Hundreds Rally in London for Iranian Regime at Banned Protest
(AFP) — Hundreds of people took part in a pro-Palestinian march in London on Sunday banned by the government after police said it was organized by a group “supporting the Iranian regime”.
Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood said earlier this week that she had agreed to the ban to “prevent serious public unrest” amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, where Iran has launched strikes in retaliation for a US-Israeli offensive.
It is the first time a protest march in the capital has been banned since 2012, but a static demonstration was permitted, according to the Metropolitan Police.
Police kept participants in the annual Al Quds Day and counter-protesters away, allowing them to gather on either side of the River Thames, not far from Parliament.
Pro-Palestinian protesters headed to the south bank of the river waved flags and held signs with slogans such as “Stop Israeli war crimes”, in reference to the Israeli offensive in Gaza in response to the October 7, 2023 attacks.
“I am absolutely convinced that what happened to the Palestinians is so unfair,” Jean Apps, an 81-year-old retiree from Purley, south London, told AFP.
“And now I am here also because of the illegal attacks on Iran. I know Iran is not perfect but the Iranian people should be left to solve their own problems,” she added.
Across the river, counter-protesters waved American and Israeli flags as well as the Iranian Lion and Sun flag favored by exiles.
They also held signs with the words “Make Iran great again” and “Stand with my Jewish friends.”
They chanted: “Long live the king”, in reference to Reza Pahlavi, exiled son of the last shah of Iran overthrown by the 1979 revolution.
“We support the king of Iran, we ask America and Israel to help us eliminate the IRGC,” the Iranian Revolutionary Guard said, said Shiva, 37, an Iranian leader living in London.
“They don’t care about the people, they only kill us. It’s a cruel regime,” she added.
The Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), an NGO that organizes the annual Al-Quds Day march, strongly condemned the decision to ban the event, calling the move “politically charged.”
He said London police are “shamelessly regurgitating Zionist arguments” about the IHRC, without evidence.
The march was an “international demonstration… in support of the Palestinians and all the oppressed around the world,” the group added after the ban was announced.
Ali, 19, attending the rally, said he was there to “stand with the oppressed.”
“The last few years have really been a wake-up call in terms of the oppression that we’ve seen all over the world, not just in Gaza,” said the London-based project coordinator.
Mahmood said Tuesday she was “satisfied” that a ban was “necessary” due to the scale and context of the march.
The minister added that she expected to see “the full force of the law applied to anyone who spreads hatred and division.”
Al-Quds Day, which takes its name from the Arabic for Jerusalem, originated in Iran in 1979 in support of the Palestinian people and is now celebrated annually in various countries. It aims to protest against the occupation of East Jerusalem by Israel.
London Deputy Police Commissioner Ade Adelekan said the organizers of the march “support the Iranian regime”.
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