Labour Government Bans Pro-Palestine Al-Quds March

The home secretary has approved a request by London’s Metropolitan police to ban the al-Quds march, an annual pro-Palestine event that coincides with the end of Ramadan.

Shabana Mahmood argued the ban was necessary to prevent “serious public disorder” in the context of the US and Israel’s illegal war on Iran, which the UK is involved in.

“I have approved the Metropolitan police’s request to ban the Al Quds march,” Mahmood wrote on X. “I am satisfied [that] doing so is necessary to prevent serious public disorder, due to the scale of the protest and multiple counter-protests, in the context of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.”

She added: “I expect to see the full force of the law applied to anyone spreading hatred and division instead of exercising their right to peaceful protest.”

Since the Labour government came to power in 2024, Britain has seen multiple anti-migrant demonstrations by far-right and neo-Nazi organisations, which in many cases have led to violence. Labour did not ban any of them.

The Met asked the government for permission to ban the al-Quds march, saying it was concerned about a high number of protesters and counter protesters, and accusing organisers of being “supportive of the Iranian regime”.

The last time a march was banned in the UK was in 2012, when several rallies by the far-right English Defence League were cancelled by police over fears of serious public disorder.