ROBERT HARDMAN: As the Ayatollah’s apologists chanted ‘From the River to the sea’, I heard strains of ‘God Save the King’ floating across the Thames

‘We operate from a place of love!’ shouted rapper Bobby Vylan, to appreciative nods from the crowd below him.

A few minutes later he emphasized the point: ‘Everything we do comes from love!’ At this point he concluded his sermon on an appropriately sensitive note. ‘I want to end with this: Death! Death! To the IDF!’

The crowd around me gleefully joined in Vylan’s loving call for the slaughter of the IDF; He waved Palestinian flags, Iranian flags and posters of recently murdered Iranian leader Ali Khamenei declaring him the ‘Great Martyr’ in equal measure. Our pride. ‘Our leader’.

A group of teenage girls in front of me were literally jumping for joy.

Over the course of two tense, toxic hours, this summed up the essence of the Jerusalem rally in London on Sunday afternoon: About 3,000 people trying to be as anti-Israeli, anti-American, anti-British and anti-Semitic as possible without actually breaking the law. Police eventually made a dozen arrests.

Held annually since the late Iranian revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini called for an annual show of support for the ‘oppressed’, the Iranian theocracy, the Palestinian cause and the Islamic dream of ‘victory over the infidels’, ‘Jerusalem Day’ (from the Arabic word for Jerusalem) usually involves a march.

Given that the British Armed Forces are currently actively at war with the Iranian regime, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood took the extreme step of banning this year’s demonstration.

But the law could not ban a static protest.

Pro-Iran demonstrators carried banners reading “Minister of Internal Affairs, remove the prescription of the Palestine Action.”

Bobby Vylan, one half of punk rap duo Bob Vylan, repeated Glastonbury’s controversial ‘Death to the IDF’ chant at the rally

At a predetermined point on the south bank of the River Thames, just opposite and upstream from Westminster, police were allowed a mobile stage and screen for exactly 120 minutes of reinforced support to Tehran, Gaza and allied causes.

One reason for holding the event by the river was so that a counter-demonstration by Iranian dissidents in support of US/Israeli military action could be parked on the opposite bank. Both protests were therefore within sight of each other but were separated by the River Thames, with several police boats patrolling between them.

The demonstration was organized by a group called the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), which has links to the Iranian regime.

IHRC organizer Naz Ali, who opened the demonstration, called on everyone to remove their pictures and ‘express our condolences to the great martyr Shahid Khamenei’.

He also paid tribute to a kindly old lady called ‘Mrs Hussein’, who was a long-time supporter and a regular at the event every year until her recent death.

We were all invited to join in his ‘always chant’ on these occasions: ‘Marg bar Amrika! Marg ban Israel!’

The crowd chanted in Arabic ‘Death to America!’ in memory of Ms Hussein. ‘Death to Israel!’

Mr Ali added that he had repeatedly abused Home Affairs Minister Ms Mahmood ‘no matter what’.

Police filmed arresting a protester at a static protest in central London today

Pro-Iran demonstrators unfurl giant Palestinian flags reading ‘Boycott the Zionists’ and ‘Be on the right side of history’

A pro-Iran protester wearing a keffiyeh chants through a microphone

Some of it was in a foreign language, but from the giggles around me, I realized that he was making fun of Ms. Mahmood being a Muslim.

Due to time constraints, the speakers were limited to just three minutes each, and most, unfortunately, stuck to the plan.

We heard from a mix of clergy, ‘activists’ and academics, some quite respected.

Professor Abbas Edelat, a mathematician from Imperial College, was introduced as a ‘great advocate of peace’, although this was somewhat at odds with the tone of his speech: ‘Ayatollah Khomeini recognized Israel as it is.

He said that the Zionist regime is a cancerous tumor that must be stopped and defeated.

And it was a prophecy; because Zionist criminals have now openly declared the great Israeli project.’

Peacefully, he added, the US and Israel ‘represent the totality of evil in humanity’.

Many speakers also called for the ouster of “lapdog Starmer”, but – for better or worse – Britain is not seen as a second-class entity these days; It’s a far cry from the days when Iranian mobs burned Margaret Thatcher or Tony Blair in effigy.

A recurring theme was the US attack on an Iranian school two weeks ago that killed 175 girls.

Hussain Shafiei of George Galloway’s Labor Party blamed ‘Epstein people’.

An Iranian regime supporter holds a picture of Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtada Khamenei

Another speaker opposed ‘Epstein’s axis of power’. This is how the dead pedophile finds his way into almost every major news story of modern times.

Many of Sunday’s speakers, like the vast majority of the crowd, were of Middle Eastern descent – mostly Iranian and Palestinian.

I noticed that almost all the women were wearing headscarves and were dutifully following the orders of the Iranian regime, which imposes harsh penalties on women who do not cover their heads (or those who host protests like this).

There was also a small group of Neturei Karta, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish group that opposes the state of Israel on religious grounds.

A small minority of the crowd consisted of white British people; mostly wrinkled white-haired Corbynistas in anoraks and hiking boots.

A younger model, an angry student, took to the stage the day before to complain that she had been the victim of a ‘Zionist witch hunt’.

‘On Sunday, I was arrested by Sussex police in Brighton for using the slogan ‘Globalize the Intifada’,’ he explained, perhaps unwisely given that it was a banned slogan.

‘The police are acting on behalf of the Zionists in their tireless efforts to question pro-Palestinian activists.’

The highlight had to be Bobby Vylan. Readers may recall that the BBC caused a crisis at last year’s Glastonbury Festival after he shouted ‘death to the IDF’.

This resulted in accusations of anti-Semitism and a six-month police investigation. He concluded that words could not be translated into action, so Vylan would push things to the limit on Sunday.

He also claimed that the ‘pigs’ (the police) were ‘cowards’ trying to get close to the ‘House of Representatives’ (the British Jews).

It was an oddly stilted and stumbling address for an alleged rap artist. He read them all on his mobile phone and lost his way when the Palestinian keffiyeh he was wearing fell off his neck.

There was an out-of-place moment in one of the numerous hymns called ‘From the River’, the anti-Israel battle cry. [Jordan] to the sea [Mediterranean]Palestine will be free’.

Suddenly I heard the distant strains of God Save the King echoing along the River Thames. This was the counter demo that struck a patriotic note. I’ve met some of them before.

‘We’re here to show our support for regime change – but we’re also here to celebrate Reza Shah Pahlavi’s birthday.’ [the founder of Iran’s Pahlavi royal dynasty]” said co-organizer Niyak Ghorbani, 40, an IT manager.

64-year-old Maryam Parsa, who said that her family, all of whom are in Iran, was happy that the bombs fell on the mullahs, said, “I love Trump and I love my country.”

‘When they weaken, we will change the regime.’

The decision to ban organizers from marching in the capital was applauded by Policy Exchange, a leading think tank investigating links between the organisers, the IHRC and the Iranian regime.

On Sunday night, Policy Exchange’s head of security and extremism, Dr. Paul Stott said: “It would be a step too far to allow this march to continue at a time like this.” ‘As it was, these speakers were getting as close to the cable as possible.’

Someone may have surpassed it. On Sunday night, Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Ade Adelekan said the arrests were made ‘for supporting a proscribed organisation, fighting and threatening or abusive behaviour’. ‘We are also investigating the chants made by a speaker.’

Watch this space.