A Jewish group has joined demonstrations highlighting the Islamic State threat facing minorities in Iraq.

Members of Harif, the association for Jews from the Middle East and North Africa, were part of a 500-strong protest organised by Solidarity Against Isis (the previous name of Islamic State) last weekend. They were also among the 1,000 people who marched from Broadcasting House to Trafalgar Square.

Harif co-founder Lyn Julius said: "It is important to stand with the minority groups who are persecuted in the Middle East. We think the Kurds offer the best prospect of defeating Isis.

Harif creative director Michelle Huberman said: "The Kurds, the Yazidis and other minorities in the Middle East need our support. They are experiencing the same brutality that the Iraqi and Kurdish Jews experienced when they lived there when Iraq was ruled by an Arab Sunni Muslim regime."

Demonstrators called for action to protect Yazidis and Assyrian Christians fleeing Islamic State terror in Iraq and to strengthen the Kurdish resistance.