Hundreds join banned UK pro-Palestinian march

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 was the first time a protest march in the British capital was banned since 2012 but a static demonstration was permitted, according to London's Metropolitan police.

Police kept apart demonstrators and counter-protesters 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.

"What has happened to the Palestinians is so unjust," said pensioner Jean Apps, 81, from Purley in south London.

"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 told AFP.

- Arrests, chants -

Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan said police had made 12 arrests, "including for showing support for a proscribed organisation, affray and for threatening or abusive behaviour".

"We are also investigating chants made by a speaker" at the protest, which marked Al-Quds Day, an annual pro-Palestinian rally, he added in the police statement.

Videos online showed protesters chanting: "Death to the IDF", the Israeli military.

"We recognise the concern footage and chanting like this causes, particularly with London’s Jewish communities," the Metropolitan Police said on X.

The Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), an NGO which organises the annual Al-Quds Day march, condemned the decision to ban the event, calling the move "politically charged".

The march was an "international demonstration... in support of Palestinians and all the oppressed around the world", the group added after the ban was announced.

On the other side of the river, counter-demonstrators waved US and Israeli flags along with the Lion and Sun Iranian flag favoured by exiles.

They chanted: "Long live the king," referring to Reza Pahlavi, exiled son of Iran's last shah, who was ousted by the 1979 revolution.

"We are supporting the king of Iran, we are asking America and Israel to help us eliminate the IRGC," Iran's Revolutionary Guards, said Shiva, 37, an Iranian chef living in London.

"They don't care about the people, they are just killing us. It's a cruel regime."

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