PRO-Iran zealots chanting “Death to America, death to Israel” at a central London demo were last night branded “the mad mullahs’ useful idiots”.
Hundreds gathered on the South Bank for the rally, with a dozen arrested for offences including showing support for a proscribed organisation, affray and threatening and abusive behaviour.
One protester was seen being handcuffed after holding up a sign reading: “Boom Boom Tel Aviv.”
Referring to the Israeli Defence Forces, the crowd cried out, “Death, death to the IDF”, as punk rap artist Bobby Vylan took to the stage.
The performer, real name Pascal Robinson-Foster, chanted the slogan at the Glastonbury festival in scenes controversially screened by the BBC — and he repeated it yesterday.
Protesters also parroted the pro-Palestine rallying cry “from the river to the sea” — seen by many as a call to wipe Israel off the map.
And a representative of the self-styled Islamic Human Rights Commission asked the crowd to pay their condolences to assassinated Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — under whom some 30,000 pro-democracy protesters were massacred.
The speaker described the former Supreme Leader as a “great martyr” before leading a chant of “marg bar Amrika, marg bar Israel” — which translates as “death to America, death to Israel”.
Reform MP Robert Jenrick blasted the rabble as “the mad mullahs’ useful idiots”.
He added: “Anyone supporting a proscribed terrorist group should be prosecuted immediately.”
Former Tory defence minister Sir Alec Shelbrooke said: “Iran is an exporter of terrorism, and it’s the same old leftie idiots who side with the oppressors rather than democracies.
“These people show a monumental lack of intelligence.
“And it says a lot that they can’t even be bothered to mention or spare a thought for the thousands of innocent people that Iran slaughtered just because they said they wanted a free life.
“It’s always the same people turning up, trying to make out that they’re on the side of the righteous.
“They’re not, they’re on the side of murderers.”
The protesters marking Quds Day, an annual pro-Palestinian event, were allowed to gather but banned from marching.
Yesterday the Met Police said they recognised “the concern footage and chanting like this causes, particularly with London’s Jewish communities”.
Activists also waved Iranian flags and held up pictures of religious leader Khamenei with the slogan “Choose the Right Side of History”.
A van bearing a screen showed footage of US and Israeli strikes on Iran, funerals, and an A.I. image of Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu and Jeffrey Epstein shoulder-to-shoulder.
Police were braced for violence to erupt at the demo, with a counter-protest less than 800ft away.
More than 1,000 riot officers were deployed to the streets of the capital, with Met commissioner Sir Mark Rowley warning the protests were a powder keg of “mutual antagonism”.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood ruled out a march by the pro-Iran mob in an effort to prevent clashes.
It is the first time a protest march has been halted since 2012.
And, in an unprecedented move, Scotland Yard used the Thames as a buffer, closing Lambeth Bridge to keep the two groups apart.
Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan said the force “did not take the decision to ban the marches lightly”.
He added: “This is a unique set of circumstances and it was our assessment that the risk of public disorder was so severe, we did not have any other choice.” Afterwards, he said the policing plan, with groups ordered to disperse by 3pm, had been successful.
The force had also warned they would detain anyone chanting “intifada slogans, inciting hate” or showing support for banned groups such as Palestine Action.
Quds Day began in Iran in 1979 after the Ayatollah’s revolution. It has taken place in the UK annually for 40 years.
Critics have condemned previous marches as “hate rallies” over claims they promote antisemitism.
Yesterday a protester, who gave his name as Ehsan, accused pro-Israel supporters of trying to “victimise themselves.”
The 27-year-old, from Sheffield, told The Sun he was demonstrating over the “illegal war that the USA and Israel have started”.
A man in his 60s, who asked not to be named, said PM Sir Keir Starmer was “covered in the blood of the Palestinians”.
Talking about the Home Secretary and Justice Secretary, he added: “And Lammy, Mahmood, they’re all covered in the blood of the Palestinians.”
