Every year, in the taken over European countries like the UK, they hold an “Al Quds” march, the mark the final Friday of Ramadan and spew more of their anti-US hatred.. But this year, at least in the UK, it’s been canceled due to “safety concerns”.
The British government has banned an end-of-Ramadan protest march through central London, with Police citing “extreme tensions” over the Middle East in the city leading to the risk of “serious public disorder” between protest and counter-protests.
UK Home Secretary [interior minister] Shabana Mahmood has approved a recommendation by the Metropolitan Police to ban the annual Al Quds march through central London. Commencing today, the ban on the march and any related protests including counter-protests will remain in force for one month.
Police say this is the first time a march has been banned in London since 2012, but note there is no law in Britain to prevent a static demonstration, which will be going ahead despite the ban.
Mahmood said in a statement that she was satisfied approving the unusual ban 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” and that she expects to “see the full force of the law applied to anyone spreading hatred and division instead of exercising their right to peaceful protest”.
March organisers say they will challenge the ban in court and intend to go ahead with an Al Quds day protest with a static demonstration.
Explaining their decision to apply for a ban, London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement that Al Quds is “uniquely contentious” and “raises unique risks and challenges”. Citing a high number of protesters and counter-protesters anticipated at a time of “extreme tensions between different factions”, the force said the conflict in Iran was likely to contribute to the possibility of unrest. Even with a ban on a march in place, police said they were aware a legally immune static demonstration was still going ahead and the force stated they were bringing in extra officers from across the country to deal with “a challenging, potentially violent weekend” of “serious disorder”.
Addressing the protesters directly, police said: “We urge the organisers to comply with our conditions or face arrest”. Of those organisers, the Metropolitan Police said the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), is an “organisation supportive of the Iranian regime” and the Al Quds march “originated in Iran”. Of the threat from Iran more broadly, the police said: