Unite the Kingdom: Hateful theatre of niqab ‘unveiling’ feeds far-right fantasies

Unite the Kingdom: Hateful theatre of niqab ‘unveiling’ feeds far-right fantasies Submitted by Amina Shareef on Tue, 05/19/2026 - 15:20 The crowd cheered as white women took the stage to tear off their niqabs, symbolising the triumph of the West over Islam - and of men over women Three women laugh as they remove their niqabs on stage, during the Unite the Kingdom rally in London on 16 May 2026 (Social media screengrab) On Three women take the stage. They are dressed in niqabs, draped head to toe in voluminous black fabric, their faces covered. Motioning with their hands, the women egg on the crowd. Boos and jeers fill the air.  The woman in the centre leans into the microphone and chants: “Take it off!” The crowd joins in. One by one, the women tear off their head and face coverings and fling them to the ground. White faces emerge. Hair is tossed. The crowd goes wild.  The spectacle continues: off come the abayas. The women stand triumphant in body-con mini dresses, as Union Jacks wave overhead and cheers swell around them.  “We have come from France to support you,” one woman announces. A small gold cross hangs visibly around her neck.  The group is from the Nemesis Collective, a French feminist identitarian movement that mobilises around the racist trope that Muslim immigrants pose a sexual threat to white women. This is a scene from the Unite the Kingdom rally organised by far-right activist Tommy Robinson in London this past weekend, held simultaneously with the pro- Palestinian Nakba Day march. Theatrical Islamophobia The Unite the Kingdom rally was saturated with symbols, each communicating a different strand of the movement’s street politi...

Original source: Middle East Eye