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LONDON: Prime Minister Keir Starmer faced calls Monday to sanction Elon Musk after the X and Tesla owner told an anti-immigration rally that violence is coming to Britain and they must fight or die.
Starmer denounced violence on the fringes of Saturday’s 100,000 or more-strong “Unite the Kingdom” demonstration in London organized by far-right campaigner Tommy Robinson.
Police said 26 officers were injured, four seriously, as protesters tried to breach lines separating them from a smaller anti-racist counter-demonstration. There were 25 people arrested at the event and the Metropolitan Police said more arrests would follow.
Addressing the demonstration by video link, Musk called for the dissolution of Parliament, an early election and a change of government in Britain. He told protesters “violence is coming to you” and “you either fight back or you die.”
Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, the third-largest party in Britain’s Parliament, urged Starmer and Conservative opposition leader Kemi Badenoch to join him in condemning Musk’s attempt “to sow discord and incite violence on our streets” and interfere with British democracy.
They should “consider what sanctions Elon Musk should face as a consequence,” Davey said.
Equalities Minister Jacqui Smith said Musk’s remarks “were wrong and they were dangerous.” Business Secretary Peter Kyle called the comments“slightly incomprehensible” and “totally inappropriate,” but said the demonstration showed free speech was alive and well.
Starmer has not commented directly on Musk’s comments. He wrote on X that peaceful protest “is core to our country’s values. But we will not stand for assaults on police officers doing their job or for people feeling intimidated on our streets because of their background or the color of their skin.”
This is not the first time Musk, an erstwhile ally of President Donald Trump, has supported hard-right and far-right figures in Europe, including Robinson, a convicted fraudster and founder of the anti-Islam English Defense League whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, and the Alternative for Germany party, or AfD.
Musk also is a critic of attempts by the UK and other European governments to clamp down on harmful online content, something he argues restricts free speech.
Saturday’s demonstration follows growing political concern about unauthorized immigration, especially the arrival of migrants across the English Channel in small boats. More than 30,000 people have made the dangerous crossing from France so far this year despite efforts by authorities from Britain, France and other countries to crack down on the people-smuggling gangs behind the trips.
The use of hotels to accommodate asylum-seekers has become a major political issued in Britain, sparking dozens of small but heated protests over the summer, some of which turned violent.
Saturday’s demonstration, one of the largest nationalist protests in Britain for decades, turned central London into a sea of flags, both the Union Jack of the UK and England’s red and white St. George flag.
In recent weeks, the flags have proliferated around the country as part of a seemingly grassroots fly-the-flag campaign. Red crosses have also been painted on buildings in what some see as an intimidating gesture aimed at ethnic minorities.
Starmer wrote on X that “Britain is a nation proudly built on tolerance, diversity and respect. Our flag represents our diverse country and we will never surrender it to those that use it as a symbol of violence, fear and division.”