Woman arrested after 'Restore campaigner punched in face' while handing out campaign leaflets
Restore campaigners were met with anti-racist protesters whilst campaigning in the Holborn & St Pancras by-election
A woman has been arrested after a Restore campaigner was allegedly “punched in the face” while handing out campaign leaflets in London.
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This arrest occurred after campaigners took to the streets of Holborn and St Pancras on Saturday, where Restore candidate Tyler Johnson is running to replace Sir Keir Starmer’s seat in Parliament.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "At around 10.20am on Saturday, Sept 19, officers were in attendance in the Parkway, Camden, where approximately 12 Restore Britain campaigners were leaflet dropping and around 30 Stand Up To Racism protesters were present.
“A woman was seen to punch one of the Restore Britain campaigners. She was in custody as of Saturday afternoon."
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🚨BREAKING: far right Restore Britain including fascist Patrick McGinnis have been chased out of Camden by Stand Up to Racism locals as they tried to leaflet for the Holborn & St Pancras by election#standuptoracism pic.twitter.com/NslATUM31k
— Stand Up To Racism (@AntiRacismDay) September 19, 2026
In one video posted by Stand Up To Racism a group of people holding anti-racism banners can be seen chanting “refugees are welcome here,” surrounding right wing activist, Patrick McGinnis, whilst he films them and walks away before going into a cornershop.
This video is captioned: “Restore Britain chased out of Holborn & St Pancras.”
LBC has contacted the Metropolitan Police for an update.
The Restore group was helmed by activist Lewis Holmes. Holmes also accused the anti-racism group of “scalding” him. According to Stand Up to Racism, Holmes was bumped by a passerby and spilled his coffee on himself. (source: https://x.com/AntiRacismDay/status/2101385586040852982?s=20)
In a separate video posted by Holmes, a group of Stand Up To Racism supporters can be seen chanting “Nazi scum, off our street.” There is no violence in the video.
Restore leader, Rupert Lowe, wrote in a post on X: “Our Restore Britain team campaigning in Holborn & St Pancras this morning has been attacked by ‘anti-racist’ protestors.
“One member of our campaign team is in hospital being treated now, the police are involved.”
In response, Stand Up to Racism officer, Lewis Nielson, said: “If you look at our videos you’ll see that our crowd was mainly young women confronting big burly blokes, some of whom have been in neo-Nazi fascist terror organisations.
“The idea that these women went and beat up these big blokes is laughable.”
The Holborn and St. Pancras by-election was triggered when Sir Keir resigned from Parliament after stepping down as Prime Minister.
Polling from the election shows Labour projected to win with 38% of the vote. The Green Party is currently in second place with 28% of the predicted vote.
Current polls then list Independent, Conservative, Reform UK, and Liberal Democrats as polling above ‘other,’ which includes Restore, the Monster Raving Loony Party, Communist League, and Christian People Alliance, all collectively polling at approximately 7 percent.