Pro-Iran ‘hate march’ banned in London over public disorder risk | Politics | News
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has banned the annual Jerusalem march in London and accepted a request from the Metropolitan Police that the event poses too high a risk of serious public disorder in the current environment.
Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley assessed that the scale of the demonstration and the numerous counter-protests planned against the backdrop of the ongoing US-Israeli war against Iran exceeded the threshold to justify a ban.
Mahmood said: “I have approved the Metropolitan Police’s request to ban the Jerusalem march. I am satisfied that in the context of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, it is necessary to do so to prevent serious civil unrest due to the size of the protests and the large number of counter-protests.”
He added that any permanent demonstrations that would continue would face strict police conditions. “I expect to see the full implementation of the law against anyone who spreads hatred and separatism rather than exercising their right to peaceful protest,” he said.
The Met strongly backed the decision. “The context is so unique and complex and the risks so serious that imposing conditions on the protest will not be sufficient to prevent it from causing serious public disorder (risking injury to the public, protesters, police officers and damage to property).” he said.
‘It has no place in our society’
The Telegraph reported that the ban came after Justice Secretary Sarah Sackman became the first minister to publicly call out the march on Tuesday morning, saying it had “no place in British society”. Sackman KC, MP for Finchley and Golders Green, said: “I am clear that hate marches, such as the Jerusalem march, have no place in British society. The authorities and police must take appropriate action against these marches.”
He added: “I am very clear that this type of behavior is illegitimate and we must do everything we can to quell this type of hatred on the streets of this country.”
The Jerusalem march is organized by the Islamic Human Rights Commission and is described as a peaceful event in support of Palestinians. Labor MPs and colleagues branded it a “march of hate”, accusing the IHRC of links to Iran and extremism.
The demonstration forms part of a series of international protests designed by Iran’s first religious leader Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979 to mobilize opposition against Israel and express solidarity with the Palestinians. Previous marches have seen arrests, clashes with police, the burning of the Israeli flag and the raising of the flag of the terror group before Hezbollah was banned in 2019.
The IHRC had predicted a larger than normal turnout this year; Thousands of people were expected to attend following the US-Israeli attacks on Iran.
The march is the first to be banned since 2012, when the then Conservative Party-led Coalition Government blocked a series of protests in the English Defense League for fear of serious disruption to public order.
