Courts minister: I’ve made my view clear on Al Quds Day march
Sarah Sackman says annual pro-Iranian regime march has 'no place in our society'
Finchley and Golders Green MP Sarah Sackman has joined calls for the annual Al Quds Day march due to take place in London on Sunday to be banned, adding: I’ve made my views very clear – this sort of thing has no place in our society.”
Sackman, a Justice Minister in Keir Starmer’s government, was questioned on whether she supported widespread calls for the march to be banned in two radio interviews on Tuesday.
The Jewish minister 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 have no place in British society and the authorities and the police should take the enforcement action needed against these marches.”
Photo credit: Yui Mok/PA Wire
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 against 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.”
On Monday, Downing Street said the decision to ban the march was with the Metropolitan Police.
The Al Quds Day march is organised by the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), who insist it is a peaceful event.
But the IHRC has described Iran’s former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as a martyr and a “rare role model” following his death in the US-Israeli strikes.
In previous years, the Hezbollah flag was widely displayed on the demo prior to the terror group being proscribed in this country. One of the organisers also falsely accused “Zionists” of being behind the Grenfell Tower fire.
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.
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