British Home Secretary Sajid Javid has been urged to halt a “brazen” parade through London involving supporters of the terrorist group Hezbollah as campaigners warned that it will fuel hate crime against both Jews and Muslims.
In a joint letter to Javid, the Campaign against Antisemitism and the Muslim-led anti-extremism group Faith Matters said the Quds Day event next month, organised by the Islamic Human Rights Commission, would inflame divisions by allowing the “bloodcurdling” Hezbollah flag.
The flag features a dagger and an assault rifle, to be displayed on the capital’s streets.
They added that the parade, which organisers say is a peaceful protest drawing attention to the oppression of Palestinians, would make “a mockery of counter-extremism initiatives” and “embolden those who seek to incite hatred”.
Hezbollah’s military wing is banned in the UK but its political wing is not, so it is lawful to fly the flag of Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Shia Islamist organisation from Lebanon, which is accused of conducting terrorist attacks on Jewish and Israeli targets.
