London: Hundreds of people turned out in London Sunday for a pro-Palestinian march banned by the government after police said it was organised by a group “supportive of the Iranian regime”.
Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood said earlier this week she had agreed to the ban to “prevent serious public disorder” in the context of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, where Iran has launched strikes in retaliation against 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 people in the annual Al-Quds Day event and counter-protesters apart by allowing them to gather on opposite sides of the River Thames not far from parliament.
Pro-Palestinian protesters who were directed to the south side of the river waved flags and held up placards with slogans such as “Stop Israeli war crimes,” in a reference to Israel’s offensive in Gaza in response to the October 7, 2023 attacks.
“I just feel so strongly that what has happened to the Palestinians is so unjust,” pensioner Jean Apps, 81, from Purley in 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 sort out their own problems,” she added.
On the other side of the river counter-demonstrators waved US and Israeli flags along with the the Lion and Sun Iranian flag favoured by exiles.
