Scores of pro and anti-regime protesters gathered tonight

22:39, 04 Mar 2026Updated 23:08, 04 Mar 2026

Anti Iranian regime protestors in Manchester city centre tonight (March 4) (Image: Manchester Evening News)

Scores of rival protestors faced off in Manchester city centre tonight (March 4) in relation to the ongoing conflict between the US, Israel and Iran.

The event began as a candlelit vigil commemorating the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Sydney Street off Oxford Road in the city centre.

Khamenei was killed, along with his wife and some family members, in an air strike as part of large scale US and Israeli missile strikes against targets in Iran on February 28, which has prompted a wave of military action in the region since.

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Tonight’s vigil was promoted by the Manchester Friends of Islamic Centre on Instagram and said to be hosted by ‘the Muslim community’.

There was a mood of mourning in the air as attendees laid candles, flowers and photos of the late Ayatollah and other reported casualties from the latest air strikes outside the centre, alongside placards reading ‘we stand with the revolution’ and ‘killed by the US/Israel’, the latter covered with red handprints.

Another read ‘you can kill a man, but you can’t kill an ideology – loyal to our leader’. Pro-regime attendees could be seen waving the modern Iranian flag, the Palestinian flag, and photos of the Ayatollah.

Amongst those from the vigil side were Kayam Hussain, 18, and his brother, from the Pakistani community in Rochdale.

Kayam said: “We think that was is happening in Iran, the whole war in the Middle East, is really chaotic and it’s going to bring so much damage. It’s gonna bring the world to damage.

“The killing of Khamenei is one of the biggest mistakes that people have made, because it’s not gonna go down well in the world. The whole world is gonna get affected. I do feel the whole world’s gonna get affected from this and we’re getting close to something catastrophic.

Protestors in Manchester city centre tonight (March 4) (Image: Manchester Evening News)

“He was very controversial, yes but he was the leader of Iran, the Islamic public and the people of Iran, even though some may be happy about it, the people who are from his religion, Shia, they didn’t take it well and I can guarantee that something bad is gonna happen in the world.”

But this was met by a larger counter-protest, who played loud music, chanted and danced as they appeared to celebrate the Ayatollah’s death.

Waving flags of the US, Israel and the pre-1979 Islamic Revolution flag of Iran, they beat drums and shouted slogans through megaphones at the group opposite, kept apart by dozens of police officers.

The larger group burned a photo of the Supreme Leader, while brandishing sparklers and photos of Reza Pahlavi (son of the last Shah of Iran who was overthrown in the 1979 revolution) and a framed photo of Donald Trump.

Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last Shah who has lived in exile since the Islamic revolution, emerged as a figurehead for protests in Iran earlier this year, with some Iranians calling for a return of the monarchy.

The protests, the largest of the occasional protests against the regime in recent decades, were brutally suppressed by the Iranian government, with estimates suggesting around 30,000 dead.

Amongst the counter-protesters was Ryan Mendelson, aged 33.

He said: “I’m with the Jewish community. we come out every week to support the Iranian community because they supported us for two years after what happened after October 7. On Saturday we found out that the Ayatollah was dead, which is amazing because he’s killed over 80,000 to 100,000 people on the streets.

“These Iranian people want a regime change. They’re here to support each other. We’re here tonight because they want to light a candle for a dictator, like I say he killed over 80,000 people on the street. What are they gonna do next? Light a candle for Hitler who killed 6 million of my ancestors? “The UK Prime Keir Starmer won’t prescribe the IRGC as a terrorist organization. Every other country in the world has done in the US, Europe, but all of a sudden Keir Starmer can’t do it.”

On the Prime Minister’s response so far, he added: “It’s vile after what happened at Heaton Park Synagogue he came to Manchester and said that he’d give the Jewish community money, we don’t want money. We want to be looked after.

“It’s a celebration because Khamenei is dead. We’re happy about what Netanyahu and Trump did. It was Netanyahu that killed Ayatollah and we’re grateful for that.

“There’s been strong bonds between the Iranian and the Jewish community for over 47 years. Before the Ayatollah took over there was a great community between Iran and Israel.

“We want to basically show the other side that we won’t be shut down. By them doing this event tonight, it’s crazy. They’re basically lighting a candle for a terrorist.”

But tonight’s stand-off was largely peaceful, with the exception of a few scuffles which broke out between protestors as the groups dispersed, and were quickly contained by police.