Al Quds march London 2024

To London to observe this year’s Al Quds march promising death and destruction to Israel. Of course on 7th October the threat became a promise, after which Israel is steadily rooting out Hamas and fellow jihadists. All of which made for a very different Al Quds to last year when it was low key and almost a damp squib.

Years of nagging the police and the Home Office has meant that blatant Hamas and Hezbollah flags are no longer flown. I thought they would be back this year but other stuff took its place. Or more accurately didn’t take its place. My husband and I decided that we would be best to concentrate on the Israeli/Jewish counter demonstration; much nicer people with whom to spend the afternoon.

But my friend Steve Speakers Corner did roam up to the Home Office where the march was to start and he caught this.

Picture of Hitler seized from car at start of Al Quds march in central London. Who said it was a hate march!? pic.twitter.com/W0nsYs3Ufa

— SteveSpCorner (@SteveRightNLeft) April 5, 2024

As did GB News.

Palestine activist with Hitler placards car boot RELEASED by police just 10 minutes later… before he then REJOINED protest

A pro-Palestinian activist carrying Hitler placards in the boot of his car was stopped by police before being released and allowed to rejoin the crowds just 10 minutes later.

The signs featured photos of Hitler morphing into Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with the caption “the irony of becoming what you once hated”.

GB News spotted the man whilst he was being questioned by police during the march in London, which saw 500 officers deployed to the streets to maintain order.

The man was taken away by police in a carrier but was seen in the crowd about 10 minutes later, between 3.30pm and 4.00pm. Police at the scene confirmed at the time that the man had not been arrested.

Photos of the posters soon circulated online. The Metropolitan Police responded to the images on X, stating: “These photos of placards are being shared online. We believe they were taken during a proactive vehicle stop by officers near the march start point. As a result, we don’t believe they have been distributed. Should they be displayed in the crowd, action will be taken.”

The force has confirmed that were 10 arrests made in total at today’s protests

Steve said that a bag of dubious ‘substance’ was also found in the boot. But he wasn’t arrested and was spotted in the crowd later. He also told me that the Al Quds marchers were getting bad tempered and squabbling with the police and the press. They are never on time moving off.

I took photographs of the Support for Israel group. Our faces can go on the internet  they said; I am proud of my support for Israel.

These are a selection.

…

…

A display van circled Parliament Square showing the faces and ages of the hostages still held in Gaza. We know the women are being raped repeatedly but what is happening to the children?

…Splinter groups with Palestinian flags tried to approach the counter protest from behind. They were noticed and stopped. Not that the police were particularly robust today.

I caught the last bit of the vile “to the River to the Sea” chant before they moved on to “Zionism=Terrorism”

The police didn’t make much effort to move them on towards their main march but some younger members of the counter protest made them uncomfortable and they quietened down.

…

Eventually the Iranian backed, pro-Palestine, pro_hamas march wended it’s slow and abusive way up from Millbank.

There was a lot of tooing and froing with Neturai Kartata

For obvious reasons this is the most assertive counter to the Al Quds march that I have witnessed in the 15 odd years I have been observing/countering the event. The pro-Palestinians were outraged that Jews and their supporters should dare to oppose them. Some were apoplectic.

Some observations of what was different from previous years. Not so many yoghurt knitting vegan socially conscious types, and no Trade Union banners. Nor so many handmaidens of Islam yielding to their ‘son of the desert, he of the gazelle like eyes’ fetish. Instead BLM was one of the supporting groups that would be in attendance listed by the Islamic Human Rights Commission and some of the most aggressive marchers were indeed black men, not in Islamic dress but with strong physiques.

There was at least one flag showing the Irish repubican/jihad crossover which has been a feature of sectarian violence for decades. Ghadaffi of Libya trained and financed the IRA back in the 1970s. The reverse of his flag was the Palestinian flag with a slogan in Irish.

One chap awaiting the manifestation of the Mahdi.

Standard stewards of the IHRC wear yellow. These in orange are senior stewards. There is career progression in the field for bright old men! Who knew.

There was one handmaid of the Mohammedans who slipped in among the Israeli support group knowing that gentlemen would not harm a small young woman. But she hid her face when she saw me and my camera.

.We saw the last of the marchers up Whitehall where a screen and rally area had been set aside for them for their speeches. They were well past both Downing Street and the Cenotaph and we had noted earlier that all the war memorials (and the statue of Sir Winston Churchill) were all well protected

We decided not to follow them to listen to the speeches this year. The speakers publicised never turn up; the ones who do are never hugely inspiring, although the day in 2017 when compere Nazim Ali blamed the Jews for the fire in the Grenfell Tower block of flats where 70+ people died was memorable for all the wrong reasons.

Stephen Sizer the unfrocked former Anglican vicar was supposed to speak but my husband said he would be bad for my blood pressure, if he turned up. So we made our way to the tube station by a circuitous route and came home.

I have since heard, via the London Evening Standard that somewhere along the route the Israeli flag was burned.

BRING THEM HOME

 

Photographs E Weatherwax London April 2024