19 October 2022
IHRC has written to the head of London’s Metropolitan Police and the city’s mayor demanding answers for the pitiful police response to an orgy of Islamophobic violence unleashed by anti-Iran protestors in London last month.
Hundreds of opponents of the Iranian government descended on sites associated with Tehran unleashing unprovoked violence against premises and people.
The letter condemns the police in failing to protect the Iranian Embassy in Kensington where onlookers were brutally attacked and protestors scaled the building and caused physical damage.
Video footage shows the outnumbered police struggling to contain the hysterical protestors as they hurled missiles at the embassy.
Inexplicably, the protestors were then allowed to march towards Marble Arch where they happened upon a peaceful procession of religious mourners commemorating Arba’een. More violence ensued as the protestors attacked the mourners with sticks, stones and bottles while the police stood by instead of trying to protect the targets of the attack. IHRC received reports of several people attending the Arbaeen procession being assaulted and injured including an elderly man. Several women had their hijabs (headscarves) pulled off.
The protestors then made their way under police escort to the Islamic Centre of England some 3km away in the northwest of the capital attacking the premises and the centre’s attendees. Again, there was very little in the way of a police presence which meant those inside the centre were trapped by the protestors congregating on the pavement outside hurling abuse and missiles, including bottles and cans of alcohol. Neither staff nor members of the public were able to leave the centre until 12am. Several police officers were injured as well as some members of the public.
IHRC’s letter demands to know if the police carried out an appropriate risk assessment prior to the demonstration at the embassy and if so why that was not updated after the violence there. IHRC would also like to know what steps the police have taken to identify the perpetrators of the violence, what they have done to understand that the attacks were motivated by anti-Islamic hate and what steps, if any, they have taken to prevent a recurrence of such violence.
