A justice minister has called for "robust action" against those supporting the Tehran regime, ahead of a pro-Palestinian march this weekend.
The annual Al Quds Day march is scheduled for London on Sunday, with organisers the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) insisting it will be peaceful. However, the IHRC previously described Iran’s former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khameni as a martyr and a "rare role model" after his death in US-Israeli strikes.
Courts minister Sarah Sackman said: “Those expressing support for the malign regime in Iran and the IRGC and its proxies have no place in our society.”
She told LBC: “They shouldn’t be on the streets of London calling for hate and hostility against this country. That’s thoroughly anti-British and I expect the police and the Home Secretary to take the necessary action against those people.”
On Times Radio, she said: “I’m clear that hate marches like the Al Quds march has no place in British society and the authorities and the police should take the enforcement action needed against these marches.”
She added: “Particularly in the current context, where we are seeing the indiscriminate actions of the malign regime of the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps), both causing danger abroad and at home, then I expect that our law enforcement authorities will take robust actions with those who express support for those malign actors.”
Pushed on whether the march should be banned, she said: “I don’t want to see marches and the views expressed in this go ahead. The decision is not for me but I’ve made my views very clear. This sort of thing has no place in our society.”
The IHRC has written to Met Police chief Sir Mark Rowley to attack “baseless” claims that the Al Quds Day march is antisemitic and supportive of terrorism.
“In the 40‑plus years that the Al‑Quds Day demonstration has taken place, it has always been good‑natured and peaceful,” IHRC chairman Massoud Shadjareh said.
