Demonstrators congregated on the South Bank of the Thames for prayers and brandished placards declaring “Boom boom Tel Aviv.”

Chants of “From the river to the sea” and “Israel is a terror state” could be heard as people held pictures of the assassinated Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and his successor, Mojtada Khamenei. 

Three people have been arrested so far, the Met Police said. One for showing support for a proscribed organisation, one for dangerous driving and a third for threatening and abusive behaviour. 

Bobby Vylan – one half of the punk rap duo Bob Vylan – repeated his controversial Glastonbury chant of “Death to the IDF” following a ranting speech at the rally. …

Around a hundred counter-protesters were seen on the opposite side of the Thames ahead of a demonstration organised by Stop The Hate.

They waved Israeli flags while another read “Hamas is terrorist.” Police vans are parked up on nearby Lambeth Bridge, with a police boat seen patrolling the water.  

The march has been reduced to a two-hour static protest after the Home Secretary this week banned the planned Al-Quds Day march.

The rally, organised by the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), was due to head through the streets of London but was curtailed by Shabana Mahmood due to the risk of serious disorder.   

The Met Police is using the Thames as a buffer to separate pro-Iran demonstrators from a counter-protest who have been told to gather on the north side of the river.

Both groups were told they must leave the area at 3pm. At 3.40pm the Met Police said both groups were dispersing.

The force also said it was “aware of chanting made by a speaker at the Al Quds protest” and said it “will be investigating”.  …

Pro-Iran demonstrators held signs which read “Home Secretary, de-prescribe Palestine Action.”

Other pro-regime signs are on display, and one banner which says the “Epstein regime” murdered 168 school children in Iran. 

Leaflets circulating at the rally show a picture of Ali Khamenei and the words “No2Nato No2War.”

Bob Vylan told the crowd the West was being run by “cold-hearted monsters”.

He also accused the Government of “gaslighting” protesters and branded the police “pigs”.

“These pigs you see here today are here on the orders given to them by the coward Met Commissioner Mark Rowley,” he said. 

“He has refused to meet with organisers of pro-Palestine marches and rallies, but never misses an opportunity to cosy up next to the Board of Deputies.

“The Zionist influence here in the UK is palpable.

“We can feel it. We can see it. We can see it when we look at these pigs that are itching to put their heavy hands on any and every one of us that might challenge the wretched system that they uphold, a system corrupted from the top down, not the bottom up. …

“And I would like to conclude with Death, Death, Death, to the IDF.” …

Police warned before the rally that they would arrest anyone chanting intifada slogans, showing support for Palestine Action or holding placards inciting hate.

More than 1,000 riot police were on standby at the protest centre, while uniformed officers protected mosques and synagogues in the capital and kept guard at the Israeli and Iranian embassies. …

Al-Quds Day began in Iran in 1979 after the Ayatollah’s revolution. It spread to the UK, and has been held in London for 40 years. …

The IHRC was described in the independent review of the Prevent strategy as an “Islamist group ideologically aligned with the Iranian regime, that has a history of extremist links and terrorist sympathies”.