Protesters drowned out UKIP leader and Turning Point UK chief Nick Tenconi outside King’s Strand campus on Thursday, using a megaphone and chants as he tried to debate King’s students on controversial matters.
Protesters chanted slogans including “Nazi scum off our campus” and “Refugees are welcome here”, disrupting Tenconi’s attempts to debate with students on the council-managed public space in front of the Strand Building.
Turning Point UK is an offshoot of the right-wing US outfit co-founded by Charlie Kirk that claims to “challenge the often far-left bias in our educational institutions, particularly across universities nationwide”.
Students, as well as protesters from campaign group Stand Up To Racism, shouted over Tenconi as he attempted to debate students. During the event, Tenconi held up a poster that stated, “Standing with conservative students now and always” and “British culture is the best”.
Frequent debate stalls
Turning Point UK stalls have become a frequent sight on Strand over the past months with multiple right-wing personalities attempting to debate students on a range of topics. The stall location is managed by Westminster City Council, not King’s.
“Turning Point is quite a far right entity, and I oppose this as I believe in equality,” a student representing the Socialist Worker society told Roar. “Refugees, they come from backgrounds where their country is war-torn and they need a new opportunity.”
But some students who spoke to Roar condemned the protestors: “These people should not protest,” one student said. “This is violating free speech”.
The event began on Strand at 11 am, and protesters had amassed next to the TPUK tent by noon, with police attending as tensions began to escalate around the stall.
“We’ve got international students here”, Tenconi said, pointing to the crowd surrounding the tent around 4 pm. “They specialise in this.”
At one point, an unknown protester threw yoghurt at Tenconi: Roar observed multiple arrests but could not immediately verify the circumstances surrounding them.
Some protesters began to chant pro-Palestinian slogans around 4 pm such as “From the River to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
Shortly after, a man passed between TPUK’s tent and the counterprotesters, filming the counterprotesters and displaying the middle finger at them. Tenconi shouted “The war starts with liberals” a few minutes later.
The same man then appeared to display a Nazi salute – filming himself whilst doing so – before being led away from the event by Metropolitan Police officers.
Change in direction
Under Tenconi’s leadership, Turning Point UK has pivoted into becoming a street protest organisation after suggestions that it failed to gain traction upon its debut in 2019.
On Wednesday TPUK’s chief executive, former Conservative Party candidate Jack Ross, was suspended from the party after he told an undercover Al Jazeera reporter that he could use his connection to Allan Nesbitt, a convicted criminal and member of the paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force, to arrange physical attacks on targets.
This article was updated at 1pm on 23 October 2026 to clarify that the stall was held in the public realm area in front of the Strand Building and not on King’s campus.
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