TEHRAN – British Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood on Tuesday night caved in to demands to ban a pro-Iranian rally in London this weekend, Daily Mail reported on Wednesday.
The ban comes as the U.S. and Israel have started an unprovoked and illegal war against Iran that has for led to the death of more than 1,300 civilians.
As a Labor minister said the Al Quds march had no place in British society, 100 MPs and peers told Mahmood that it would provide a platform for intimidation and extremism.
The Al Quds march is held every year at the last Friday of the fasting month of Ramadan. The initiative was proposed by the founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini, in 1979.
The Home Office said it had approved Scotland Yard’s request to halt the march.
Mahmood said: “I am satisfied doing so is necessary to prevent serious public disorder, due to the scale of the protest and multiple counter-protests, in the context of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
“Should a stationary demonstration proceed, the police will be able to apply strict conditions.”
Met Police Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan said: “The Al Quds march is uniquely contentious having originated in Iran and in London is organized by the Islamic Human Rights Commission.
“The threshold to ban a protest is high and we do not take this decision lightly; this is the first time we have used this power since 2012.”
He added: “But in our assessment this march raises unique risks and challenges. We must consider the likely high numbers of protesters and counter-protesters coming together and the extreme tensions between different factions.
It came after Sarah Sackman on Tuesday became the first minister to call for action against the annual march on Sunday.
Shortly afterwards, the prime minister’s chief secretary, Darren Jones, hinted that restrictions could be placed on the rally.
Organizers from the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) have described the assassinated Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as a martyr and a “rare role model” following his death in U.S.-Israeli strikes.
Ayatollah Khamenei was martyred in the first day of the U.S.-Israeli airstrike on Iran on Feb. 28.
Marchers have previously chanted slogans against the Israeli occupation regime and carrying the flags of the Lebanese Hezbollah group.
But given the situation in the Middle East, it is feared it poses a higher-than-usual risk this year.
Courts Minister Ms. Sackman said those expressing support for Iran and the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) and its allies have no place in Britain.
Ms. Sackman, a barrister and MP for Finchley and Golders Green, which has a large Jewish population, told Times Radio: “This sort of thing has no place in our society.”
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