Home Secretary cites ‘potential for conflict’ as she explains Al Quds Day march ban to MPs

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has justified her decision to ban the Al Quds Day march in central London planned for Sunday, saying there is currently a “greater potential for conflict” as a result of the ongoing conflict in Iran and “heightened tensions between protesters and counter-protesters”.

Addressing the Commons after it was confirmed that the March 15th demo had been banned over the serious risk of public disorder, Mahmood said:”What I have announced today is narrowly focused on specific circumstances in a unique moment, but it does not alter an enduring fact: in this country, we rightly pride ourselves on our freedoms, including the right to peaceful protest.

“It is a precious right and one that I revere, and it sets us apart from autocracies of all kinds across the world. This prohibition is therefore limited and specific.”

Outlining how Al Quds Day is an event held on the last Friday of Ramadan, a  day marked worldwide by rallies and demonstrations in support of Palestine, including here in Britain, the Home Secretary noted that the procession in London has  been led by the Islamic Human Rights Commission, “an organisation that has been closely associated with the Iranian regime.”

She continued:”Of course, this year’s event interacts with the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. It comes at a time when the Iranian regime is attacking British forces and bases, as well as those of our allies.

“It also comes just days after the arrest of four individuals as part of an investigation led by counter terror police. They were arrested under the National Security Act for allegedly spying on Jewish communities on behalf of the Iranian regime.”

Mahmood also confirmed the ban on processions related to Al Quds Day will be in place until April 11th.

She told MPs: “My first duty is to keep the public safe, having carefully and thoroughly considered the risk … assessment presented to me by the Metropolitan Police, I am satisfied that an order under section 13 is necessary.

“For one month, there will therefore be a prohibition on processions in London related to Al Quds Day by protesters and counter-protesters, which will come into effect today and will end on the 11th of April.

“Should the commissioner consider a further extension is required, he will be able to make a further submission at that time.”

Mahmood rejected claims that the fact that a “static protest” could still go ahead is “not a loophole” as the policing challenges are “different in nature” from a moving procession.

Responding to MPs, she said: “It’s not a loophole, the law deliberately treats the two things differently because the policing challenges of a static protest are different in nature from the policing challenge of policing a march which is moving from one location to another.”

“The police do have the powers to condition the way that a static protest takes place,” she added.

Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp welcomed the Government’s decision to ban the Al-Quds day marches in London.

“The Al-Quds marches are a troubling symptom of a growing division in our society where some people define themselves, primarily by their religion or their ethnic heritage, and we’ve seen that spilling over into the conduct of elections,” he said.

“This is deeply troubling and deeply divisive; it undermines the very foundations of our nation, which depend on a shared identity and shared values.”

She received further praise for the decision to ban the demo from both Labour and Conservative MPs, including Father of the House Edward Leigh, who said Mahmood was “one of the best Conservative home secretaries.”

Hendon MP David Pinto-Duschinsky praised her “resolute” approach towards the Al Quds march, and urged the Home Secretary to continue to protect the Jewish community.

But the Lib Dem spokesperson expressed concern about “authoritarian tendencies” and the government’s “enthusiasm for restricting the right to protest.”

Independent MP Jeremy Corbyn also raised objections to the decision to ban the demo, raising the European Convention on Human Rights and the right to protest.

He said there was a “slippery slope” by banning a march not necessarily that popular and then banning others.

Mahmood said there was a “high bar” that needed to be reached in this specific instance around the Al Quds march.

In comments that drew a disapproving response from MPs in the Commons, the pro-Gaza MP Shockat Adam claimed the far-right activist Tommy Robinson had announced he was a fan of the Home Secretary.

On Wednesday, an organiser of the Al Quds Day march likened holding up a picture of the late supreme leader of Iran to doing so for Nelson Mandela.

Faisal Bodi, a spokesman for the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), which helps organise the annual march, insisted that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was a man of “principle and integrity”.

Asked if he would hold a picture of Khamenei, Bodi told the BBC’s The World Tonight: “Happily. I would rather hold a picture of the Ayatollah than Keir Starmer or Donald Trump. He was a man of principle, a man of integrity, a man who stood for justice.”

He added: “In the same way I would happily hold a picture of Nelson Mandela and Malcolm X and many other towering personalities.”