More than 100,000 people have joined a march in central London organised by far-right activist Tommy Robinson, with a counter-protest by anti-racism campaigners also taking place.

Protesters forming the “Unite the Kingdom” rally have gathered in Whitehall where they are hearing a series of speeches from people including Donald Trump’s former strategist Steve Bannon.

The Metropolitan Police said some officers had been “attacked with projectiles” and had had to use force to avoid a cordon being breached.

Meanwhile, the Met estimates about 5,000 people have joined a nearby counter-protest, dubbed March Against Fascism, organised by Stand Up To Racism (SUTR).

Around 1,000 Met Police officers have been deployed in London, with barriers in place to create a “sterile area” between the two groups.

The Met said it had borrowed 500 officers from other forces for the day, with police vans from Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Devon and Cornwall.

Just after 15:00 BST, the two separate demonstrations were divided in Whitehall by a line of police officers.

One side waved placards that said “refugees welcome. Stop the far right” and the other Unite the Kingdom group flew Union and St George’s flags.

The Met said some officers had been attacked while trying to keep the two groups apart.

“Officers are having to intervene in multiple locations to stop Unite the Kingdom protesters trying to access sterile areas, breach police cordons or get to opposing groups,” the Met said on X.

“A number of officers have been assaulted.”

At a stage set up on Whitehall, Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, addressed the crowds who had gathered.

He claimed that UK courts had found that the rights of undocumented migrants superseded those of the “local community”.

Robinson was referring to a Court of Appeal decision to overturn an injunction blocking asylum seekers being housed at The Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex.

TV presenter Katie Hopkins also spoke on the stage after earlier appearing alongside Robinson, Lawrence Fox and Ant Middleton at the front of the march.

At the other Stand Up To Racism rally, speeches were expected by MPs Diane Abbott and MP Zarah Sultana.

Ahead of the march, the Met confirmed it would not be using live facial recognition – which captures people’s faces in real-time CCTV cameras – in its policing of the Unite the Kingdom march.

It also said there were “particular concerns” among some in London’s Muslim communities ahead of Robinson’s protest, citing a “record of anti-Muslim rhetoric and incidents of offensive chanting by a minority at previous marches”.

Cdr Clair Haynes urged Muslim Londoners not to change their plans or avoid central London, but to approach a police officer should they feel concerned while out in public.

She said: “Officers will take a firm line on behaviour that is discriminatory or that crosses the line from protest into hate crime.”

She added that police would act “without fear or favour” and asked demonstrators to “be considerate of the communities they are passing through”.

The Met said that it had ordered the Unite the Kingdom rally to end by 18:00 and the counter-protest to end by 16:00, in line with when the organisers told the force they expected speeches to end.