Thousands take to London streets as protests in opposition to Iranian regime unfold all over the world: Demonstrators goal ‘terrorist manufacturing facility’ embassies and name for revolution in Tehran as mullahs kill lots of in bloody crackdown
Thousands took to the streets of London on Sunday as protests against the Iranian regime and the brutal crackdown by its security forces spread around the world.
Activists now say that the death toll from the brutal suppression of nationwide demonstrations in the Middle Eastern nation is at least 538 people.
Meanwhile more than 10,600 people have been detained, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency has claimed.
Demonstrators rallied in London, Paris and Istanbul on Sunday in support of the protests in Iran that have been countered with lethal force.
The London protests began in front of the Iranian embassy in South Kensington before uprooting to Whitehall, at the heart of British government.
The demonstators demanded that Labour close what they called ‘the Mullah’s embassy’ – branding it a ‘terrorist factory’.
Footage shows the masses marching outside Downing Street and burning images of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Others waved the country’s old pre-Islamic flag with its distinctive Lion and Sun emblem.
People take part in a rally in solidarity with protesters in Iran today outside Downing Street
Protestors in London burn an image of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a rally held in solidarity with Iran’s uprising, organised by The National Council of Resistance of Iran on January 11
Protesters in London on Sunday hold placards carrying the image of exiled crown prince Reza Pahlavi, who fled to the US with his father, the deposed Shah, after the Islamic Revolution in 1979
Many protesters carried placards carrying the image of exiled crown prince Reza Pahlavi, who fled to the US with his father, the deposed Shah, after the Islamic Revolution in 1979 – who many believe should be the nation’s next leader.
‘We want revolution, change the regime,’ Afsi, a 38-year-old Iranian, who declined to give her last name, said during the rally in front of Downing Street.
She has lived in London for seven years but has not been able to contact her family in Iran because of an internet blackout imposed by authorities since Thursday, she said.
‘It’s so frustrating, but it’s not the first time,’ Afsi added. ‘This time, we have hope … we feel like we can do it this time.’
The protest came as a group of Anglo-Iranian women called on the Government to ban the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as the Tehran regime’s violent crackdown on protests continues.
The IRGC is a distinct branch of Iran’s armed forces which operates independently from the regular army, created after 1979 to protect the Islamic Revolution.
It retains significant influence over the country’s politics and regional proxies via its Quds Force, making it a key tool for projecting power and suppressing dissent domestically and abroad.
Demonstrators called on Keir Starmer to proscribe the IRGC as a terrorist organisation, a status it already has in countries including the United States, Canada, Australia and Israel.
The special armed forces organisation has already been heavily sanctioned in recent years, but there are growing calls for the Prime Minister to go further.
Demonstrators waved the country’s old pre-Islamic flag with its distinctive Lion and Sun emblem as they calling on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to support the Iranian people and proscribe the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp as a terrorist organisation
Police try to stop protesters climbing the outside wall toward the Iranian Embassy in London this evening as anti-government demonstrations intensified
A protester throws an object toward the Iranian Embassy as they clash with police in London
Flames rise from burning debris in the middle of a street in Gorgan on January 10, 2026, as protesters set fire to makeshift barricades near a religious center during ongoing anti-regime demonstrations
Iranian protesters have intensified their challenge to the clerical leadership of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei (seen here attending a gathering of the people of Qom in Tehran on January 8, 2026)
Laila Jazayeri, director of the Association of Anglo-Iranian Women in the UK, said the IRGC had already gone too far.
Speaking at the demonstration on Sunday, she told the Press Association: ‘The Prime Minister should prescribe the deadly force IRGC, that is killing people inside Iran.’
Ms Jazayeri explained: ‘There is no need for military intervention. There is no need for boots on the ground.
‘Iranian people are capable of bringing the regime down.
‘The protesters are empty-handed. They are dealing with heavily armed security forces in some towns and cities.
‘But the regime hasn’t been able to send the protesters back home. Why? Because there is a network of resistance.’
Most information coming out of the country is through Starlink satellite transmitters after the regime restricted internet access, and Ms Jazayeri said the UK Government could do more to get Iranians back online.
‘The regime has shut down the internet to kill in silence. (The UK Government) should help get access to internet for the Iranian people,’ she said.
The nationwide protests started in late December at Tehran’s Grand Bazaar in response to worsening economic conditions
Asked about the possibility of banning the organisation, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander told Sky News: ‘It’s a very thorough process that the Home Secretary would go through in determining whether to proscribe an organisation… I’m not going to second-guess the decisions of the Home Secretary on a matter as significant as this.
‘She will follow due process and won’t leave any stone unturned in looking at all the information that is available to her.
‘As a government, we keep those decisions about the proscription of organisations under constant review and I have no doubt that Shabana Mahmood is doing that at the moment.’
Dissent against the Islamic Republic has spread around the world, with a protester in London tearing down the country’s flag from its embassy on Saturday.
