Tommy Robinson was detained by police on Saturday at Heathrow airport under counter-terrorism laws, after a week in which he rose to global prominence on social media.

It was understood the far-right activist, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was stopped and his phone was seized under section 3 of the Counter-Terrorism Border Security Act 2019.

Robinson posted on social media to claim he was detained for almost three hours, had his iPhone and Samsung Galaxy phones taken and asked his supporters to donate money to fund his legal defence.

A spokesperson for Robinson posted on X: “They likely want to see who he is talking to, and maybe find out who his sources are, sources who will expose politicians for their part in the rape of a generation of British girls.

“This is an attack on free speech, this is an attack on investigative journalism, nothing more nothing less.”

The 2019 act gives police officers at ports powers to stop, question, search and detain people suspected of travelling to plan, prepare and carry out hostile acts.

It was not known what the stop of Robinson was in relation to and the Metropolitan police declined to comment when approached.

Robinson has recently risen to prominence amid racial tensions across Britain, in response to police bodyworn footage showing the death of 18-year-old Henry Nowak while in police custody in Southampton.

The former English Defence League leader spearheaded protests in the Hampshire town, during which clashes between rioters and police left 13 officers and a police dog injured.

He also amplified footage of the moment when a man, believed to be a Sudanese asylum seeker, wielded a knife over another man he had pinned to the ground in Belfast in a suspected attempted murder on Monday.

Robinson posted details of planned demonstrations across Britain and Northern Ireland on X. Elon Musk shared the post to his 240 million followers.

He was previously cleared of a terror charge after refusing to give police access to his phone in July 2024, when he was stopped by officers at the Channel tunnel in Folkestone while driving a friend’s silver Bentley to Benidorm in Spain.

Robinson refused to give officers the pin to his phone during the stop, arguing the device contained confidential journalistic material. A district judge concluded he could not be sure the police stop was lawful.