The Palace of Westminster will be lit up in red on Wednesday evening to commemorate people who suffer for their religion around the world.
The Houses of Parliament joins Westminster Abbey and Westminster Cathedral on a list of iconic buildings to adopt red lighting in memory of those killed for their faith. The gesture is part of the Red Wednesday campaign organised by the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
The Liberal Jewish Synagogue in St John's Wood, the Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Stevenage and Bolton Town Hall are among dozens of other buildings including churches, synagogues and mosques across the UK lighting their buildings red to mark the occasion.
John Pontifex from ACN told Christian Today it was a "remarkable show of solidarity" with anyone persecuted for their faith.
"It will give them a great deal of comfort and hope that there is this statement from the place that is so much associated with the right to freedom of expression," he said.
"This will send out a statement to the world that enough is enough. Their cry has at least been heard. They have an answer to the question, 'Who cares?'
"This shows the mother of all parliaments cares."
ACN have asked supporters to wear red or adopt red filters on social media on Wednesday as "a chance to show solidarity with victims of genocide, persecution and discrimination."
Lord Alton of Liverpool, a peer behind the bid to turn the Palace of Westminster red, hailed it as a "wonderful decision" that shows "increasing concern felt at the highest levels about the persecution of millions of people because of their beliefs".
He told Christian Today: "In this month of remembrance we are right to stand in solidarity with those who suffer. Our Houses of Parliament represent the struggle for liberty and freedom. In bathing them in red we commemorate those who enjoy none if those same privileges and it is an earnest of our determination that they should."
A #RedWednesday bus tour will travel through London on Wednesday stopping off at the Jewish Liberal Synagogue in St John's Wood and the Imam Khoei Islamic Centre in North London before going to St Paul's Cathedral and finishing at a service in Westminster.
A Parliamentary spokesperson said: "In order to demonstrate Parliament's support for the Red Wednesday campaign, which recognises those persecuted or killed in acts of religious hatred, Mr Speaker and the Lord Speaker have agreed to light up the Palace. Parliament fully endorses the aims of this important campaign."
