Al Quds march: Home Office urges Met to take ‘zero tolerance’ approach at tense Palestine demo

The Home Office has urged the Met Police to “take a zero tolerance approach to any law breaking” during the annual pro-Palestine Al Quds march taking place in London on Friday.

Demonstrators will join the march from the Home Office in central London at 3pm before proceeding to Downing Street, to mark the last Friday of Ramadan.

The yearly event originated in Iran, and sees rallies held internationally to express support for Palestine and profess opposition to Israel and Zionism. 

It comes amid international outrage over the deaths of seven aid workers in Gaza as the Israel-Hamas conflict reaches six-months following the October 7 massacre in Israel.

British Jewish organisations have described the event as promoting “anti-Israel hate” and an “Iranian-backed hate fest” and urged that anyone flying proscribed flags be arrested.

In previous years, flags of terror groups Hizballah and Hamas have been flown during the Al Quds march, but these organisations have now been banned in the UK.

A spokesperson for the Community Security Trust (CST), which campaigns against antisemitism, said: “The Quds Day rally is an annual event inspired by the government of Iran, with all the extremism and antisemitism that entails. 

“It is a march predicated on anti-Israel hate, expressed through calls for Israel to be erased from the map, and in the past regularly featured Hizbollah flags until that terror group was banned. 

“That gives an indication of the nature of this event and we can expect similar kinds of extremism this year.”

While a Board of Deputies (BoD) spokesperson said: “The Al Quds Day parade is an annual Iranian-backed hate fest which in the past has featured flags and slogans supporting now-banned organisations including Hamas and Hizbollah. 

“Given the recent dramatic upsurge in antisemitism, we would urge the police to ensure that proscribed flags are not used and that hate is not promoted in this parade, and that any offenders are arrested and prosecuted.”

The Met Police told City A.M. officers would be present to make sure the event takes place safely and that any offences can be dealt with swiftly. It’s anticipated that the police approach will be similar to that of the weekend protests calling for a ceasefire in Israel-Palestine.

The Met Police would not confirm how many officers would be on duty for the march.

Labour’s Sadiq Khan, who is standing for a record third term as London mayor, said: “I’m quite clear I don’t want anybody behaving in a way that causes anxiety or distress – particularly if they’re flying flags that are against the law. 

“Nobody should want to go on a march or protest that causes your friends, neighbours and colleagues to be scared because they’re Jewish.” Sadiq Khan

“We’ve got to make sure any protest that takes place in our city is lawful, peaceful and safe.”

He added: “What I say in a respectful way to anybody protesting is even if you’re not breaking the law, you should be cognizant and aware of the consequences of what you’re doing to your friends, neighbours and colleagues. 

A Home Office spokesperson said: “Antisemitism has no place in this country, nor has any form of racism, and the support that has been shown for Hizballah at the annual Al Quds march in London in previous years has been unacceptable.

“Intimidating, threatening or causing disruption to the law-abiding majority must not be tolerated. 

“We have proscribed Hizballah and Hamas in their entirety and recently proscribed Hizb ut-Tahrir, to make it clear that support for these organisations is a criminal offence, and we are backing our police with new powers to tackle criminality at protests, including mask wearing to conceal identities.

“We expect the police to take a zero-tolerance approach to any law breaking.”

The Al Quds organisers have written to commissioner Sir Mark Rowley, asking him “to fulfil your responsibility as head of the Met Police to ensure the demonstration is policed impartially without fear or favour”.

They said: “The Metropolitan Police has regularly abused its legal powers to harass pro-Palestine protesters, especially since pro-Palestine protests have proliferated since last October.

“This harassment has responded to pro-Israel politicians and media demonising the protests, e.g. as hate marches, antisemitic, extremist, pro-terrorist, etc.”