Kids with Kalashnikovs in Cape protest

In a possible first for the City of Cape Town, children holding fake Kalashnikov and AK-47 rifles were seen on the streets of the Mother City during the annual Quds Day protest on 28 March, which is held on the last Friday of Ramadan.

Wearing headbands and keffiyehs in the style of Palestinian terrorists, the children played at being “terrorists”, crouching on one knee to aim at their targets.

About 500 people took to the streets for the protest, with a multitude of Hezbollah flags and images of assassinated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. African National Congress (ANC) leader of the opposition in the Western Cape Provincial Legislature and ANC Western Cape Provincial Spokesperson, Mohammad Khalid Sayed, proudly posed with a photo of Nasrallah and with Hezbollah flags.

The theme of this year’s Quds Day was “escalate, mobilise, resist”. Uzair Mohamed, the leader of radical local organisation Cape Town Intifada, was arrested during the march.

Speaking to the SA Jewish Report, Captain FC Van Wyk, the South African Police Service (SAPS) media liaison officer in the Western Cape, said, “On 28 March 2025, at 16:20, a 34-year-old person was found in possession of two flares during a march in Cape Town to the national Parliament. The suspect was arrested in front of Parliament by national public order police members and was detained at Cape Town Central [Police Station] by SAPS. A possession of a dangerous weapon case was opened for investigation.”

Pro-Palestinian groups, including the militant group People Against Gangsterism and Drugs rallied outside the police station until Mohamed was released. “SAPS is being controlled by the Zionists!” wrote one supporter on Facebook.

The charges were dropped on 1 April, but Cape South African Jewish Board of Deputies (Cape SAJBD) Executive Director Daniel Bloch says Mohamed has “repeatedly incited violence, spread hate speech, and verbally abused individuals”. He was especially active at UCT [University of Cape Town] in 2024, where he targeted Jewish students during “Israeli Apartheid Week”. Now, “he was arrested during another anti-Israel march for possessing a dangerous weapon. Yet, he and other organisers insist that their protests are peaceful. Who brings weapons to a peaceful protest and what are their true intentions?”

Bloch says every South African has the right to protest provided the demonstrations don’t incite violence, spread hate speech, or otherwise break the law. “Unfortunately, recent anti-Israel protests and motorcades in the Western Cape have, on occasion, crossed these lines. We commend SAPS for acting against those who violate the law. No person or cause is above the law, and those who continuously breach it must face the consequences.”

He says the Cape SAJBD is also “deeply disturbed by the sight of protesters dressing their children in Hamas-style outfits, brandishing fake guns, and chanting, ‘Death to Israel!’ and ‘Death to Zionists!’ while desecrating Israeli and United States flags. What message are these so-called ‘peaceful’ protesters trying to send? What role do their children play in this dangerous rhetoric?”

As for Sayed, Bloch says it’s “no surprise that he openly supports Iranian-backed terrorist groups by displaying Hezbollah flags. Sayed has made no secret of his antisemitic and anti-Israel stance, frequently targeting our Jewish community and institutions.”

However, since the May 2024 elections, ANC support has dwindled, “reinforcing our belief that Sayed doesn’t represent the majority of ANC supporters or South Africans at large”, Bloch says. “Most South Africans want peace and prosperity, not the death and genocide these protesters continue to call for.”

Professor Hussein Solomon, who is among the top 100 terrorism experts in the world, says this isn’t the first time children have been made to look like terrorists in South Africa. He recalls a child with fake explosives taped to him in a previous protest. However, he says children cosplaying as terrorists and Sayed proudly brandishing Hezbollah images is of concern.

“One would expect parents to prepare their kids to live, not die,” says Solomon. “In fact, there are various Islamic prescriptions against taking one’s own life. Among a certain stream of Muslims in South Africa, Hezbollah is seen as a heroic organisation. It’s problematic because it means that a section of the population has internalised certain extremist views. I’m not sure how to counter that, because one would expect the South African government to provide direction in terms of this, which of course it hasn’t done.”

On Facebook, mothers proudly discussed their cosplaying “martyr” children who held rifles at the protest, with one saying, “They did so well today.” Mothers also purposefully drove their children’s prams over Israeli and American flags.

Rolene Marks, spokesperson for the South African Zionist Federation (SAZF), says, “The SAZF condemns the disturbing hate on display at the recent Quds Day event which represents not solidarity with Palestinians, but the glorification of terrorism against Jews and denial of their right to self-determination. This event is a direct attempt to normalise violence through tactics mirroring Hamas, including the unconscionable exploitation of children brandishing weapons.”

She says these same activists “remain tellingly silent about Hamas’s brutal suppression of Palestinian protesters in Gaza, including the cold-blooded murder of 22-year-old Odai Naser Saadi. Their selective outrage reveals their true agenda. Quds Day isn’t about Palestinian rights; it’s about endorsing violence against civilians under a transparent veneer of solidarity.”

Later that evening, also to mark Quds Day, Sayed visited the Ahlul Bait Mosque in Ottery, Cape Town, where images of Nasrallah and assassinated Hamas leader Yayha Sinwar were given pride of place. ANC and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) members attended, including the EFF’s Nazier Paulsen, who opened his address with chants of, ‘Death to Israel, death to America!’ Paulsen said that the Palestinians were “being genocided by those satanic Israelis and Americans. Israel is an apartheid state. America is an apartheid state.”

At the protest, one woman proudly held a sign saying, “F*ck Israel”, while a man wore a t-shirt saying “No justice, no peace.” The Quds Day protest is seen as radical even in some Muslim circles, as it was declared a day of solidarity with the Palestinians by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the Iranian Revolution, who made Iran into an Islamic republic.

In South Africa, the day was adopted in 1979 by Imam Achmad Cassiem, the founder of the militant Islamist organisation and paramilitary group, the Qibla movement, which aims to promote the establishment of an Islamic state in South Africa.

But, says Bloch, “We won’t be intimidated or threatened. The Cape SAJBD will continue to challenge anti-Israel protesters and the targeted hostility toward our community. There’s no place for hate in our society.”