Iranian protesters marching through the heart of London chanted ‘Trump and Bibi, thank you, thank you’ as they danced in celebration at the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
A large throng of demonstrators, which the Daily Mail estimates to have been around 2,000-strong, marched from Whitehall down to the Iranian embassy in Kensington.
They called for the British government to proscribe the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the main branch of Iran‘s military, as a terrorist organisation, as well as the installation of Reza Pahlavi, the son of the exiled king of the nation, to power in Iran.
Footage from the protest as it sat on Whitehall, which several major government departments including the Ministry of Defence, the Foreign Office and the Cabinet Office call home, showed a mass of people chanting: ‘Trump and Bibi: thank you, thank you.’
One speaker said: ‘Trump and Bibi, we are eternally grateful. Thank you, from every Iranian whose dream for these wretched thugs to go away.’
Israel and the US killed Khamanei in a series of airstrikes on Tehran on February 28, marking the start of an outbreak of violence across the Middle East.
Protesters were also seen dancing to an EDM remix of Trump’s speech in which he announced Khamenei’s assassination.
Many were seen emulating Trump’s famous dance as music blared through Whitehall.
Thousands of Iranian protestors marched from Whitehall to the Iranian Embassy in London on Sunday calling for the British Government to proscribe the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)
Many held signs thanking both President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for their efforts in the war
Iranian, American and Israeli flags were waved as the protestors marched through the capital towards Kensington
The war, now on its ninth day, has seen Iran respond aggressively by targeting Western military bases located in its Gulf neighbours’ borders, dragging them into the conflict.
The mass of protesters were heard chanting ‘Long live the king’, referencing Pahlavi, in Persian.
Others shouted in Persian: ‘The final battle, Pahlavi will return!’
Chants were started by, among many others, small children attending the demonstration with their parents.
Dozens of police officers attended the protest, with many motorcycle-riding cops being sent ahead to warn traffic of the oncoming march through central London.
Bemused cyclists looking on at the protest were quickly replaced by a column of motorcyclists who had attached Iranian flags to the back of their vehicles, with many slowing down as they rode past the protest and revving their engines in solidarity.
Several effigies mocked the death of the Ayatollah. One depicted him as a rat being carried in a coffin.
One of the protestors behind the coffin told the Mail: ‘We want to show people that the Supreme Leader of the terrorist regime in Iran died. We call him (Khamenei) Moosh-Ali – it means he’s a rat. A coward.’
One painted sign read, in Persian: ‘I swear I will stand behind the last drop of blood of the people we lost.’
Though the majority of flags flown at the demonstration were Iranian, dozens were seen carrying Israeli and American flags.
Just a handful of people were seen waving Union Jack flags.
Protestors rallied for the installation of Reza Pahlavi, the son of the exiled king of the nation, to power in Iran
Some arrived wearing Donald Trump masks, while others were spotted emulating the President’s signature dance moves
On top of national flags, several people were seen waving flags of the Israeli military
On top of national flags, several people were seen waving flags of the Israeli military, including one man who was seen wearing a cape that had both Iran and Israel’s flags on it.
Dissident Iranians also held signs and wore hats that read ‘Make Iran Great Again’, referencing Trump’s infamous slogan.
Others were seen carrying banners depicting people who had been killed by the Iranian regime.
Several people carried vuvuzelas, blaring them in support of the son of the Shah, who was exiled from Iran following the 1979 revolution.
Niyak Ghorbani, who helped organise the demonstration, told the Daily Mail: ‘This is the ninth week we’ve tried to ask the Labour government and Keir Starmer to proscribe the IRGC as a terrorist organisation.
‘[This is] for the safety of British society. Lots of IRGC members and agents are here in the UK, and we are asking the UK to ban them and shut the embassy of the Islamic Republic down.
‘We have a lot of IRGC members and supporters in this country. We have to be careful about these people, they are not coming here peacefully. They are planning to attack Iranians, Britons who support Iranians, and Jews.
‘They are always planning to do something against British society.’
He accused British politicians of being ‘scared’ of the Iranian regime: ‘Unfortunately, they are scared to act. They’re saying “they’re already here on our soil. If we do something against them, our families are under threat”.
One protestor, who preferred not to be named, branded Sir Keir Starmer a ‘coward’ for refusing to join the war effort.
He said: ‘Joining the war benefits everyone. Sir Keir Starmer is a coward. I want to ask him, “Why are you not helping the people of Iran achieve freedom?”‘
One woman who spoke at the protest said: ‘We will build an Iran so great, we will release our lions in [their] cages, we will release political prisoners. We will name streets after our fallen heroes.’
She admonished the British government for not proscribing the IRGC: ‘Lebanon has banned the IRGC, but they are walking free in London today. A free and safe Iran is a free and safe West.
‘It means an end to Hezbollah, and end to the Houthis, an end to Hamas. A free Iran is a free world.’
Despite the calls for the end of the regime, Iran today indicated that it has chosen Khamanei’s son as his successor.
Several effigies mocked the death of the Ayatollah were displayed. One depicted him as a rat being carried in a coffin
One of the protestors behind the coffin told the Mail: ‘We want to show people that the Supreme Leader of the terrorist regime in Iran died. We call him (Khamenei) Moosh-Ali – it means he’s a rat. A coward’
One protestor brought a huge sign of a golden lion – the animal which features on the Iranian flag
‘The name of Khamenei will continue,’ said Ayatollah Hosseinali Eshkevari, a member of the clerical council charged with electing a new leader, in a video published in Iranian media.
‘The vote has been cast and will be announced soon,’ Eshkevari said, without providing further details.
The council’s secretary, Hosseini Bushehri, would announce the successor to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – who was killed earlier in the conflict – Ahmad Alamolhoda, another cleric, told state media.
Trump said on Sunday Washington should have a say in the selection. ‘If he doesn’t get approval from us he’s not going to last long,’ he told ABC News.
Israel said it continued to target senior Iranian figures, including Abolqasem Babaian, the recently appointed head of the military office of the supreme leader, killed in a Saturday strike.
Trump has justified the biggest US military operation in the Middle East since the 2003 invasion of Iraq by saying Tehran posed an imminent threat to the United States, without providing evidence.
He has also said Iran was too close to being able to build a nuclear weapon.
The US and Israel have discussed sending special forces into Iran to secure its stockpile of highly enriched uranium at a later stage of the war, Axios reported, citing sources.
Asked on Saturday about sending ground troops to secure nuclear sites, Trump said it was something they would only do if the Iranians were ‘so decimated that they wouldn’t be able to fight at the ground level.’
The US-Israeli attacks have killed at least 1,332 Iranian civilians and wounded thousands, according to Iran’s US ambassador.
Iranian attacks have killed 10 people in Israel. At least six US service members have been killed, with Iran saying on Sunday it had struck US bases in Kuwait. Israel said on Sunday that two of its soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon.
