British politicians and specialists are urging regulation enforcement to ban this 12 months’s annual Al Quds march in London, given its organizing group’s ties to the Iranian regime and extremist figures.
The Al Quds Day Rally is ready to happen on Sunday, March 15, throughout Ramadan. The rally is a widely known a part of a global day of demonstrations established in 1979 by then-Islamic supreme chief Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini with the purpose of mobilizing opposition to Israel and expressing solidarity with Palestinians.
It’s organized by the Islamic Human Rights Fee (IHRC), a gaggle believed to have intensive ties to the Islamic regime in Iran and Iranian-backed extremism.
The IHRC is comparatively well-known given its pro-Hezbollah Al Quds Day parades and its antisemitic rhetoric. Previous Al-Quds Day marches have featured IHRC members calling for the eradication of Israel, the waving of Hezbollah flags, and even the looks of Hamas paraphernalia.
In 2022, protesters carried posters of Qasem Soleimani, the terrorist mastermind of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), together with placards demanding “resistance by any means essential.”
IHRC ties to Iran
In his 2023 Unbiased Overview of Stop, William Shawcross knowledgeable the Home of Commons that IHRC was an “Islamist group ideologically aligned with the Iranian regime, that has a historical past of ‘extremist hyperlinks and terrorist sympathies.’”
Shawcross was notably involved in regards to the threat of extremism, on condition that the IHRC had obtained £10,000 in public funding as a part of authorities assist for native companies in the course of the pandemic.
“The federal government should guarantee there are correct procedures in place to forestall the funding, inadvertent or in any other case, of those that have expressed assist for – or justified – violent extremist exercise,” stated Shawcross, including that senior figures of the IHRC had espoused assist for violent jihad and “advocated for the extraction and eradication of ‘Zionists.’”
Then, in November 2023, The Instances revealed that the IHRC was considered one of half a dozen UK-based {groups} recognized by British officers as having direct ties to Tehran.
The Instances additionally famous that the IHRC’s former director was Saied Reza Ameli, a secretary of Iran’s Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution.
Fears of Iranian affect are usually not with out foundation. On March 1, 2026, the day after the graduation of US-Israeli strikes on Iran, the IHRC launched an announcement condemning “the cowardly, treacherous, and unlawful assassination of Iran’s supreme chief, Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei.”
“Within the Ayatollah’s passing, the world has misplaced a uncommon function mannequin who demonstrated {that a} nation can efficiently tread the trail of independence though it’s besieged by enemies,” it stated. The assertion went on to eulogize Khamenei as “principled, religious and stoic” with an “unshakeable resistance to colonialism.”
“The Ayatollah’s legacy will probably be etched into historical past as somebody who resisted oppression and stood on the fitting facet of historical past,” the IHRC concluded.
David Taylor, Labour MP for Hemel Hempstead, stated: “The police should cease this march from going forward. We can not enable a whole lot of supporters of Iran’s hardline regime to march by means of London calling for strikes on Israel and demise to the West.”
“The march is organized by a ‘charity’ with a historical past of assist for the ayatollahs and Islamist terrorism. Up to now, we have now seen open assist for terrorist organizations at these demonstrations. These are individuals who clearly hate Britain. Why ought to we be OK with them marching on our streets?”
Luke Akehurst, Labour MP for North Durham, stated that permitting the occasion to proceed carried a excessive threat of dysfunction.
“It’s utterly inappropriate for supporters of the Iranian regime to be allowed to march by means of London whereas British forces are below assault from Iran – and dangers severe public dysfunction,” he stated. “I might urge the authorities to ban this march.”
Lord Austin of Dudley, a former Labour MP, stated: “It’s outrageous that supporters of Iran’s terror regime are allowed to march on Britain’s streets calling for the destruction of Western democracy. I’m all for freedom of speech, however it is a hate march by followers of a theocratic Islamist dictatorship that just lately slaughtered 36,000 of its personal residents who dared to return out and protest in opposition to it.
IHRC responded to The Instances article within the feedback part on its web site, saying that among the factors had been factually incorrect and that the Al Quds march was “a non-confessional, family-oriented occasion that requires justice for Palestinians.”
IHRC stated the rally has been “routinely demonized and focused by Israel-first politicians and media, usually in completely untruthful methods.” It accused David Taylor, Luke Akehurst, and Lord Austin of making an attempt to “silence lawful and ethical activism in service of Israel.”
The Metropolitan Police spokesperson informed The Jerusalem Publish on Thursday, “We acknowledge that there will probably be extra consideration on this protest, given the continued battle within the Center East.”
The police went on to say that numbers would doubtless “be elevated and the potential of counter protest is larger. We are going to hold all these issues below cautious overview and can publish the small print of our policing plan nearer to the time.”
“In response to the query of a ban, you will need to acknowledge that the police wouldn’t have the facility to ban protest,” the spokesperson added. “They will apply to the Residence Secretary for a ban, however provided that there’s a threat of significant dysfunction that can not be managed by way of police ways or the imposition of Public Order Act circumstances alone. That may be a excessive threshold.”
Nonetheless, “Officers will nonetheless take a zero-tolerance strategy to hate crime, together with antisemitism, and assist for proscribed organizations. They may intervene decisively the place they see folks crossing the road from lawful protest to criminality.”
It’s price noting that the IHRC has expressed constant antipathy towards the UK’s Holocaust Memorial Day. In January 2025, it wrote to 460 city halls and academic facilities asking them to boycott the Holocaust day, saying it was “morally unacceptable” that Gaza was not thought-about a “genocide” alongside the Holocaust.
The Publish contacted the Residence Workplace, but it surely declined to remark prematurely of the protest.