UK's Shabana Mahmood approves police request to ban pro-Palestine march

The British home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has approved a request by the Metropolitan Police to ban this year's Al-Quds Day protest in London.

Mahmood cited the threat to public disorder in a post she made on social media platform X on Wednesday. The Al-Quds Day event was first held in Iran after the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and is billed as a global day of solidarity in support of Palestine.

This year's event comes amid the US-Israeli war on Iran, which has prompted pro-war and anti-war protests in western capitals.

Justifying her reasons for banning the march, Mahmood wrote: "I am satisfied 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.

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