Moment organiser of London’s Al-Quds ‘hate rally’ shouts ‘death to the IDF’ at Iran protest before leading chants of ‘Khamenei makes us proud

From the Daily Mail

A fundraiser for the group leading the Al-Quds Day rally in London shouted ‘death to the IDF’ and ‘Khamenei makes us proud’ at a protest last weekend. Follow link to the short video. 

Mr Adelekan said anticipating protest turnout was ‘not an exact science’ but that it was his ‘professional judgment that numbers I think will go up to 6,000 in terms of the counter protest, which is a significant number when you combine all of those groups’.

He said: ‘I caveat that by saying you could see significantly more based on the current political situation.’

Mr Adelekan later added that police anticipate a ‘similar number or more’ supporting the protest.

Officers are having to be redeployed from neighbourhood policing to cover the event and patrol Jewish neighbourhoods in the capital, Mr Adelekan said.

Middlesex University has been contacted for comment.

Raza Kazim attended a pro-Iran demonstration outside the US embassy last Saturday after the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in an Israeli drone strike.

Footage shows him leading crowds with a chant of ‘say it clear, say it loud, Khamenei makes us proud’. In another video, he is seen yelling ‘death to the IDF [Israel Defence Forces]’ – a slogan described as hate speech last year by Sir Keir Starmer.

This week, the Home Secretary banned a planned Al-Quds Day march through London by the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) due to the risk of serious disorder, but it will still go ahead on Sunday (later today) as a static protest.

Mr Kazim – who leads a course training maths teachers at Middlesex University – is a trustee of the IHRC trust, the charitable arm that funds the IHRC.

Mr Kazim has organised previous Al-Quds Day marches. The event – named after the Arabic word for Jerusalem – was created by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini after Iran’s 1979 revolution to express opposition to Israel.

Other IHRC figures have gone on the record to praise the Iranian regime.

Faisal Bodi, the IHRC’s spokesman, described the late dictator as a man of ‘principle and integrity’. Asked if he would hold a picture of Khamenei, Mr Bodi told the BBC earlier this week: ‘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.’

All protests and counter-protests will take place between Vauxhall and Lambeth bridges and are permitted between 1pm and 3pm, the Met said.

Counter protesters can assemble on the Millbank side of the Thames. Lambeth Bridge will be closed, with access only for emergency vehicles.

The force needed a ‘unique plan’ to respond to ‘unique circumstances’, Mr Adelekan said – but he stressed this would not set a precedent.

‘I’ve been in this organisation for 31 years, I cannot think of a time when we used it. So as far as I’m concerned it’s new, it’s new in my generation of policing,’ he said, adding: ‘It will keep both sides apart whilst also allowing people to protest within the law.’

Mr Adelekan said anticipating protest turnout was ‘not an exact science’ but that it was his ‘professional judgment that numbers I think will go up to 6,000 in terms of the counter protest, which is a significant number when you combine all of those groups’. He said: ‘I caveat that by saying you could see significantly more based on the current political situation.’

Mr Adelekan later added that police anticipate a ‘similar number or more’ supporting the protest.

Officers are having to be redeployed from neighbourhood policing to cover the event and patrol Jewish neighbourhoods in the capital, Mr Adelekan said.

Middlesex University has been contacted for comment.