Shabana Mahmood has accredited a request from the Metropolitan police to ban a pro-Palestinian march deliberate for Sunday “to prevent serious public disorder”.
The annual Al Quds Day march in London had drawn criticism over obvious help for the Iranian regime after its organisers expressed help for the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Several counter-protests had additionally been deliberate for the day.
Announcing her determination to ban the march, the house secretary stated she was “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”.
She added: “Should a stationary demonstration proceed, the police will be able to apply strict conditions.
“I expect to see the full force of the law applied to anyone spreading hatred and division instead of exercising their right to peaceful protest.”
It is the primary time a protest march has been banned by the Met since 2012.
The determination follows calls from Labour and Conservative MPs to ban the march.
