This is a list of protests and protest movements in the United Kingdom. Protest in the UK has concerned issues such as suffrage in the 19th and early 20th centuries, parliamentary reform from the Chartists to the present day, poverty, wages and working conditions, fuel prices, war, human rights, immigration (both for and against), fathers' rights, LGBTQ rights and climate change. In Northern Ireland, protest marches have been particularly contentious, including Bloody Sunday.
Around April 2019 London's Metropolitan Police decided, as a matter of policy, to stop providing crowd estimates unless there were specific reasons to do so (criminal justice, national security).[1] This policy appears to have been reversed in late 2023, with the media reporting official police estimates for crowds from October that year, as shown in the table.
| Date | Protest | Cause | Organisers | Location | Attendance | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Organisers' estimate | Police estimate | Third-party estimates | |||||||
| 1 | 15 February 2003 | Stop the War | Iraq War | Stop the War Coalition (StWC) | London | 1,500,000[2] | 750,000[3] | "around a million"[4] | |
| 2 | 23 March 2019 | Put it to the People march | Second EU referendum | People's Vote, European Movement UK, Open Britain | London | 1,000,000[5] | 312,000 to 400,000[6] [7] | ||
| 3 | 19 October 2019 | Let Us Be Heard | Second EU referendum | People's Vote, European Movement UK, Open Britain | London | 1,000,000[8] | 105,000 to 216,000[9] | ||
| 4 | 11 November 2023 | PSC March for Palestine | Israel–Hamas war | Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) | London | 800,000[10] | 300,000 | ||
| 5 | 20 October 2018 | People's Vote march | Second EU referendum | People's Vote, European Movement UK, Open Britain | London | 700,000[11] | 450,000[12] | ||
| 6 | 26 March 2011 | March for the Alternative | Austerity | Trades Union Congress (TUC) | London | 500,000[13] | 250,000 (more than)[14] | ||
| 7 | 28 October 2023 | PSC March for Palestine | Israel–Hamas war | Palestine Solidarity Campaign | London | 500,000[15] | 50,000 to 70,000[16] | ||
| 8 | 13 January 2024 | PSC March for Palestine | Israel–Hamas war | Palestine Solidarity Campaign | London | 500,000 (more than)[17] | |||
| 9 | 22 March 2003 | Stop the War | Iraq War | Stop the War Coalition, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) | London | 500,000 (StWC), 200,000-300,000 (CND)[18] | 200,000 | ||
| 10 | 23 September 2002 | Liberty & Livelihood | Hunting and countryside causes | Countryside Alliance | London | 407,791[19] | 400,000 | ||
| 11 | 22 October 1983 | CND march for peace | Nuclear weapons | Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament | London | 400,000[20] | 200,000[21] | ||
| 12 | 24 September 2002 | Stop the War | Iraq War | Stop the War Coalition, Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) | London | 400,000[22] | 150,000[23] | ||
| 13 | 9 March 2024 | PSC March for Palestine | Israel–Hamas war | Palestine Solidarity Campaign | London | 400,000[24] | "tens of thousands"[25] | ||
| 14 | 21 October 2023 | PSC March for Palestine | Israel–Hamas war | Palestine Solidarity Campaign | London | 300,000[26] | 100,000[27] | ||
| 15 | 25 November 2023 | PSC March for Palestine | Israel–Hamas war | Palestine Solidarity Campaign | London | 300,000[28] | 45,000[29] | ||
| 16 | 17 February 2024 | PSC March for Palestine | Israel–Hamas war | Palestine Solidarity Campaign | London | 250,000[30] | 30,000 | ||
| 17 | 24 October 1981 | CND march for peace | Nuclear weapons | Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament | London | 250,000[31] | |||
| 18 | 2 July 2005 | Make Poverty History | Raise awareness of global poverty | Various, coordinated by British Overseas NGOs for Development (bond) | Edinburgh | 225,000[32] | 225,000 | 225,000 | |
| 19 | 13 July 2018 | Stop Trump | Trump's visit to the UK | Various | London | 250,000[33] | |||
| 20 | 23 November 1985 | Ulster Says No | Anglo-Irish Agreement | Democratic Unionist Party, Ulster Unionist Party | Belfast | 203,000[34] | 100,000[35] | ||
| 21 | 18 November 2003 | George W. Bush's state visit to the UK | George W. Bush's Foreign Policy (Bush Doctrine) | Stop the War Coalition, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament,Muslim Association of Britain | London | 200,000[36] | 100,000 | ||
| 22 | 3 February 2024 | PSC March for Palestine | Israel–Hamas war | Palestine Solidarity Campaign | London | 200,000 (CND)[37] | 20,000[38] | ||
| 23 | 30 March 2024 | PSC March for Palestine | Israel–Hamas war | Palestine Solidarity Campaign | London | 200,000 [39] | |||
| 24 | 31 March 1990 | 1990 Poll tax protest | Poll tax | All Britain Anti-Poll Tax Federation | London | 200,000[40] | |||
| 25 | 16 May 1832 | Meeting of the Unions | Suffrage | Birmingham Political Union | Birmingham | 200,000[41] [42] | |||
| 26 | 22 May 2021 | PSC March for Palestine | 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis | Palestine Solidarity Campaign | London | 180,000[43] | |||
| 27 | 14 October 2023 | PSC March for Palestine | Israel–Hamas war | Palestine Solidarity Campaign | London | 150,000[44] | |||
| 28 | 26 March 2022 | UK with Ukraine | Russian invasion of Ukraine | European Movement UK, Mayor of London | London | 150,000[45] | |||
| 29 | 1 April 1961 | Aldermaston Marches | Nuclear weapons | Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament | London to Berkshire | 150,000 | |||
| 30 | 4 October 1936 | Battle of Cable Street | Anti-fascist response to the British Union of Fascists march. | Various anti-fascist groups:Communists (Communist Party of Great Britain),Socialists, Trade unionists, Anarchists, British Jews, Independent Labour Party | London | 100,000[46] -310,000[47] | |||
| 31 | 31 January 2009 | 2009 BTF protest | Tamil genocide Sri Lanka's genocide of Tamils | British Tamils Forum | London | 150,000[48] | 50,000[49] | ||
| 32 | 26 November 2023 | March Against Antisemitism | Rise in antisemitism | Campaign Against Antisemitism | London | 100,000[50] | 50,000[51] | ||
| 33 | 9 December 2023 | PSC March for Palestine | Israel–Hamas war | Palestine Solidarity Campaign | London | 100,000[52] | 40,000[53] | ||
| 34 | 17 March 1968 | Grosvenor Square peace march | Vietnam War | Vietnam Solidarity Campaign | London | 100,000 | 20,000[54] | 10,000[55] | |
| 35 | 18 November 2001 | Stop the war | Afghanistan War | Stop the War Coalition | London | 100,000[56] | 15,000 | ||
| 36 | 6 November 2021 | COP26 Nature Day march & rally | Climate change | COP26 Coalition | Glasgow | 100,000[57] | |||
| 37 | 19 September 2019 | September 2019 Youth Climate Strikes | Climate change | UK Student Climate Network | London | 100,000[58] | |||
| 38 | 23 June 2018 | People's Vote March | Second EU referendum | People's Vote, European Movement UK, Open Britain | London | 100,000[59] | |||
| 39 | 18 March 2006 | Stop British involvement in the Iraq War | Iraq War | Stop the War Coalition, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament,Muslim Association of Britain | London | 80,000-100,000[60] | 15,000 | ||
| 40 | 15 February 2003 | Stop the War | Iraq War | Stop the War Coalition | Glasgow | 80,000 (more than)[61] | 30,000 | 100,000[62] | |
| 41 | 4 June 2019 | Stop Trump | Trump's State Visit to the UK | Stop Trump coalition | London | 75,000[63] | |||
| 42 | 28 March 1959 | Aldermaston march | Nuclear weapons | Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament | London to Berkshire | 60,000 | |||
| 43 | 16 August 1819 | Gathering at Peterloo (leads to the Peterloo Massacre) | Reform parliamentary representation | Manchester Patriotic Union | Manchester | 60,000[64] | |||
| 44 | 10 November 2010 | Education cuts | National Union of Students | London | 52,000[65] | ||||
| 45 | 10 January 2009 | Ceasefire in Gaza | Gaza War (2008–2009) | Stop the War Coalition, British Muslim Initiative, Palestine Solidarity Campaign | London | 20,000[66] | 50,000 | ||
| 46 | 28 March 2009 | March for Jobs, Justice & Climate | 2009 G20 London summit | Put People First | London | 35,000[67] | 35,000 | ||
| 47 | 28 February 2020 | Climate Strike | Climate change | Bristol Youth Strike 4 Climate | Bristol | 30,000[68] | 15,000 | ||
See
See also
See also: Environmental direct action in the United Kingdom.
See main article: The Troubles.