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Al Quds Day March in London meets opposition

Peter marshall | 28.09.2008 21:45 | Palestine | Repression | London

Several thousand demonstrators marched through London on Sunday 28 September to celebrate Al Quds (Jerusalem) Day and support oppressed people across the world and particularly the Lebanese and Palestinian people. Counter-demonstrators gathered at Piccadilly Circus to oppose the march.
Pictures © 2008, Peter Marshall, all rights reserved.

Neturei Karta rabbi at front of the march
Neturei Karta rabbi at front of the march

Marchers on Park Lane
Marchers on Park Lane

Waving banners at the counter demonstrators
Waving banners at the counter demonstrators

Whose Side are we on? It seemed a good question
Whose Side are we on? It seemed a good question

U B A next to Israeli flags
U B A next to Israeli flags

Police grab Iranian demonstrator who tried to climb barrier
Police grab Iranian demonstrator who tried to climb barrier

U B A shout at marchers
U B A shout at marchers

Police restrained marchers behind the tape
Police restrained marchers behind the tape

UBA gestures at the marchers
UBA gestures at the marchers

Marchers ignore the counter demo
Marchers ignore the counter demo

Marching on to the rally
Marching on to the rally


The annual Al Quds Day march is supported by Crescent International, FOSIS, Friends of Al Aqsa, Friends Of Lebanon, Hizb ut-Tahrir, Innovative Minds, Islamic Centre of England, Islamic Human Rights Commission, Muslim Council of Britain, Neturei Karta, Palestine Internationalist, Palestine Return Centre, Respect Party and Stop the War.

Among those groups demonstrating against it were the United British Alliance, March for Enlgand, International Alliance of Iranian Students, the Worker Communist Party of Iran, Workers Liberty and a group waving Israeli flags (apologies to any other groups I missed.)

The opposition from some of these comes from the fact that Al Quds Day was started by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979, that some of the organisations that support it receive support from the Iranian government and that it supports the Islamic regime in Iran. Others oppose it for very different reasons.

I've no sympathy for the Iranian regime under which friends of mine have suffered and which has brought a proud and historic civilisation to a fundamentalist authoritarian terror state. Nor for that matter am I an unquestioning supporter of Hezbollah. But despite my misgivings about Iran, I marched with the Muslims, orthodox Neturei Karta rabbis and others. Perhaps it would be better for those wanting to protest against Iranian involvement of the event to organise an Al Quds Day event with wider participation to show support for the Palestinian cause as well as freedom in Iran.

There has to be a better way to demonstrate opposition to the Iranian regime and also support for the Palestinian people rather than joining with other groups who clearly do not do so. The United British Alliance were possibly the largest and certainly the most vociferous group opposing the march.

The marchers remained proudly defiant in the face of the insults flung at them across the road from the various groups, and stewards had some problems in keeping a few of the younger and more militant marchers moving, but unlike last year there were no serious attempts to rush across the street, though police did push back a few. At one point I found myself pushed out from the march by some of the militants, which provided me with a better vantage point until I was pushed back by the police! One supporter of freedom in Iran attempted to climb over the barrier towards the march and was quickly surrounded by police.

I left the march before the rally in Trafalgar Square to attend another demonstration. Speakers were expected to include Dawud Abdullah, Les Levidow, Massoud Shadjareh, Rabbi Ahron Cohen, Taji Mustafa and Yvonne Ridley.

More pictures from the march on My London Diary  http://mylondondiary.co.uk shortly.

Peter marshall
- e-mail: petermarshall@cix.co.uk
- Homepage: http://mylondondiary.co.uk

Comments

Hide the following 10 comments

Who are UBA?

28.09.2008 22:56

They look like the National Front from the pics.

Rod


Re: Who are UBA?

28.09.2008 23:21

typing uba into google and following the first link gives a pretty good description by the uba themselves...
 http://www.freewebs.com/the-uba/
"In these pages you will find information on our group and what we stand for."

chopped pork


STERN GANG

29.09.2008 09:58

Why are you waving Israeli Flags. Israel was founded on Terrorism and still commits acts of Terrorism i.e assasinations, bombings etc as well as State Terrorism like incursions and precision bombing etc. Islamic fundamentalism is the result of Israels actions and their puppets in the west, dragging the world into their problems.

And since when has there been an alliance between Nationalism and a pro-Israeli stance.

JIMBOB


A strange alliance

29.09.2008 11:26

Jimbob-Islamic fundamentalism existed long before the creation of Israel. While you are right to point out the terrorist actions of the Israeli Defence Force i don't think you can solely blame Israel for the rise of islamic fundamentalism though it is often cited as an excuse for it by some apologists.

Some nationalists are pro-israel others are anti-israel depending on their preferences and what branch of nationalism they come from.

It's a shame that the pro-israel and british nationalists appear to have stole the limelight on the anti-al-quds demo, shame there couldnt have been a bigger socialist/anarchist presence on the counter demo.

Davos


.

29.09.2008 14:28

so davos - you wish you could have had a contingent along side the UBA? know where you stand. wish i was on the demo and saw you and your ilk on the counter....

@nti zionist


my enemies enemy is not my friend

29.09.2008 15:12

So because the UBA protested against the al-quds march that makes the al-quds march some sort of symbol of a progressive organisation? The fact there wasn't much of an anarchist opposition to the al-quds march makes the UBA's opposition to it all the more obvious. It isn't a choice of supporting a second rate international football firm and a group of organisations that support a brutally oppressiive regime in Iran, you don't have to join any group of reactionaries to make your point. I no more support nationalist football supporters than i do apologists of of the government in Iran, sod em both!

Davos


@Davos

29.09.2008 21:38

I don't get it. Last time I looked socialists and anarchists weren't in favour of crushing Palestinians with bulldozers, shooting kids with plastic coated metal bullets, land grabbing and apartheid walls.

I feel well out of touch now!

Ashley


@Davos

29.09.2008 22:15

One other thing, please can you tell me when you think Islamic Fundamentalism became prevalent. I thought it rose out of the mess that the US and UK secret services made in Iran when they ousted Moussadeq (that cheeky socialist reformer who tried to steal Iran's oil from under the noses of the Western world!).

Whilst the make up of Iran has been mainly Islamic since the 8th to 10th century, it was only after the 1979 revolution that it became the Islamic State. If by Islamic Fundamentalism you mean that there were Muslims living there then you are quite right, but there were also Jews and Christians too (in fact today the largest population of Jews in the ME outside of Israel lives in the land of Islamic Fundamentalism, how's that work?).

If you get a chance read The Great War for Civilisation by Robert Fisk, it's a real eye opener. For instance do you know how many times Iran has attacked another country in modern history?

By and large all people of faith want to live together in harmony and I find your demonising of Iran and in particular the Islamic faith, insidious. What is in Iran is mainly the making of US and UK interventionism, if we kept our noses out they wouldn't hate us for our freedoms (or do I mean hate us for taking away their freedoms?).

Don't get me wrong, I know human rights are appalling in Iran but given Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, rendition flights etc, when I hear the UK or US politicians harping on, it all sounds a bit like empty rhetoric to me.

Ashley


Happy Jerusalem Day

30.09.2008 10:36

Zionism is a form of Racial Nationalism. Examples of collaboration between Zionists and other Nationalists can be found in Lenny Brenner: Zionist Collaboration with the Nazis. They are of course still at it.

In solidarity with others in struggle.


Ashley...

30.09.2008 11:55

Ashley i'm well aware of the US and UK's involvement in undermining the Iranian revolution of 1979 and ayatollah khomeini's subsequent rise to power. I'm also aware of Khomeini's and other reactionaries in Iran role in undermining autonomous working class groups that were present in Iran around the time of the late 1970s. However i fail to see how you can point the finger of blame solely at US capital, while the US may have been instrumental in fueling Islamic fundamentalist groups in Afghanistan and Iran it's not as if the people involved in these groups were somehow forced into their political ideology.

I think its too easy to constantly blame the US and it's also an insult to those whove suffered at the hands of the Iranian regime. Iran has a horrendous record when it comes to human rights for homosexuals and union organisers and those who choose to voice their dissent. It is naive to say "well the US has done terrible things in Iraq" because this isn't the point! I'm sure we're all aware of the history of US intervention, we've all read chomsky and know the crimes of US governments past and present, but does this mean we should side with oppressive governments because they are portrayed as enemies of the US? Of course it doesn't!

As for me being anti-islam, i'm atheist so i'm anti-religion full stop so please spare me the condescension!

Davos