Pro-Palestine and Unite the Kingdom rallies bring thousands to London

If ever there was a visualisation of divided Britain, it could be found in London today.Tens of thousands gathered at two opposing protests, each mirroring the country's growing fault lines.Marching towards Parliament Square, the Nationalists unite the Kingdom rally, led by far -right figure Stephen Yaxley -Lennon, better known as Tommy Robinson.Ahead of the protest, the embattled Prime Minister banned 11 far -right agitators who were flying in for the event and warned, we're in a fight for the soul of this country, blaming organisers of this march for peddling hatred and division.

I want England to be England.And also, I want the boats to stop.And I just want our politicians, whoever it may be, the ones we've got now or the ones that we get in, I want them to think of us, the British.

and I'm all for my country and look after local people first.

Too much migration is causing a lot of problems, upsetting a delicate balance.

The police warned of an unprecedented presence, pushing back at the accusation of two -tier policing, warning demonstrators at the annual pro -Palestine Nakba march that they too would face increased scrutiny.

This is the largest police operation in recent history.4 ,000 police officers have been deployed across London with enhanced powers on stop and search and a ban on face coverings.We've seen lots of people be asked to remove their face covering with threat of arrest if they don't.The whole operation is expected to cost around £4 .5 million.Were you aware that you weren't allowed to wear face coverings before?No, no.

The only thing I'd heard was... on this march and I seriously object to that.

Another part of the ramped up response today is organisers were told they would be liable for any hate speech or extremism from speakers.

make you nervous these new rules?Because organisers can now be held responsible for some of the things that happen and are said on these marches.

I think it should make all of us nervous.What these new powers do are undermine and erode fundamental democratic freedoms.The government is out of sync with the views of the vast majority of the public.

The events appear to have passed without significant incident.Though at least 30 people have been arrested, tens of thousands had come to join the events.No damage done, it would seem then, to the capital.But the damage from this ongoing division to the delicate tapestry of Britain's social fabric is much harder to measure.