The United Kingdom government has prohibited an annual pro-Palestinian march scheduled for Sunday, with London police asserting that the event is organised by a group “supportive of the Iranian regime”.
Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood confirmed late Tuesday that she had approved the rare police request to prevent what was feared to be “serious public disorder” if the Al-Quds Day march and counter-protests had proceeded.
According to London’s Metropolitan Police, this marks the first instance of a protest march being banned since 2012, although a static demonstration will still be allowed.
Mahmood stated she was “satisfied” a ban was “necessary” given “the scale of the protest and multiple counter-protests, in the context of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East”.
She also emphasized that she expected “the full force of the law [to be] applied to anyone spreading hatred and division”.
The Islamic Human Rights Commission, the NGO behind the annual Al-Quds Day march, criticised the move, saying it “strongly condemns” the decision, which it described as “politically charged”.
“We are seeking legal advice and this decision will not go unchallenged,” the group said, adding that the Metropolitan Police had “brazenly abandoned their sworn principle of policing without fear or favour”.
The IHRC accused the Met of “unashamedly regurgitat[ing] Zionist talking points about the IHRC “without a shred of evidence” and described the day and march as an “international demonstration … in support of Palestinians and all the oppressed around the world”.
– ‘Unique risks’ –
Al-Quds Day, named after the Arabic word for Jerusalem, began in Iran in 1979 to support the Palestinian cause and is now observed annually in multiple countries, particularly across the Muslim world. The day is intended to protest Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem.
However, the Met’s Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan called the event “uniquely contentious having originated in Iran and in London is organised by the Islamic Human Rights Commission”.
He further asserted that the organisation is “supportive of the Iranian regime”.
“The threshold to ban a protest is high and we do not take this decision lightly,” Adelekan said. He noted that the Met has “a proven track record” of allowing free speech and protest rights at numerous major pro-Palestinian and other demonstrations in recent years.
“But in our assessment this march raises unique risks and challenges,” he added.
“We must consider the likely high numbers of protestors and counter protestors coming together and the extreme tensions between different factions. We have taken into consideration the likely impact on protests of the volatile situation in the Middle East, with the Iranian regime attacking British allies and military bases overseas.”
The ban on the march and any associated counter-protests will remain in effect for a month starting Wednesday.
