Hi Geri,

Thanks for reaching out. A number of the points you have listed are factually incorrect, we cannot list all of them. We trust you will quote in full our response:

The Al-Quds Day march and rally held in the UK for nearly 40 years, is a non-confessional, family oriented event that calls for justice for Palestinians. It is led by Muslim, Christian and Jewish organisations. Sadly it has been routinely demonised and targeted by Israel first politicians and media, often in totally untruthful ways. The political establishment in the United Kingdom needs to take to task, and call for accountability from figures like David Taylor, Luke Akehurst and Lord Austin over their urge to silence lawful and moral activism in service, it would appear, of Israel. Their words and actions maligning an event that has been led by Muslims, Jews and Christians in an exemplary display of community cohesion and unity, are an abuse of their role as parliamentarians, and certainly run counter to the interests of the United Kingdom and the British people.

Any ban on Al-Quds Day would destroy any remaining credibility that the UK has. When the world, including the vast majority of British people, are clamouring for justice for Palestine, it is perhaps best that the British government serve their interests, rather than that of a genocidal state currently unleashing further violence on Iran and Lebanon as well as Gaza.

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Hi all,

Geri here at The Times, hope all is well.

I’m writing a piece for tomorrow on the renewed calls from a number of senior politicians for the annual Al Quds march in London to be banned.

As you’ll be aware, the march is planned for next week, and there are concerns that in the current tensions with Iran, it could prompt extremism.

The key points I’ll be including are:
The Al Qud demonstration, held in London each year during Ramadan, has prompted repeated clashes between politicians, police and campaign groups over the limits of free speech.
The protest forms part of an international day of demonstrations established in 1979 by Ruhollah Khomeini following the Iranian revolution, intended to mobilise opposition to Israel and express solidarity with Palestinians.
In Britain, marchers have carried the flags of Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese group and placards calling for Israel’s destruction, with speeches praising Iranian-aligned militant groups.
David Taylor, the Labour MP, told The Times: “The police must stop this march from going ahead. We cannot allow hundreds of supporters of Iran’s hardline regime to march through London calling for strikes on Israel and death to the West. The march is organised by a charity with a history of support for the Ayatollahs and Islamist terrorism. In the past we have seen open support for terrorist organisations at these demonstrations. These are people who clearly hate Britain. Why should we be ok with them marching on our streets?”
Luke Akehurst, another Labour MP, said allowing the event to proceed while tensions involving Iran meant there was a high risk of disorder. It’s completely inappropriate for supporters of the Iranian regime to be allowed to march through London while British forces are under attack from Iran, and risks serious public disorder,” he said. “I would urge the authorities to ban this march.”
Lord Austin, the former Labour MP, said: “It is outrageous that supporters of Iran’s terror regime are allowed to march on Britain’s streets calling for the destruction of Western democracy. I’m all for freedom of speech but this is a hate march by fans of an theocratic Islamist dictatorship that recently slaughtered 36,000 of its own citizens who dared to come out and protest against it. Our police forces and the home secretary should exercise their powers and take decisive action to stop these marches from going ahead. Anyone who joins these marches and is not a British citizen should be deported immediately.”
As the organisers of the march, I’d be happy to include any response you’d like to send over and have a deadline of 6pm today.

Thanks!

Geraldine Scott
Assistant Political Editor
The Times