Al-Quds (or Jerusalem) day is a short procession each year in the final ten days of Ramadan. It is a peaceful procession, attended by a significant range of faith and non-faith groups, to express support for Palestine.

In October 2025, the police was notified of the event for 15 March 2026. Without prior notice, on 11 March 2026, attendees woke up to the news the annual Al-Quds day procession was banned by the police and Home Secretary. IHRC immediately wrote to the government to demand an explanation. On 12 March 2026, formal pre-action correspondence was issued to the police and Home Secretary, demanding a response by 11:30 on the morning of 13 March 2026.

Both the police and Home Secretary delayed their response until noon today, Saturday, 14 March 2026. For the first time, IHRC has learnt that a ban was being considered on 7 March 2026, with a decision to ban made internally by the police on 9 March. The Home Secretary then endorsed this ban later on 10 March 2026 before it was publicised.

This is despite the police having notice of the procession for five months, and having a direct police liaison who chose to ignore IHRC rather than communicate about a potential ban. The result of this is the police must acknowledge they had no real idea of numbers and logistics or realistic alternatives short of the usual route to manage any risks; information that could have easily been made available had they chosen to speak to rather than ignore organisers of the procession.

The lateness of the police response today makes it impossible to gather evidence to respond in time and come before a court before 15 March 2026. However, IHRC remains of the view that the police approach here constitutes a fundamental breach of standards of basic fairness, and freedom of expression and assembly on this important date.

In particular, that after several months of negotiating procession logistics with the Metropolitan Police, organisers only learnt through media sources on Wednesday 11 March 2026 that the force had asked the Home Secretary to ban it on vague and spurious grounds.

This undermines the right to protest and the general expectation from the public that they will be treated with fairness, given a right to be heard, and with respect by those in the police and in government.

We will be considering the police and Home Secretary’s recent response in detail with our legal team and any evidence which is required to address the suggested reasons for their decision.

We hope to be in a position to update you soon about our next steps.

Keep up to date with Al-Quds Day news at https://www.ihrc.org.uk/al-quds-day-2026/

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For more information or comment please contact the Press Office on (+44) 208 904 0222  or (+44) 7958 522196 or email media@ihrc.org

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IHRC is an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.
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