Thousands of protesters marched to the US embassy in central London on Saturday, demanding an end to US and Israeli strikes on Iran. The demonstration, led by groups including the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, gathered on Millbank near Westminster before proceeding to the embassy in Vauxhall.
Protesters carried Iranian and Palestinian flags, along with portraits of Iran's former supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, who was killed in the opening strike of the conflict last Saturday. Placards read “Stop Trump’s Wars”, “Stop the War on Iran”, and “No War on Iran”.
Outside the embassy, Your Party MP Zarah Sultana addressed the crowd, drawing parallels to the 2003 Iraq war. “We will not be ignored again,” she said, recalling how anti-war protesters were dismissed two decades ago. “The children of Baghdad deserve to grow up,” she added, urging the government to learn from past mistakes.
A statement from former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, read to the crowd, warned against dragging Britain into another illegal war. “For too long, the UK has blindly followed the US as it indulges in catastrophic interventions around the world,” the statement said, calling for a foreign policy based on cooperation and sovereignty.
Police estimated the crowd at between 5,000 and 6,000. The Metropolitan Police reported four arrests, including one for inciting racial hatred over a placard and another for a racially aggravated public order offence related to a chant. Conditions were imposed requiring protesters to stay on a designated route and finish by 5pm.
