I saw that - what a disgrace to happen in the UK
Pro-Iranian regime protesters set fire to the Israeli flag and chanted “death to the IDF” at a vigil for ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Birmingham.
Dozens of demonstrators gathered in the city on Thursday night to condemn the joint US-Israeli military action in Iran.
Carrying pictures of the Iranian leader and chanting “Allahu Akbar” (God is great), the group burned the Israeli flag before stamping on it. Organisers with megaphones also led chants of “bomb, bomb Tel Aviv”.
The vigil, which was held at the Imam Reza Cultural Centre, was attended by controversial lawyer Akhmed Yakoob and Shahid Butt, a convicted terrorist who is standing as a candidate in the council elections.
Mr Yakoob is a former West Midlands mayoral candidate. Dubbed the “TikTok lawyer”, he represented two brothers charged over an altercation with police officers at Manchester airport.
Last year he was charged with money laundering. He denied the charge and faces trial in 2027.
Mr Butt was jailed for five years in 1999 for conspiring to bomb the British consulate in Yemen, as well as an Anglican church and a Swiss-owned hotel.
The scenes in Birmingham mirrored a similar protest held in Manchester the previous night when demonstrators burned images of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/03/06/birmingham-protesters-burn-israeli-flags-vigil-ayatollah/