Does this video really show British women taking off their hijab and protesting in UK? Fact Check
Claim: Video purportedly shows British women removing their black hijabs as a form of protest against Islamization of Britain.
Conclusion: The claim is misleading. The footage is authentic and depicts a real event but the post inaccurately identifies the women as “British”. In reality, they were three French activists from Collectif Némésis, a French feminist group that participated in the “Unite the Kingdom” protest which took place in London and was organized by far-right activist Tommy Robinson against Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government and mass immigration.
Rating: Misleading 
Social media users have shared a video clip, claiming that it shows a widespread protest by British women against the Islamization of Britain. Verified X user ‘SheetalPronamo’ shared such a post with the caption : “Secularism is a disease and slowly BRITAIN is realising it . British women were seen wearing black hijabs before dramatically removing them and throwing them onto the ground during a public demonstration against what organizers called the “Islamization of Britain.”
Attached to the post is a 41 second clip showcasing three women wearing full black hijabs, then dramatically removed them, threw the garments down, and revealed Western-style dresses underneath. View the post below –
Secularism is a disease and slowly BRITAIN is realising it
British women were seen wearing black hijabs before dramatically removing them and throwing them onto the ground during a public demonstration against what organizers called the
“Islamization of Britain.” pic.twitter.com/fVZtRat4Ub— Sheetal Chopra 🇮🇳 (@SheetalPronamo) May 17, 2026
FACT CHECK
DigitEYE India decided to investigate this claim and found it to be misleading. The video is genuine and shows an actual incident, however the claim wrongly describes the women as “British.” The women were actually three French activists linked to Collectif Némésis, a feminist organisation in France, and the act was part of the “Unite the Kingdom” protest that took place in London and was organized by far-right activist Tommy Robinson against Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government and mass immigration.
Details:
We first conducted a reverse image search on various keyframes of the video to learn more about the issue. The search took us to an Instagram reel that observed how three “French activists from the identitarian group Collectif Némesis removed niqabs on stage during a large anti-immigration rally.” The post further noted that the protest was “organised by British activist Tommy Robinson in central London”
After learning this, we conducted a web search with the phrase “Tommy Robinson anti-Islam protest in London” for more information. According to a report by The Guardian, far-right activist Tommy Robinson addressed tens of thousands of supporters during the “unite the kingdom” rally in central London, where he urged attendees to prepare for the “battle of Britain” ahead of the next general election.
The report notes how figures like Dominik Tarczyński and commentator Katie Hopkins sent their messages via video because they were banned from the UK ahead of the rally. Tommy Robinson urged supporters to “get involved in politics” and the report notes how police said both protests proceeded “largely without significant incident”. View a section from the report below –
Following this, another report by The Tablet offered more information on the women’s activists who were protesting. The report states how the ‘French activists from the “right-wing feminist” group ‘Collectif Nemesis’ went on stage wearing Islamic niqabs, encouraged the crowd to boo and then theatrically removed them to reveal short dresses underneath.’
The Financial Express on May 17, 2026 uploaded a video to their Youtube channel titled : “Dramatic Moment as Activists Remove Hijabs at Tommy Robinson Rally.” The description mentions that members of “Collectif Némésis staged a symbolic protest during Tommy Robinson’s “Unite The Kingdom” rally in central London by removing hijabs while addressing the crowd.” View the video/screenshot below –
We also learned from an Instagram reel that this is not the first time members of Collectif Némésis are staging such an act. Previously they did the same in January 2026 in Paris, France to rally with Iranian women protesting compulsory hijab. After closely analysing the faces of the women on stage and Collectif Némésis being featured in an article, DigitEYE India was able to confirm that it was indeed the same group. View a side by side comparison of the members below:
Thus, the claim is misleading.
