Does a viral video show six thousand people marching down London's Whitehall to demand freedom for Tommy Robinson? No, that's not true: the video is from several weeks before Robinson's arrest. There have been protests in Whitehall in front of Downing Street, but media reports put the attendance at "hundreds":
Hundreds demonstrate in Downing Street after far-right figure Tommy Robinson arrested
Hundreds of demonstrators descended on Whitehall to protest against far-right figurehead Tommy Robinson's arrest for allegedly breaching the peace outside a Leeds courthouse. The area had to be closed to traffic as the group gathered outside Downing Street on Saturday afternoon.
An example of the video can be seen in this tweet published on May 27, 2018 by user @USAHotLips (archived here) which had following text:
"Over 6K march in support of #TommyRobinson ????????KEEP FIGHTING‼️ #FreeSpeech Don't think this will end well for Parliament. #FreeTommy #FreeTommyRobinson #FreeTommyNOW https://t.co/FlOSSflYDB"
Over 6K march in support of #TommyRobinson 💪🏼KEEP FIGHTING‼️ #FreeSpeech
-- Mary 💋🇺🇸 (@USAHotLips) May 27, 2018
Don't think this will end well for Parliament. #FreeTommy #FreeTommyRobinson #FreeTommyNOW pic.twitter.com/FlOSSflYDB
(Video archived here)
In reality the video was from an event where Robinson spoke on May 6, 2018:
Milo Yiannopoulos expected to speak at controversial far-right rally in central London
A band of far-right speakers including Tommy Robinson and Milo Yiannopoulos are expected to speak at a 'Day for Freedom' rally in Whitehall today. Thousands have registered their interest in an online Facebook event, which suggests controversial YouTubers Count Dankula and Sargon of Akkad will also appear at the event near Downing Street.
Note: this does not mean there isn't a groundswell of support for Tommy Robinson online: a petition demanding his release has collected over 300.000 signatures so far:
Sign the Petition
Theresa May MP: Free Tommy Robinson
But the video was not of a protest demanding his release. There was an actual demonstration for that in front of Downing Street 10 last weekend but it was smaller than the old video made it appear to be, as can be seen in actual footage of the event:
