Jacco Macacco

Whether Starmer wants civil unrest or simply fears it less than he fears political accountability is debatable. What is not debatable is that any disorder on Saturday, whoever starts it, will be attributed to the Unite the Kingdom march and used to justify exactly the kind of restrictions on protest and assembly that this government has been moving toward. The narrative is already written. The cameras will be pointed in one direction. One incident, however provoked, however minor, hands him everything he needs. Which is why the most powerful thing Saturday's march can do is be exactly what it claims to be. Peaceful, lawful, disciplined and enormous. Hundreds of thousands of British citizens marching without incident is a story the media cannot ignore and a government cannot suppress. It is evidence that the concern driving the march is mainstream, not fringe. It is proof that the two tier standard being applied to it is unjust. Disorder hands Starmer a gift. Order hands him a problem. The most powerful protest in a democracy is not the one that breaks things. It is the one that cannot be dismissed. A sea of peaceful marchers asking the questions this government refuses to answer is considerably more threatening to those in power than anything that could happen if it turns ugly. Stay peaceful. Stay focused. Let the numbers speak. That is what wins. "Hundreds of thousands of British citizens marching without incident is a story the media cannot ignore and a government cannot suppress."