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St George, Armenian Genocide & Congo – 2011

St George, Armenian Genocide & Congo: On St George’s Day, 23 April 2011 I found little celebration taking place in Lcndon but mad3e a few pictures before photographing an Armenian march calling on our government to officially recognise the Armenian Genocide, then a protest over human rights violations in the Congo.

St George’s Day in London

Westminster

St George, Armenian Genocide & Congo:

I found it hard to find much celebration of St George’s Day in London in 2011. He had become the patron saint of England in the Tudor era, but had been almost forgotten by the Royal Society of St. George was founded in 1894 to try and revive the tradition.

But it was not until the 1990s that we saw much revival, with the English football team and right wing political groups widely adopting the St George’s flag, preciously mainly the preserve of miniscule nationalist political groups. The Royal Society of St George was joined by English Heritage in promoting the idea.

I photographed the Royal Society of St George event at Covent Garden in 2005, but it was only in 2010 that London Mayor Boris Johnson hosted the first celebration in Trafalgar Square. Before these there had of course been celebrations in various pubs around London, soemtimes rather right-wing events. In 2016 I photographed two rival St Georges in the same pub in Southwark.

But it was the then Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn who was the first major leader to make a promise in his party manifesto. Had his 2017 election campaign not been sabotaged by the right wing in his party, today would now be a Bank Holiday.

The 2011 celebrations in London seemed very limited. There was a parade marking the 150th anniversary of our military cadet units (though as I note in My London Diary this was rather premature for the air cadets.) And later I went to Trafalgar Square for the Mayor’s official celebrations and was very unimpressed.

St George’s Day in London

Recognise The Armenian Genocide

Oxford St to Downing St

Between 1915 and 1923 the Turkish authorities killed around 1.5 million Armenians, around 70% of Turkey’s Armenian population in a deliberate attempt to rid Turkey of people who did not fit in with their desire to create a homogeneous Turkish nation. Armenians have a strong national identity, centred around their Christian heritage which did not fit well into a largely Muslim Turkey.

The genocide began on 24 April 1915 when Turkish authorities arrested and murdered around a thousand leading members of the Armenian community in Constantinople. They then killed the roughly 300,000 Armenian conscripts in the Turkish Army.

This was followed by “mass killings, deportations and death marches of women, children and elderly men into the Syrian Desert. During those marches, many of the weak or exhausted were killed or died. Women were raped. The deportees were deprived of food and water. Starvation and dehydration became commonplace.”

Turkey still refuses to admit to the genocide, and insists that the deaths were the result of a civil war. But it was a ‘war’ against a people who had no weapons and no organisations to fight and were simply slaughtered because they were Armenian.

The term ‘genocide’ did not exist at the time and was coined by Raphael Lemkin who described it as “The sort of thing Hitler did to the Jews and the Turks did to the Armenians.” One of the first resolutions proposed by him and passed by the UN was ‘The Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide’.

The annual march in London calls on the UK Government to officially recognise the Armenian genocide – as the UN Commission on Human Rights and many countries around the world have done, including France, Germany, Italy and others of our European neighbours. It’s hard to understand why we have not done so, though successive UK governments have taken the line it is a matter for international courts to decide, not governments. But others think that trade issues are the real reason.

More about the march and the reasons behind it and about “Hrant Dink (1954-2007) ‘The 1,500,001st Victim of The Armenian Genocide'” on My London Diary.

Recognise The Armenian Genocide

Congolese Protest in London

Great Portland St to Downing St

The International Congolese Rights organisation (ICR) were marching from the Congolese Embassy in Great Portland Street to Downing St calling attention to human rights violation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and asking the UK Government to put pressure on President Kabila to hold elections or resign.

Formed in 2004 to defend the defend the rights of Congolese citizens living in the UK the ICR as held a number of demonstrations aimed at exposing the systematic violation of human rights in the DRC aimed at getting the UK and the international community to take action.

Ever since the end of colonial rule in the former Belgian Congo there has been fighting in the Congo. The DRC has vast mineral resources, probably “the richest of any country in the world, including 80% of the world’s cobalt reserves, and between 65-80% of coltan, the mineral from which tantalum capacitors, vital for mobile phones, games consoles, computers and other electronic devices.” It also has large amounts of copper and is the world’s second largest diamond producer. A large proportion of its trade is now with China.

Despite these resources, the DRC remains the second poorest country in the world, with almost three quarters of its 124 million people in extreme poverty as a result of its underdevelopment in the colonial era and the war and political turmoil since independence.

The main banner of the protest stated ‘David Cameron – Why Are So Quiet On 8 Million Deaths in D. R. Congo?‘ and people carried placards about the suffering in the country including the killings and the widespread use of rape as a military and political tactic.

They called for elections and for DRC President Joseph Kabila to step down and to face trial at the International Criminal Court.

Congolese Protest in London

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National Housing Demo, London 2026

National Housing Demo, London: Last Saturday, 18th April 2026, I photographed the National Housing Demonstration which began with a rally in Soho Square.

In the years after the end of the Second World War, Britain began a concerted effort to address the housing problems. Money was short but succesive governments did all they could to address the problems of old, poorly built slums thrown up in the nineteenth century as industrialisation caused a huge population surge in our cites and large towns.

During the war, Churchill’s government had laid plans to build 500,000 prefabs, “with a planned life of up to 10 years, within five years of the end of the Second World War”. And from 1945-51, 1.2 million new houses were built including around 150,000 prefabs.

For many of the 1.2 million families moving into these new properties it was the first time they had their own bathrooms and toilets, no longer sharing often rather primitive facilities with neighbours in multi-occupied and overcrowded properties.

London, UK. 18 Apr 2026. ‘Labour is in Bed with Landlords’

There were new towns and local authorites were encouraged to build council housing, although under the Conservatives the emphasis altered in the 1950s to providing “welfare accommodation for low income earners” rather than meeting more general housing needs. But under MacMillan as Housing Minister they still aimed to build 300,000 homes a year.

Mistakes were made. It was also largely when the Conservatives were in power that we saw a huge shift towards building high-rise, and in particular to system-built blocks. Some of the best of these are now largely privately owned and expensive flats, but others, often because of shoddy building practices have had to be demolished.

Increasingly Conservative policies changed to encouraging home ownership rather than municipal provision of low-cost accomodation. And the final death blows came under Thatcher, who prevented authorities from using local tax money to build new housing and serverely reduced local housing stocks with the ‘right to buy’ – and added final cruel twist by refusing to allow them to use the money from sales to build. Right to buy also meant councils many of their larger and more desirable properties.

Thatcher’s policies resulted in an increase in the waiting lists for council accommodation and meant that councils had to take desperate measures to try to rehouse those they had a statutory obligation to – resulting in a huge increase in the use of often sub-standard temporary accommodation often far away from their local areas, and in people being rehoused with little security in poor private flats.

New Labour did little if anything to improve things, except for property developers. In London and elsewhere we have seen a succession of well-built council estates with years of life being allowed to deteriorate and then, rather than being refurbished at relatively low cost, being demolished and replaced by developers working with councils largely as high-cost private developments with little social housing.

Although there were a few examples of succesful regeneration, most have been disastrous for their former residents, priced out of their local areas, with those who had bought their properties sometimes being seriously defrauded.

Many of these regenerated estates are now full of empty homes owned as investments by overseas buyers, buying them simply to profit over a few years from the increasing house prices in the UK and in cities including London in particular.

Under the coalition government and succesive Tory governments the housing crisis has continued to grow, with rents in London skyrocketing. And bit by bit the security of tenure that council property used to provide has been whittled away. So far the Labour landslide has changed nothing.

There are some simple policies the protesters were calling for that could help. There are huge numbers of properties that are long-term empty and there could be greater powers of compulsory purchase. There could be changes to make it possible for local authorities to maintain and refurbish existing estates and build more social homes. We could stop getting estate agents and developers to dominate our housing policies for their own benefits.

Part of the housing problem is that too many of our MPs are themselves landlords and have opposed attempts to improve the conditions of tenants, watering down legislation. But perhaps the largest need is for a change in the way we think about housing, seeing it as an asset rather than a home. The whole idea of the ‘property ladder’.

Many more pictures from Saturday’s protest in my Facebook album National Housing Demo.

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Christian Aid, Mordechai Vanunu & Mass Lone Demos – 2007

Christian Aid, Mordechai Vanunu & Mass Lone Demos. My photography on Saturday 21st April 2007 began with a small event close to home with music and tree planting celebrating 50 years of Christian Aid. I then rushed into London for the start of the Mass Lone Demo initiated by Mark Thomas as a protest against SOCPA, the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act which greatly restricted the right to protest in the area around Parliament.

After a short while there I travelled to Hackney where cyclists, some who had begun at the Faslane nuclear submarine base on the Clyde, were beginning the final leg of the Vanunu Freedom Ride. After they had set off I returned to take more pictures of the Mass Lone Demo, then took the tube to meet the cyclists again close to the IsraelI Embassy in Kensington.

Below is what I wrote in 2007, with the usual minor corrections and links to more pictures from the day on My London Diary.

Christian Aid: Tree Planting – Celebrating 50 Years

Staines, Middlesex

Saturday was another beautiful day, sunny, warm but not too hot, and the quintet with a fine singer created a mellow atmosphere as we gathered to plant two apple trees to celebrate 50 years of Christian Aid. the music included several of my Ellingtonian favourites, there were some interesting home-made cakes, and it was great to relax for a while in the sun.

Christian Aid, Mordechai Vanunu & Mass Lone Demos - 2007 — *One of the 2 apple trees planted at Staines to celebrate 50 years of Christian Aid gets watered in.*

The trees were given and planted by Colin Squire of Squires Garden Centres, and as he commented, the Cox’s Orange Pippin was an appropriate choice, as not only is it a fine apple, but was first grown by Richard Cox just three miles away at Colnbrook in 1830.

The two trees are in a public area, and we hope that in years to come the public will come and help themselves and enjoy their crop.

More pictures from the event on My London Diary.

Mass Lone Demos – the BIG one

Westminster

Mark Thomas’s latest twist to the Mass Lone Demo was for demonstrators to set out a list of 20 demonstrations they would eaach hold in the SOCPA area on Saturday and to apply for permission for each of them. He was aiming for 2000 demonstrations (and hoping for an entry in the Guinness Book Of Records.) The police figure for the number of demonstrations that permission was applied for was 2,486, but it was actually quite hard to find many of them.

I’d hoped to photograph people at such highly desirable sites for demos as the Mothers Union, the Adam Smith Institute and the Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia, but nobody was there when I looked. However I did find a few, [and also some Kurds who were not part of the Lone Demos] but unfortunately had to miss the final event to get to Kensington.

Mass Lone Demos – the BIG one

The Vanunu Freedom Ride Reaches London

Hackney and Notting Hill Gate

Mordechai Vanunu told the world about Israel’s nuclear weapons – still denied, still secret and still not subject to any international inspection. He worked on the program for 9 years until 1985, and in 1986 blew the whistle, talking to the press. Days later he was lured to Italy and kidnapped from there by the Israeli Secret Service. Convicted of treason in Israel he spent 18 years in jail, 12 of them in solitary.

Released in 2004 he has been under severe restrictions on movement, who he can meet and what he can say. He would like to leave srael but it seems likely he will be sent back to prison. The ride demanded his freedom, the setting up of a nuclear-free Middle East as well as freedom for Palestine.

The riders started at the Faslane base to the west of Glasgow where daily demonstrations are taking place outside the base of the ridiculous UK nuclear deterrent (ridiculous to have it, and in no way independent as we need us permission to use the weapons.) The ride stopped at many places on the way to demonstrate and hold meetings, including Menwith Hill spy station and Lakenheath USAF base.

*A rally at the end of the ride at Notting Hill Gate, not far from the Israeli embassy*

They were met at Hackney Town Hall by members of Hackney & Islington CND and CNF vice-chair Sophie Bolt. From Hackney they cycled on via Downing Street to Kensington, where there was a rally at which Jeremy Corbyn MP, Kate Hudson, CND chair and Louise Richards of War On Want were among the speakers.

The Israeli embassy in London is on a private street with security lodges at each end. cyclists are not allowed in the street, and demonstrations are certainly not tolerated.

Vananu Freedom Ride at Hackney and Kensington.

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Woolwich Riverside and Royal Artillery

Woolwich Riverside and Royal Artillery: More pictures from my walk around Woolwich in August 1994

*Waste Land, Woolwich Church St, Woolwich Ferry, River Thames, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1994, 94-807-42*

This area, previously occupied by engineering works, has now been redeveloped with a luxury development of tall housing blocks on Mast Quay, “A magnificent crafted living space with panoramic views of the River Thames.”

*Entrance, Woolwich Foot Tunnel, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1994, 94-809-13*

As well as getting a free ferry, Woolwich also got a foot tunnel under the River Thames, opened by the London County Council in 1912. The tunnel is just over 500 meters long and remains delightfully cool on hot summer days.

Many cyclists also use the tunnel despite bylwws prohibiting cyclists. Electronic signs were installed in 2016 which used a computerised system to measure traffic and messaged ‘No cycling allowed‘ in red at busy times but ‘Please consider pedestrians‘ in green when the tunnel was fairly empty. Greenwich council was in favour of changing the bylaws to legalise this, but Tower Hamlets refused and the system was discontinued. Many cyclists still ride.

The tunnel provides a useful route across the river, particularly when the ferry is out of action, but most times I’ve used it one of both of the lifts at each end have not been working. I’ve never counted the steps but there are rather a lot of them, particularly when going up.

*River Thames, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1994, 94-809-21*

Downstream from the ferry in what in 1994 was I think an open area, once the site of Woolwich Power Station, demolished in 1978-9 though the coaling jetty in this picture is still there. There is still a riverside walk but most of the site is now occupied by tall blocks of flats.

*River Thames, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1994, 94-809-22*

A bridge here links the former coaling jetty with the riverside path.

From Riverside Path, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1994, 94-809-33 — *Steps from Riverside Path, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1994, 94-809-33*

This area is now covered by tall flats, though there is a small segment of parkland with fountains.

*Mural, Thames Barrier, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1994, 94-812-65*

I cannot remember exactly where I found this mural of the Thames Barrier in Woolwich and I think it was soon demolished.

Royal Artillery Memorial, St George's Garrison Church, Grand Depot Road, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1994, 94-812-52 — *Royal Artillery Memorial, St George’s Garrison Church, Grand Depot Road, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1994, 94-812-52*

Built for the garrison in 1862-3 it was hit by a V1 flying bomb in 1944 and the church was largely destroyed by fire. In 1970 more of the building was demolished but a canopy roof added to protect the apse and its polychromatic Victorian brick and decorations, with a memorial garden added in the former nave. It was listed in 1973. In 2011 it was transferred out of military ownership and since then there has been some restoration work, partly lottery funded.

*Cannon, Royal Artillery Barracks, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1994, 94-808-32*

The barracks was the home of the Royal Artillery from 1776 until 2007. Its 1,000 foot long Georgian frontage is said to be the longest in Europe if not the world. Since 2007 most of it has been rebuilt behind this, and in 2016 the Ministry of Defence announced plans for all army units to move out by 2028.

The cannon is the “17.75-ton Bhurtpore gun, captured by Field Marshall the Viscount Combermere after the 1826 siege of Bhurtpore” and brought here in 1828. When the Royal Artillery moved out they took this and four other cannons with them, doubtless a vital part of our country’s defence.

Crowning of the Hayes Realms – 2008

Hayes, Bromley

Hayes in the south-east corner of Greater London in the London Borough of Bromley is at the centre of a tradition that goes back over a hundred years, the London May Queen. At its height in the inter-war period this attracted great publicity and was filmed by Pathé News for showing in cinemas around the country – you can watch some of those films on their site.

I came to the May Queens from the posthumous book of photographs by British photographer Tony Ray-Jones ‘A Day Off’, published in 1974 soon after his tragically early death which contained a handful of his pictures from May Queen festivals taken in the late 1960s.

One of these, not one of his better photographs and I wondered why it had made the book, was ”May Queen Gathering, Sittingbourne, 1968‘, which shows around 30 young women all wearing crowns in three rows in front of a maypole. I wasn’t impressed by his picture but thought it seemed an intriguing event to photograph. The location in the caption (written after his death by a colleague) was corrected in a later publication and he had taken it at the annual London May Queen festival at ‘Hayes, Kent’ in London.

The London May Queen festival still follows the design and pattern laid down at its inception by schoolmaster Joseph Deedy in 1913. The Hayes festival at which the London May Queen is crowned is simply the peak of a series of events by various May Queen ‘realms’ each with their own May Queens and retinues from various communities in this area of south and south-east London.

I’ve often written at greater length about the organisation including several posts on this site such as Ray-Jones & London May Queen – 2005. My work with the May Queens was encouraged by a major London museum who promised me a show – but this was cancelled at the last minute for financial reasons, I think a victim of the 2008 financial crisis. I had hoped we would bring out a book to accompany the show, but in the end I self-published this, bringing out a second edition with minor corrections in 2012, a year before the crowning of London’s 100th May Queen.

The book preview at the link above shows the whole book, including my fairly lengthy texts and over 70 pictures, mainly from London May Queen.

Although the event may seem rather quaint with queens, pages and other positions in the realms, the activities are designed to be fun for the young girls but also to develop their confidence and self reliance. And there are teas with cake.

Some girls drop out as they get older, and progress through the various levels of the realms and of the London May Queen group to which the realm queens move up is determined solely by seniority in the organisation.

Altogether for the project I took over 12,000 pictures, adding a few more when I was later invited back to photograph her crowning by one of the later May Queens. All the pictures with this post are from 19th April 2008 in Hayes.

More pictures from the Crowning of the Hayes Realms.

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Police, Shakespeare, Tamils, Dutch, LOL – 2009

Police, Shakespeare, Tamils, Dutch, LOL: Saturday April 18th 2009 was another varied day for me, beginning at the City of London Police HQ with a protest over their policing of demonstrations – including the killing of Ian Tomlinson on April 1st, then a chance meeting with a Shakespeare event close to where he died. In Westminster I photographed a continuing Tamil hunger strike and went on to the Dutch festival in Trafalgar Square before photographing the annual Loyal Orange Lodge Parade, leaving them in Whitehall to finally go home.

Protest Against London Police

City of London Police HQ, Wood St

Police, Shakespeare, Tamils, Dutch, LOL - 2009

The carnival-themed protest in London on April 1st was met with an extraordinary display of police violence “police chiefs and politicians had spent the previous week ramping up the temperature and predicting violence.”

*Three and a half Horsemen of the Apocalypse outside the Police Station on Wood St*

As I reported on the April 1st protest: “Many of the police, particularly the TSG, came along to the event psyched up and spoiling for a fight” and their violence was not restricted to the small number of protesters who had come to cause trouble, but was also directed at the great majority of peaceful protesters – and to the press who were photographing the event.

Many police officers had removed or hidden their ID numbers to avoid being identified by protesters or recorded in photographs, a clear sign that they were intending to break the law.

Videos taken of the police attacks on the crowds show ‘people being attacked simply holding up their arms to protect themselves as police assault them with batons and riot shields used as weapons, people standing there and chanting “We are not a riot” and “Shame, shame, shame on you.” ‘

The protesters called for police to remember they are there to serve the public and for an end to the wholesale “kettling” of protests, the disbanding of the TSG and for proper training of police in handling demonstrations. They called on senior officers to enforce proper discipline and regulations and a complete end to all officers turning a blind eye when their colleagues behave illegally.

More at Protest Against London Police.

Shakespeare’s Birthday Coincidence

Cornhill

At the end of the protest I walked to the display on Cornhill set up around the Cornhill Fountain a few yards from where Ian Tomlinson died, staggering there after being assaulted by a police officer while making his way home after work, with police refusing to give him medical attention until too late.

I was standing there when to my surprise a group of around 20 people, each holding a red flower came towards me, led by a woman with a badge saying ‘Steward.’ They stopped for a short performance exactly where Tomlinson died, where there was a picture of a woman and some flowers

They then stopped and a man read a short piece, which sounded vaguely familiar. As the group left I asked him about it “and found that this was one of around 20 groups each being taken on a guided walk around the city to various sites with similar performances to this of one of the sonnets to celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday next Thursday.”

Shakespeare’s Birthday Coincidence

Tamil Hunger Strike Continues

Parliament Square

Eight days earlier I had visited the hunger strike by two young Tamil men over the ongoing genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka. They had begun their hunger strike on 6th April and the hunger strike was still continuing on the 18th, with a dozen of so others joining them each day for a one day fast, and a crowd of around 500 more Tamils beside their pen in support.

They protesters all supported the Tamil Tigers in their fight for an independent homeland and called for “an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Sri Lanka, with full access for the UN, the Red Cross and other agencies, as well as the international press, along with an opportunity for the Tamils in Sri Lanka to have a free and independently observed referendum on their future.”

Not long after, in May 2009, the fight by the Tamil Tigers for independence ended in defeat. Since then Tamils have been subjected to continuing human rights violations although their situation is reported to have improved somewhat since 2015.

Tamil Hunger Strike Continues

Dutch Stereotypes

Trafalgar Square

“In Trafalgar Square, the Dutch were holding a festival to prove their lack of understanding of popular music and to sell cheese, chips and beer. The cheese did look quite attractive. The only thing missing seemed to be a windmill, but I probably just didn’t look hard enough.”

Dutch Stereotypes

Loyal Orange Lodge Parade

Westminster

On My London Dairy you can read more about the Orange Order which takes its name “from William, Prince of Orange who landed in Devon in 1688 to restore parliamentary democracy and prevent the imposition of the Catholic religion by James II. This was the ‘Glorious Revolution’ which forced James II to flee and made William king as William III.“

It led to greater freedom for dissenting nonconformist Protestants but Catholics were denied the right to vote, be MPs, become army officers or marry the monarch. That marriage is still out.

*The Worthy Mistress of Corby First Ladies LOL53 unveils a new banner before the start of the march*

The regular Orange marches in London are largely uncontroversial, but in Northern Ireland they still perpetuate the division between the Protestant and Catholic communities which led to the ‘troubles’.

*Banners are lowered as a mark of respect as they march past the Cenotaph*

I photographed them laying wreaths at the Cenotaph in Whitehall and marching past but theen left as they went on to the the statue of of “King Billy” in St James’s Square.

I’ve often been threatened and made unwelcome when photographing Orange marches, because of my political views or possibly those of a photographer who worked for Searchlight magazine which gathers information on the far right they have confused me with. Others taking part in Orange Order marches have congratulated me for my pictures.

More about the parade and many more pictures at Loyal Orange Lodge Parade.

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Palestinian Prisoners’ Day – 2014

Palestinian Prisoners’ Day: In 1974 the Palestinian National Council approved April 17th as Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, choosing the date as the anniversary of the first prisoner exchange between Palestine and Israel – when Fatah militant Mahmoud Bakr Hijazi who had been captured by Israel six years earlier was released.

In 2008 the 20th Arab Summit adopted it for all Arab countries as a day in solidarity with Palestinian and Arab prisoners detained by Israel. Human rights organisations say many prisoners are denied visits, subjected to mental and physical tortures and denied proper medical care. Many are held without trial under ‘administrative detention‘ while Palestinians “are tried by Israel’s military courts and often held in Israel, in conditions that violate international humanitarian and human rights conventions“.

In 2014 the World Council of Churches had issued a Palestinian Prisoners Day call to churches worldwide to pray and act for justice which “resolutely confirms our solidarity with the nearly 5000 Palestinian men, women and children languishing in Israeli prisons” and called for churches to press UN Member States to put pressure on Israel to end arbitrary detention, meet its obligations over human rights, provide apt medical care and end athe use of torture.

Bill Gates End Support Of Israeli Child Torture

Cardinal Place, Victoria

On 27th April 2014 I photographed the Palestinian Prisoners’ Day protest in Westminster, where protesters met on the plaza outside Westminster Cathedral for a ‘mystery protest’.

There they put together a mock prison cell and gave a briefing that the protest was to be at the Europe and Middle East Office of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, in Portland House, just across the road inside the Cardinal Place shopping centre.

We crossed the road with the prison cell and some protesters, one with a Bill Gates mask and they tried to deliver a petition from the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, a Palestinian NGO based in Ramallah which monitors and provides legal support to Palestine prisoners in Israeli and Palestinian jails.

“By holding shares in G4S, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is complicit in Israel’s detention without trial and torture of Palestinians.

As people that share your belief that every life has equal value, we call on you to divest from G4S immediately.”

The Gates Foundation is one of the biggest shareholders in G4S and Addameer say it “is legitimising and profiting from Israel’s use of torture, mass incarceration and arbitrary arrest to discourage Palestinians from opposing Israel’s apartheid policies.”

Addammer point out that their investment makes a mockery of the foundation’s aim to use its investments to fund projects that “help all people lead healthy, productive lives“.

A few protesters who tried to enter the building were quickly ejected by security and the protest continued outside with speeches, chanting and music. They promised to leave after someone came down from the Gates Foundation office to receive the petition, but no one came in the 20 minutes while I was there before leaving to cover another Palestinian Prisoners’ Day protest at the G4S offices a short walk away.

More at Bill Gates end support of Israeli child torture.

G4S Occupied on Palestinian Prisoners Day

Victoria St

The Inminds Palestinian Prisoners Campaign – which began twice-monthly London protests against companies supporting Israel’s prisons in 2012 – had arrived outside the G4S offices before me and set up their banners. They were handing out leaflets about the terrible conditions under which prisoners are held and calling for the release of all Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails.

British multinational G4S is the worlds largest security contractor and provides security services for many prisons in Israel where Palestinian men, women and children are tortured and caged.

After around 25 minutes we were joined by some of the protesters who had been at the Gates Foundation and their cage.

After a few minutes some of the protesters walked into the foyer of the offices and I followed them to take photographs.

They brought in the ‘cage’ as well.

And there was soon a prisoner in the cage with a smiling ‘Bill Gates’ and another protester holding it. There were some short speeches about why they were there protesting against G4S and some chanting, but the foyer is large and the protest did not interfere with people entering and leaving the building – which contains other offices as well as that of G4S.

Eventually a couple of police arrived, and took a look at what was happening and decided just to watch. More protesters arrived and some brought their banners into the foyer.

Outside the protest also continued, with people handing out detailed leaflets about the conditions in ‘G4S Israeli Dungeons’ in which men, women and children are tortured.

You can read some of the details and in particular about the case of the 5 Hares boys on My London Diary.

G4S Occupied on Palestinian Prisoners Day

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Yet More Wandle – 1990

Yet More Wandle: Continuing my walk on Sunday 4th March 1990 had begun at Clapham Junction in Battersea with St John’s Road & East Hill, Battersea – 1990 and the previous post to this was A Wandle Wander – 1990:

*River Wandle, The Causeway, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3b-25*

I found it hard to drag myself away from this spot on the path beside the River Wandle where the previous post had ended and took several more pictures before moving on, including this one.

*Tyres, River Wandle, The Causeway, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3c-53*

I didn’t move far, just a few yards further on before taking the picture above, which shows the same heap of tyres and the same covered pipe bridge – but from the other side. I think most of these pipe bridges date from the time the east side of the Wandle was occupied by the gas works.

River Wandle, The Causeway, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3c-65

Much of the former gasworks site was then occupied by the concrete plant I wandered back and forth for some time taking pictures and cannot now remember the exact locations as the area has changed so much. This area is now a huge building site with a tall residential tower now going up.

*River Wandle, The Causeway, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3c-54*

This is where the River Wandle and Bell Lane Creek rejoin, running to the right of this picture into the Thames just a few yards away. The tide was low and you can see there is little or no water running out from the Wandle with all the flow all going down Bell Lane Creek. The Shell Oil Terminal Site was in Osiers Road and this and adjoining sites have now been redeveloped with blocks of flats of various heights, the tallest around 15 storey. One gain from this is that there is now a walkway by the Wandle leading to the Thames; the previous diversion was not without interest – but had an overpowering strong smell of oil.

*River Wandle, The Causeway, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3c-55*

Here I think I was looking roughly south I think over or through a fence at the north edge of the cement works where there is a cement lorry. I think this may be part of the works, possibly a water intake or perhaps a settling tank for water used for hosing down the lorries and plant, but that is simply guesswork. But as often with my pictures I did record a six-figure map reference – 257752.

*River Wandle, The Causeway, Wandsworth, 1990, 90-3c-56*

Also taken from The Causeway a few feet west from the previous image you can see the gasholder in the background – and at right the railway viaduct.

Finally I dragged myself away from the Wandle and made my way west to Point Pleasant where my next post on this walk will begin, coming back to those oil storage tanks beside the Wandle.

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Vaisakhi Procession, Slough 2007

Vaisakhi Procession, Slough: On Sunday 15 April, 2007 I decided at the last minute to rush to Slough, picked up my rumāl and arrived just in time to photograph the Vaisakhi Procession as it left the Gurdwara. Two years later in 2009 I returned and was able to cover it more thoroughly and you can see the results on My London Diary – but in this post I’ll stay with the pictures and text from 2007. As usual I’ve made the text easier to read, correcting the capitalisation and typos etc.

Vaisakhi in Slough

Slough, Berkshire

I’d hoped to relax a bit on Sunday, have a day off from working with a camera, catch up with things. But Linda heard something on the radio about Vaisakhi in Slough, so I looked on the web, found the procession started at 10.30 and jumped on my ancient bike.

By then it was 10.15am, and according to the AA, the 9.5 miles should have taken me 27 minutes by car (and you could probably add a bit for parking etc onto that.)

So 40 minutes wasn’t too bad going, and I arrived just before the procession started to move off, just before 11.00am.

By the time I left two hours later, the procession carrying the Sikh holy scriptures and led as always by Khalsa carrying flags and swords was just around the corner a couple of hundred yards away in Shaggy Calf Lane (though it had taken a rather longer route than me to get there.) And as well as photographing the event and many of those taking part, I’d also had a very enjoyable free lunch.

More pictures

Slough, Colnbrook & Horton

I made my way home rather more slowly. One of the great advantages of travelling by bike is that you can stop exactly where you like to take photos.

As well as a few buildings in Slough, and what remains of a landmark garage at the west end of the Colnbrook Bypass (now sold and doubtless to be redeveloped) I spent some time in Horton, which in my youth really was a country village, and still retains some of that feeling, before returning to Staines via Wraysbury.

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Hizb Ut-Tahrir & Grenfell Protests – 2018

Hizb Ut-Tahrir & Grenfell Protests: On Saturday 14th April 2018 I photographed a protest at the Turkish Embassy by the now proscribed group Hizb Ut-Tahrir and later went to Kensington Town Hall where I photographed bikers on a ride for Grenfell and the silent walk 10 months after the tragic fire.

Hizb Ut-Tahrir protest against Turkey

Turkish Embassy, Belgrave Square

Hizb Ut-Tahrir & Grenfell Protests - 2018 — *Men stand at the front of the protest opposite the Turkish embassy*

Hizb Ut-Tahrir Britain had come to protest criticising Turkey for their role in supporting President Assad in regaining control of Syria.

They say Turkey since the end of the Ottoman state in 1922 has been a secular state “whose role is to protect the colonialist’s interests in our lands” with Turkey recognising the Zionist occupation of Palestine in 1949.

They accuse President Erdogan of strengthening Turkish military and economic ties with Israel, “defending and strengthening our enemies who murder us in Syria and Palestine“.

The protest took place on the night in the Islamic calendar when the Prophet made a night journey to al-Aqsa (Jerusalem) and it called on all Muslims to support the Palestinians in their fight “against the illegal occupation, as they are mercilessly killed by the Zionist regime.”

Hizb Ut-Tahrir are a Sunni Muslim group who call for the restoration of the Khilafah Rashidah, the “Rightly Guided” rule of the four caliphs who succeeded the Prophet in a 30 year reign from 632 -661 AD when Muslim armies conquered much of the Middle East.

The organisation was banned in January 2024 after a protest outside the Egyptian Embassy in which they called upon Muslim armies to attack Israel. Previous calls under Tony Blair and David Cameron to ban the organisation had been opposed by the UK government’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation and the Home Office as Hizb Ut-Tahrir did not advocate violence.

Hizb Ut-Tahrir protest against Turkey

Bikers for Grenfell

Kensington Town Hall

Bikers, including Muslim bikers Deen Riders and others took part in a United Ride 4 Grenfell from the Ace Cafe on the North Circular to Parliament and then came to Kensington Town Hall demanding action and justice for the victims of the Grenfell fire.

People gathering from the monthly silent march for Grenfell cheered and applauded them as they rode past and then began their march. Among them were many of the survivors from the fire.

Bikers for Grenfell

Grenfell Silent Walk – 10 Months On

Kensington

*‘Tories have blood on their hands’ but the silent walks seemed to have had little impact*

The Grenfell fire was a tragedy waiting to happen because of decisions made by Kensington and Chelsea Council who had approved the fitting of unsafe cladding to cut costs, had ignored residents complaints about safety in the building, and more. Government too share some of the blame for their cutting ‘red tape’ policies that had hugely compromised safety, including the privatisation of fire inspections.

The contractors they employed to carry out the cladding – and those they had employed had not done the job properly – but the council had failed to oversee their work properly and the reduced safety regulation regime allowed them to get away with improper installaion.

Kensington & Chelsea is a borough of extremes of wealth, and its Tory council is largely run by and for its wealthier residents. Both in the way in which it ran its social housing leading up to the fire and its failure to deal effectively with its aftermath it showed little concern for the poorer in the borough. Ten months after the fire there were still survivors who were not properly rehoused.

And now, almost nine years after the fire on Wednesday 14 June 2017, we have still seen no justice, despite a long and hugely expensive inquiry. As so often the authorities seem to have been more interested in protecting the guilty, kicking things into the long grass. I doubt there will ever be any real justice – if it comes it will be far too little and far too late.

More at Grenfell silent walk – 10 months on.

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