Tommy Robinson hailed it as “judgment day for the British government and the establishment”, but in the end it was judgment day for no one.

The far-right figurehead’s contempt of court case was adjourned at the Old Bailey in a hearing lasting less than half an hour.

The Recorder of London, Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC, invited lawyers to make written submissions on whether there should be a “substantive hearing” and how it should proceed.

Addressing Robinson by his real name, Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, the judge released him on bail until the next court date, which could be in October.

“Your bail will continue on the same terms as before and when the next hearing takes place you are required to attend as a condition of your bail,” he said. “If you do not attend the case will go ahead without you and that will not be in your interest.”

News of Robinson’s continuing freedom was greeted with jubilation by hundreds of his supporters who gathered outside the court under the watchful eye of police.

Some waved banners for groups including Ukip, Anne Marie Waters’ For Britain party and the far-right group Generation Identity, while one man donned a T-shirt reading “rivers of blood” in reference to Enoch Powell’s speech.

Many of Robinson’s supporters were holding their own signs, reading “no to Sharia law”, attacking the “fake news media” and calling for “freedom of speech”.

But that freedom was not applied to counter-demonstrators, who were shouted down and labelled “scum”, or for a woman holding a placard listing Robinson’s previous criminal offences.

After it was spotted, a small group of angry supporters starting shouting at the woman, ripping the sign out of her hand and destroying it before she was surrounded by police officers.

Emma Lyons, a 20-year-old history student at the London School of Economics, said her sign had been a “list of the laws Tommy Robinson has broken”, including mortgage fraud and entering the US under a false passport.

Visibly shaken, she told The Independent: “I was just holding it and people ripped it out of my hands. I was just drawing attention to what’s happening, just the facts.”

She said Robinson’s supporters started shouting at her about “Muslim rape gangs” and accused her of being a Holocaust denier.

Ms Lyons said she protested over concern that Robinson had jeopardised a case at Leeds Crown Court and because “it bothers me with the way it’s being portrayed and the people he surrounds himself with”.

“I wouldn’t say that this is a case that’s been well managed by the legal system but I don’t think it’s a freedom of speech issue,” she added.

As tensions rose, officials at the Old Bailey shut the main entrance used by lawyers, jurors and journalists, and later had to scrub human faeces off the door.

Anti-media sentiment ran strongly through the crowd, with Robinson supporters filming and photographing journalists as photographers were verbally abused, pushed and shoved.

The mood lightened with cheers and chants of “we love you” as the 35-year-old emerged from the building.

View photos ‘Today is judgment day for the British government and the establishment,’ said Robinson, despite it being anything but (Getty) More

“I believe they want me in prison for Christmas,” he claimed. “I’m being specifically targeted for who I am.”

Robinson spoke to the crowd through a megaphone as bemused tourists filmed the scene from passing tour buses and police tried to stop protesters spilling into a busy road through the City of London.

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