was the variety of younger folks in attendance,” Bragg added. “I hope yesterday noticed the introduction of a brand new technology of activists whose lives shall be modified by what they noticed and heard on the march. As a result of by being there, they’ve joined an anti-fascist custom that stretches again not simply to Rock In opposition to Racism within the Nineteen Seventies, however all the best way again to the Battle of Cable Road in 1936.”
Billy Bragg on stage on the Collectively Alliance march
The place he additionally pays tribute to the folks of Minneapolis who stood up in opposition to ICE
“Final yr’s Unite the Kingdom march organised by Tommy Robinson was essentially the most divisive occasion within the nation over the past ten years”… pic.twitter.com/kj1R2jtXy9
— Farrukh (@implausibleblog) March 29, 2026
Throughout his efficiency on the rally, Bragg addressed the gang, saying: “Final yr’s Unite the Kingdom march…organised by Tommy Robinson was essentially the most divisive occasion within the nation over the past ten years. Commentators have been saying these folks have justified issues – that could be the case, however their options should not justifiable in any approach. Remigration, the pressured deportation of our fellow residents, we’ve seen what that appears like within the USA. And if it does come to that on this nation, then we should be as brave because the folks of Minneapolis.”
Others to take to the ‘Home In opposition to Hate’ stage included the Inexperienced Celebration chief Zack Polanski and Hannah Spencer MP, who received the hotly-contested Gorton and Denton by-election for the Greens final month.
Polanski informed the gang: “Return to your communities, to the group centres, to your commerce unions, to your mates, to your neighbours. We should organise in our communities. Native elections are coming in only a few weeks’ time.”
“There have been darkish occasions, I do know folks have been scared and we now have been afraid, however days like this are right here to ship a message – a message to Tommy Robinson, to Nigel Farage, to those that appease them,” he continued. “We’ll defeat hate. It’s time to make hope regular once more.”
Actress and presenter Jameela Jamil was additionally on the protest and shared her personal reflections afterwards on Instagram. “I’ve been actually struggling recently,” she wrote. “Drowning in hopelessness. Generally I feel protests don’t make a distinction as a result of the folks on the prime don’t care about what we expect or need, or how we really feel. However immediately jogged my memory of why they’re vital. Due to MORALE for US not the folks on the prime. It reminds you that good TRULY outweighs dangerous. That hate is loud however small. That everybody from each stroll of life can come collectively for such a healthful trigger. I like this nation. Right this moment was FUN. It made hatred look so crusty, boring and tense. Everybody immediately was scorching and funky and the vibes have been immaculate.”
The demonstration was partially a response to the emergence of far-right protests over the past two years. In September 2025, the Metropolitan police estimated that between 110,000 and 150,000 folks attended the so-called “unite the dominion” rally in central London, the place Tommy Robinson and Elon Musk have been among the many audio system. An estimated 5000 anti-fascist counter-protesters confronted the far-right activist-led rally that day.
In 2024, 1000’s of anti-racism protestors rallied collectively throughout the UK in response to the anti-immigrant rallies that adopted the Southport killings. Bragg, Nadine Shah, Tim Burgess, and Rubbish have been amongst these to be a part of the anti-racism marches on that event.
