Al Quds march banned in London after police cite 'severe' risks

A pro-Iran march planned in London this weekend has been banned.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said she had approved a request from the Metropolitan Police to block it to "prevent serious public disorder".

Ms Mahmood said this was due to the "scale of the protest and multiple counter-protests".

A stationary protest will be allowed, but will be strictly policed.

The march is an annual event to mark Al Quds Day, which is timed towards the end of Ramadan to express solidarity with the Palestinian people.

However, it has drawn criticism after organisers expressed support for Ali Khamenei, Iran's former supreme leader who was killed during US-Israeli strikes on Tehran.

Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the prime minister, denied it was a ban on freedom of speech.

He told Sky News' Mornings with Ridge and Frost: "You can't incite hatred or violence, or cause physical damage and those types of things, but you do have the right in our country to express your views, democratically and peacefully.

"And that's why these powers are not used very often, because even when people might feel uncomfortable about what people are campaigning on, they're allowed to do so. But the Met Police had requested this, having looked at the operational detail of it, they requested it."

The Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), which has condemned the decision to ban the march, has said the ayatollah was killed for "standing on the right side of history".

"Ayatollah Khamenei's death will be mourned by freedom-loving people all over the world," it said last week.

Tehran's regime is thought to have killed thousands of protesters this year alone.

'Extreme tensions'

The Met has not requested a ban on London's Al Quds march since 2012. The force said this year's event would have posed "unique risks and challenges".

Those risks are "so severe that placing conditions on the protest will not be sufficient", the force said.

"We must consider the likely high numbers of protesters and counter protesters coming together and the extreme tensions between different factions," a statement added.

"We have taken into consideration the likely impact on protests of the volatile situation in the Middle East, with the Iranian regime attacking British allies and military bases overseas."

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The Met also cited threats posed by the Iranian regime on British soil, including the recent arrests of four men by counter-terror police on suspicion of spying on the Jewish community.

Previous marches, it added, had resulted in arrests for supporting terrorist groups and antisemitic hate crimes.

But this year's request for a ban was not taken lightly, it said, adding: "We do not police taste or decency or prefer one political view over another, but we will do everything we can to reduce violence and disorder."

'Politically charged decision'

The IHRC said it still hoped to see people attend the stationary rally and would seek legal advice on the ban.

"This is a politically charged decision; not one taken for the security of the people of London," it added.

(c) Sky News 2026: Al Quds march banned in London after police cite 'severe' risks