Political Issues | >Re-PHOTO

Soldier F, HS2 & Bees – 2019

Soldier F, HS2 & Bees: On Saturday 28th September 2019 people, many former soldiers, were protesting in Westminster against the prosecution of ‘Soldier F’ for the murder of unarmed civil rights protesters in Londonderry on ‘Bloody Sunday’ in 1972. From there I went to Euston for a protest against the destruction of ancient woodland to build HS2 and finally to Stoke Newington for a protest against the lack of action over climate change which threatens the future of many species including our own.

Veterans Moon for Soldier F

Parliament Square

Soldier F was one of several paratroopers who had opened fire on unarmed civilian protesters in Londonderry on Bloody Sunday’ in 1972.

Although the government had recently announced that soldiers would be granted protection against prosecution for any alleged historic offences, a special exemption allowed offences during the Irish ‘Troubles’ to be brought to court. Soldier F was the first to be brought to trial. The protesters called for this exemption to be removed and the case to be dropped.

The square was surrounded by riders and motorbikes who were to ride as a part of the protest and there were hundreds waiting to march, along with a few military vehicles. A small group on the top of one of these dropped their trousers, mooning towards Parliament and also turning and then towards the middle of the square.

Soldier F was eventually found ‘Not Guilty’ by a Belfast Court Judge in 2025.

Veterans Moon for Soldier F

HS2 threatens ancient Woodland

Euston

*Chris Packham with a man dressed as a tree hold pots of saplings from South Cubbington Wood*

Despite huge cost overruns and the abandonment of the routes past Birmingham that were needed to make the project worthwhile, HS2 was (and is) still going ahead, its route ploughing through and destroying acres of irreplaceable ancient woodland.

The Woodland Trust had come for a ‘Euston: We have a Problem’ with people carrying plants in posts and Chris Packham handed out acorns for people to take home and plant. My own fairly small garden already has far too many trees – and I have to pull up hundreds of ash saplings every year or it would really be a small forest, but I didn’t refuse them.

HS2 was justified by the need for greater capacity on the West Coast mainline by providing an alternative route north of Birmingham – but will not now do so. It will take far longer to build than envisaged and cost more than twice as much while providing little in return – a few minutes shorter ride between London and Birmingham but to stations at each end rather disconnected from the rest of our transport system, so probably meaning longer overall journey times for most passengers.

HS2 is a huge and continuing example of throwing good money after bad; it should never have got off the ground and successive governments have lacked the political courage to cancel it.

The protest came days before destruction was to start of South Cubbington Wood, one of 30 classified ancient woodlands among a total of 108 woods to be wholly or partly lost to HS2. The felling was delayed for some time but huge numbers of trees were felled there in 2020.

HS2 threatens ancient Woodland

Requiem for a Bee

Stoke Newington

Extinction Rebellion Hackney marched from Clissold Park to Stoke Newington Town Hall behind a coffin ‘OUR FUTURE’ in protest against failures to take action over global heating which is caused by increasing levels of man-made greenhouse gases. After speeches there XR Hackney marched to a final rally at the gates of Abney Park Cemetery on Stamford Hill.

The protest title, ‘Requiem For A Bee’ referred to the Red Girdled Mining Bee previously found in the cemetery becoming extinct there due to loss of habitat due to increasing development in Hackney.

They demanded that Hackney Council appoint a biodiversity officer, act on their recent declaration of climate emergency, include XR and other local groups in a citizens assembly, commit to net zero emissions by 2025 and divest 100% of pension fund from fossil fuels.

Fortunately for me the protest was late in starting as I had arrived late after rushing from Euston. I was able to photograph it leaving the park and then continue all the way to the end. I found the final rally with an odd period of reflection rather strange.

Requiem for a Bee

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Labour Party Conference 2009

Labour Party Conference: I’ve almost completely avoided political party conferences, which I find intensely boring. Perhaps if I had been commissioned to cover them I would have done so but I think I’ve never really needed the money that much, and I don’t have one of those long heavy and often white lenses that seem to be de rigeur.

So, while I went to Brighton on 27th September 2009 for the Labour Party Conference it wasn’t to photograph the actual conference but for the protest taking place outside the conference centre, and I also photographed a few other things happening around its edges.

Gordon on the Gravy Train etc

Labour Party Conference, Brighton

Labour Party Conference 2009 — *The ‘Vote for a Change’ campaign’s Westminster Gravy Train – and David Cameron in a blue tie at the back*

Sunday was a splendid day with a clear bright blue sky that contrasted with the mood inside Fortress Brighton, surrounded by armed police and anti-tank obstacles where the conference was taking place.

Labour in 2009 was in a state of political turmoil following the financial crash and had come in third place in the European elections in June behind the Tories and UKIP. Local elections had been disastrous with many seats lost and the Tories taking control of many authorities. Labour had been badly hit by the MPs expenses scandal and some Labour MPs were openly calling on Gordon Brown to resign.

The ‘Westminster Gravy Train’ by the Vote for a Change campaign was offering free transport to conference delegates. They called for a break with the “voting system that has left parliament unaccountable and unrepresentative” and for a referendum on electoral reform. Unfortunately the change we got in 2010 was to a disastrous coalition between Tory and Lib-Dems with a brutal and damaging programme of cuts.

Others protesting outside the centre included the Shaker Aamer campaign calling for the release of this UK resident from the US illegal prison camp at Guantanamo Bay where he was still held despite having been cleared for release, people calling for a boycott of Israeli goods, a protest against the Kafkaesque anti-terrorist control orders which allowed the government to impose severe restrictions on people relying on secret evidence in violation of their human rights.

And there were other protests about climate change, housing and more, with many people han ding out leaflets to conference delegates as they made their way into the centre, as well as the main demonstration I had travelled to Brighton to cover.

More on My London Diary at Gordon on the Gravy Train etc.

Jobs, Education, Peace Protest March & Rally

Labour Party Conference, Brighton

*Three orange marine distress flares were set off opposite the Labour Party Conference*

The protest had been called by trade unions and pressure groups – the UCU, NUJ, PCS, NUT, CWU and RMT, Right to Work, Stop the War and Unite Against Fascism – to demand a change in direction over proposals to cut public expenditure – and they had chartered a train to take people from London to the event, while others had come from around the country to join around two thousand on the seafront. I’d got up early to make my own way there by normal rail services.

*Tower Hamlets College “We Fought & We Won”*

For once there was some good news – a month-long strike at Tower Hamlets College had ended in talks at the arbitration service ACAS the previous day with agreement to avoid 25 compulsory redundancies.

But there was no such relief for the workers at wind power company Vestas Blades on the Isle of White who were at the front of the march, inexplicably abandoned by the government when the management decided to close this vital green industry down in the Isle of White and move production to the USA. As I commented then, “the government seems committed to gamble on the unlikely pipe-dream that the dirtiest of power-generation technologies – coal-fired power stations – can be tamed by 100% carbon capture and storage.”

Before the march started there were short speeches, including from a woman from the campaign waged by cleaners and other low paid workers in London for a living wage, another from Youth Fight For Jobs and a final speech from Brighton and Hove District Trades Council welcoming us to Brighton.

*Two rows of barriers a roadway, two rows of police and a hedge between protesters and the conference centre*

Despite this being a predictably peaceful event there was a very large police presence, not always helpful. They routed the march some distance away from the conference centre on the promenade rather than on the road outside and then for its return on the lower promenade more or less out of sight of the centre for the final rally.

On the march was an autonomous group of mainly students with the banner ‘STUFF THE MARKET – TAX THE RICH’ who periodically halted to allow a gap to develop in front of them, working up their chanting to a crescendo before rushing forwards scattering the photographers and videographers in front of them.

*Taken over my shoulder at left as I rushed forward in front of the marchers*

On My London Diary you can read a list of the speakers and an account of the final rally where many speakers expressed their dissatisfaction with the policies of New Labour which had abandoned its working class base. There are also many more pictures both from the march and the rally.

Jobs, Education, Peace March & Rally

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Intifada, Yemen & Vivisection – 2011

Intifada, Yemen & Vivisection: On Saturday 24 September 2011 I began work outside the M&S flagship store on Oxford Street where Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! were holding a special picket on the 11th anniversary of the Al-Aqsa Intifada.

Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! is the newspaper of the Revolutionary Communist Group, RCG, a British anti-imperialist Marxist-Leninist communist political organisation actively campaigning since the late 1970s, opposing racism and supporting campaigns for self-determination around the world, including against Apartheid South Africa, Ireland and the Palestinian struggle for freedom.

The RCG should have been in the news this week when one of their members, Sarah Cottle, was unanimously acquitted by the jury after a second trial on spurious Terrorism Act charges for her defence of the right of the Palestinian people to defend themselves. But you won’t have heard about it on the BBC.

From Oxford Street I went to Downing Street where people from the UK Yemeni community were holding a silent protest against the killings of peaceful protesters in Sanaa by troops loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Later I joined the National Anti-Vivisection Alliance (NAVA) who were marching from Temple Place to Downing Street to deliver a letter and hold a rally calling for an end to the use of live animals in laboratory experiments.

Although NAVA was only founded in 2010, its roots lie over a century earlier with outrage and political controversy in the early years of the twentieth century which led to riots, particularly around the statue of a cruelly and illegally dissected ‘brown dog’. A replica of this statue is now in Battersea Park, and some NAVA members had met there before the march. I made a detour on my way home after the march to take a few pictures of the statue.

Intifada 11 Years Protest at M&S

Oxford St

Intifada, Yemen & Vivisection - 2011 — *Handing out leaflets and collecting petition signatures outside Mars & Spencer on Oxford St*

The Second or ‘Al-Aqsa Intifada’ started shortly after the failure of the Camp David Middle East Peace Summit between US President Bill Clinton, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and the Chairman of the Palestinian Authority, Yasser Arafat in July 2000.

A visit by Likud party candidate for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to the Temple Mount, also the site of the Al-Aqsa mosque in September 2000 triggered days of riots and clashed between Palestinians and Israeli police and in the next five days, 5 Israelis and 47 Palestinians were killed and 1885 Palestinians wounded.

Sporadic outbreaks of violence and many suicide bombings continued until Sharon and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, who had been elected promising peaceful negotiation and non-violence against Israel, met at Sharm el-Sheikh in 2005 and agreed on various measures to de-escalate the violence. By then Wikipedia states around 3,000 Palestinians and 1,000 Israelis had been killed along with 64 foreign nationals.

The RCG and others had begun a regular Thursday night picket outside M&S shortly after the start of the Second Intifada, with occasional protests on Saturdays. They state that M&S has the strongest and most long-standing support for Zionism of any British retail company, supporting Israel with £240 million of trade each year, including products from the illegal settlements.

More details and pictures on My London Diary: Intifada 11 Years Protest at M&S.

Silent Vigil For Yemen At Downing St

Protests against the regime of President Saleh had been taking place since January, when thousands of protesters took to the streets of the capital Sanaa and other cities in southern Yemen.

In March, government forces opened fire on the protesters killing 52, and the president declared a state of emergency. Military actions followed with Saleh being injured and leaving the country for surgery.

Ahead of Saleh’s return to the country in September the army began violent attacks on peaceful democracy protesters camped out it the capital with a series of attacks usingt automatic weapons, anti-aircraft guns and rocket-propelled grenades, said to have led to more than 100 deaths.

*They want an end to the Saudi dominance in Yemen*

By late 2014 the situation had worsened, leading to the civil war which is still continuing.

Silent Vigil For Yemen At Downing St.

Enough Is Enough – Abolish Vivisection

Embankment and Battersea Park

*The march on the pavement along the embankment*

Supporters of the National Anti-Vivisection Alliance visited the statue of the Brown Dog, commemorating the start of the campaign against vivisection in 1900, and then marched through London to take a letter to Downing St calling for an end to animal experiments.

Many on the march wore purple clothing and carried purple flags, the colour of the anti-vivisectionists. They marched in silence behind a banner with the simple message ABOLISH VIVISECTION.

NAVA carry out peaceful demonstrations backed by investigations in a law abiding campaign “backed by scientists, doctors, lawyers, journalists and members of the public across Britain” to bring an end to the use of animals in research.

On My London Diary you can read more about the suffering of animals and the case of the Brown Dog which led to the erection of sculpture to the tortured animal in Battersea which became a centre for riots and fighting between medical students and anti-vivisectionists.

The statue and the ornate fountain on which the original statue stood needed a 24 hour police guard and eventually in 1910 council workers came at night guarded by 120 police to demolish it. The bronze dog was melted down.

*I found a woman still on her way to join the march reading the long text on the plinth*

A new statue of the brown dog, commissioned by anti-vivisection groups, was erected in Battersea Park in 1985.

Enough Is Enough – Abolish Vivisection

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St Matthews Day, Uganda & Mass Lone Demos – 2006

St Matthews Day, Uganda & Mass Lone Demos: A long day for me on Friday 22 September 2006, beginning with a parade in heavy rain in the City of London by students from Christ’s Hospital school which moved out of Newgate to West Sussex in 1902 but return each year for this annual event. I had time to spare for a lunch and then a some rather frustrating and disappointing trips to photography galleries before photographing a protest over the persecution of gays in Uganda. Finally I went to Parliament Square for another evening of mass lone demos.

Below I’ll post a few of the pictures with the text I wrote back in 2006, tidied up as usual, and links to more pictures still on My London Diary.

St Matthew’s Day Procession – Christ’s Hospital School

London

St Matthews Day, Uganda & Mass Lone Demos - 2006

Friday I tried some underwater photography in the city, taking pictures of the annual St Matthews Day march by pupils of Christ’s Hospital School from a service in St Andrew’s Holborn. I kept with them all the way to Mansion House, where they turned down Walbrook before returning for their lunch with the Lord Mayor, but conditions were really atrocious for them and for me.

I kept the camera under my waterproof coat as much as possible, and kept wiping the rain of the lens filter with a microfibre cloth, but eventually the lens misted up inside and stopped focusing. So there are some interesting effects, but not much in the way of pictures.

A few more pictures

I lunched on my own, then set off to visit a few photo galleries. The first two were closed, despite being advertised as open, which wasn’t a good start. But the third was open, as was the National Portrait Gallery, though the work there was a disappointment.

Outrage Protests at Uganda House

Trafalgar Square

In Trafalgar Square Outrage and others were demonstrating outside Uganda House against the persecution of gays in Uganda. At first I thought the protestors were likely to be outnumbered by the two police, but eventually around 50 turned up, some having travelled a couple of hundred miles to be there.

I missed one picture of a Ugandan inside the building who had come up to the glass doors and was behind their rather fancy bird-shaped handles; as I raised my camera he scurried quickly away. Others were watching through the curtained windows of the upper stories.

More pictures

Mass Lone Demo

Parliament Square

There were two sets of mass lone demos – following the idea of Mark Thomas – arranged for 6.00pm and 6.30pm in Parliament Square, with some demonstrators having also applied for permission to protest in Whitehall outside Downing Street later in the evening.

*The Raving Loony Party also I think opposes SOCPA, although Albanian Stalinist leader Enva Hoxha didn’t mention it.*

As well as the usual staunch supporters of Brian Haw (and of course the man himself) there were a wide variety of causes, across a whole spectrum from insanely nutty to deadly serious.

At least two commented on the actual nature of placards and signs, and those present demonstrated a wide range of care and skill.

The shortest demo on record was probably achieved by the two protesters who had brought a finely painted bendy bus, but, doubtless due to being held up in traffic, it arrived late and they finished their demonstration almost before it had started.

*Mark Thomas, Babs Tucker and Brian Haw*

The police stood around the edge of the square, not bothering to check up on what was going on. After all, one or two unauthorised demonstrations weren’t going to make a lot of difference among all those who had permission.

Even cheeky comments from some of the more regularly harassed protesters failed to arouse their interest.

More pictures

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PFI Hospital Threat & World Peace – 2013

PFI Hospital Threat & World Peace: On Saturday 21st September 2013 I went to Whipps Cross Hospital in Leytonstone for a protest march and rally against plans for massive cuts and closures there because of the huge and continuing repayments to bankers who financed the PFI (Private Finance Initiative – protesters call it Private Fraud Initiative – for the replacement of another London Hospital. Later I went to Trafalgar Square where young professionals were celebrating World Peace Day with the help of the Olympic volunteers in the Pandemonium Drummers.

Save Whipps Cross Hospital

Whipps Cross to Walthamstow

PFI Hospital Threat & World Peace - 2013 — *Nurses with placards at the rally in Town Square, Walthamstow*

Whipps Cross Hospital is a large, well-managed and highly successful hospital serving a large area of north-east London, financially viable and highly regarded in the local community.

It was saved from closure in 2007-8 by a well supported local campaign but in 2013 was under threat again, not for anything to do with this hospital, but because of huge debt repayments under the PFI agreement which enabled the building of a new Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, also a part of the Barts Health Trust.

PFI was a scheme to take new government investments off of the government’s books by getting private finance for large developments – and saddling the taxpayer with huge repayments to the bankers over the next 50 or more years.

New Labour leapt into these schemes for short-term political advantage (in this case a shiny new replacement hospital for the ancient Royal London in Whitechapel) in exchange for long-term economic disaster, apparently in the hope that ‘something would come up’ or that we would enjoy a period of huge expansion and inflation. What did come up was the financial crisis and depression, and the result if no action is taken will be to require the sacrifice of the NHS as we know it.

The protesters said we had already paid for that new hospital five times over and payments would continue for another 35 years or so. The financiers used their expertise to run rings around the civil servants in the negotiations over the PFI contracts, locking the hospital into inefficient but highly profitable long-term contracts for maintenance and other services and were receiving annual repayments of £115m a year (£2.21m per week.)

Whipps Cross and the other hospitals in the Barts group – Newham, Mile End, the London Chest Hospitals and the Royal London itself – have already seen drastic cuts in staffing and services, leading to closures of wards and failure to meet standards. At Whipps Cross these have caused systemic failings in elderly care and maternity, failing to meet 10 of the 16 national standards for quality and safety, for which the hospital has received three formal warnings.

Barts Trust was losing £2m a year and needed to make further cuts, totaling £77.5m per year, which would fall heavily on Whipps Cross.

Around 500 people turned up outside the hospital to march through Leyton to a rally in Walthamstow. They demanded an end to the mismanagement and cuts by Barts Hospital Trust and for the government to take action to cancel or at least severely cut the PFI debt.

*Charlotte Monro disciplined by hospital management for her trade union activities*

Hospital managers had two months earlier banned Unison’s Waltham Forest health branch chair Charlotte Monro from representing her members and she and nurses rep Rod Villaggio both got huge cheers when they spoke at the Walthamstow rally. The action was supported by other trade unionists including Fire Brigade Union General Secretary Matt Wrack who made a powerful speech.

More on My London Diary at Save Whipps Cross Hospital.

World Peace Day

Trafalgar Square

*Dancers and drummers on the North Terrace*

Young professionals from Junior Chamber of Commerce for London or JCI (Junior Chamber International) celebrated the UN’s World Peace Day, promoted by Peace One Day in Trafalgar Square by dancing to a band in blue hats with lightbulbs, some of the Pandemonium Drummers, volunteers who took part in the 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony.

This was World Peace Day, fixed as 21st October in 1999 thanks to the efforts of the organisation Peace One Day which was also behind this event.

Both Peace One Day and Chambers of Commerce support many good charitable projects, but I remain unconvinced that they – or events like this do anything to promote world peace. Certainly we don’t see them taking part in protests against arms manufacturers or the DSEi arms fair or at the annual Hiroshima Day events. And I don’t imagine them lobbying to reduce our military spending or against our participation in wars around the world.

World Peace Day

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Women Protest Against Rape – 2012

Downing St, Wednesday 19th Sep 2012

Women Protest Against Rape: I was going to be out of London for the ‘Slutwalk’ which was to take place on Saturday 22nd September – though I had photographed the first Slutwalk in 2011, and was pleased to cover this earlier event organised by by Women Against Rape and supported by other groups including the English Collective of Prostitutes which preceded it and highlighted the issues behind the larger protest.

The protesters demanded justice for rape victims, whose claims are often dismissed or downgraded by the police who often blame the victim not the rapist. Many rapes are not reported to the police and of those that are, only less than 1 in 7 result in a conviction of the rapist.

Women who do report rape have often been accused by police of lying and some have been prosecuted for making false accuesations and sentenced to jail. The great majority of rapes go unreported – estimates vary between 70-95%.

There are seldom any witnesses to the actual crime other than the rapist and victim, and their impressions of the event and certainly the stories they tell may be very different. Most of the cases that result in successful convictions are those when the defendant pleads guilty.

Most rape – outside of war zones – is by men who are known to their victim and has nothing to do with what they are wearing, but reflects the unequal relationship between men and women which is at the base of our society.

The women taking part in the protest stripped to their underwear, holding up placards with the word SLUT and posters against the current failure by the law, police and courts to treat rape seriously. Most had slogans painted on their bodies, and they sang and chanted and spoke, some from their own experience of police failures to respond appropriately.

Women of colour feel they are discriminated against by police, and asylum seekers and refugees are under threat of deportation if they make a complaint. Sex workers are sometimes told that rape is a consequence of their job that they should expect, and police often go out of their way to enforce laws which put them at risk, rather than doing anything to protect them. Cases are often dropped because police or CPS feel the witness ‘lacks credibility’.

More at Women Protest Against Rape.

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The Pope & Apprentice Boys of Derry – 2010

The Pope & Apprentice Boys of Derry: Pope Benedict XVI was in the UK on a State Visit from 16-19th Septemnber 2010, the first ever official papal state visit to the UK. There was a large protest in London on Saturday 18th September 2010 against his visit because of his hiding of evidence of child abuse and more widely against religious bigotry. By coincidence the day was also the day of the annual Carson Day parade by the City of London branch of the Apprentice Boys of Derry, also no friends of the Pope.

Apprentice Boys London Parade

Whitehall

The Pope & Apprentice Boys of Derry - 2010 — *City of Westminster Apprentice Boys of Derry Campsie Club*

Because of the large protest against the Pope, police made the Apprentice Boys make an earlier than usual start so that they could lay their wreaths at the Cenotaph before the large march arrived.

I was unaware of this and arrived at the published departure time oon the Embankment I found no one there, and had to rush to Whitehall, arriving just in time to photograph them laying wreaths at the Cenotaph, and after to photograph them marching away.

As I wrote in 2010:

“The Apprentice Boys, along with the other organisations taking part in the march are Ulster Protestants, dedicated to upholding the Protestant faith. Several standards were for the London Somme Association, celebrating the part played by Ulster regiments in the First World War, listing some ofthe battles in which they suffered heavy losses – Ypres, Arras, Cambrai, Thiepcal, Fricourt and more. But one of the flags was for the Protestant Action Force, a name used for the Ulster Volunteer Force, formed in 1966 and actively involved in the ‘troubles’ until it declared a ceasefire in 1994 – it only officially ending its armed campaign in 2007.

The Orange institutions in London, though presumably providing support of various kinds for allied groups in Ulster, have always been more about the social and cultural aspects of Unionism, and their marchers through London have never attracted the kind of controversy that exists in Northern Ireland.”

Apprentice Boys London Parade

London Protests Against Papal State Visit

Piccadilly and Whitehall

Widespread publicity around the Pope’s State Visit clearly swelled the numbers who came to march against his locking away evidence of child abuse by priests and for an end to religious bigotry, and it united many groups who are opposed to the religious fundamentalism of the Catholic church and to its interference in politics.

Both organisers and police were surprised by the number of marchers and the rally had to be moved further down Whitehall to where there was a larger space and the crowd filled the entire street for some distance on each side.

*Peter Tatchell at the front of the march*

Speakers including some militant atheists, made clear that this was not a march against religion and certainly not against Christmas, but against a particular man and his actions locking away evidence of child abuse and trying to smooth over cases of abuse rather than investigate and bring those concerned to justice.

*This woman gave me a surprise when I photographed her*

“It was also against a church organisation that meddles in politics at the highest level, pretending that the Vatican is a state (and even persuading the UN to treat it as such.) Of course it isn’t really a country but an NGO and should be treated as such.”

Because of its influence in the UN and on governments around the world, millions have died unnecessarily of AIDs through its opposition to the use of condoms.

Unlike many other churches, the Catholic Church remains an entirely male hierarchy, still insisting on male celibate priests – with predictable consequences. Among those marching were Catholic women calling for the church to ordain women – as have many other churches for many years – and also gay Catholic clergy. The speakers included one priest whose work caring for Aids victims in New York and London had been condemned by the Catholic Church.

Others were survivors of child abuse by Catholic priests, covered up both by the church and even by their own mothers because of their allegiance to the church.

Maryam Namazie reminded the crowd “it isn‘t just the Catholic church that imposes its religious laws on people, but other religions such as Islam.” In Iran under Shariah law stoning is still in use, particularly to keep women in a state of submission.

The rally was cut short when police insisted that the PA system had to be turned off as the area was still covered by the ban on amplification in the area around parliament covered by SOCPA (the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act, 2005.)

You can read a longer account of the rally – and far too many more pictures including several of each of the many speakers – on My London Diary:
London Protests Against Pope.

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Crime, Cleaners and Lewisham – 2007

Crime, Cleaners and Lewisham: On Saturday 15 September 2007 I went to Brent for a march against gun and knife crimes. Next I was in the City of London, usually deserted on a Saturday, but this was Open House Day and cleaners were taking the opportunity to protest at Lloyd’s of London where people were queueing to visit the buildings. Finally I travelled to New Cross where an event was taking place to remember the Battle of Lewisham on 13th August 1977, a month after its 30th anniversary.

Below are my three posts from My London Diary in 2007 (with usual corrections) and a few of the pictures and links to those I posted back then.

Not Another Drop – March against Gun and Knife Crime

Stonebridge Park, Brent

Crime, Cleaners and Lewisham - 2007 — *White doves were released just before the start of the march*

Brent has suffered more than most London boroughs from gun and knife crimes resulting in the deaths of far too many young men (and women) on its streets.

The annual police march was started in 2004 by Patsy Hopwood, whose son, Kavian Francis-Hopwood was shot dead on the Stonebridge Estate in 2003, and is part of the ‘Not Another Drop’ campaign organised by the Met and Brent Council.

Around 250 people including two large church groups set off on the march across the borough to South Kilburn.

More pictures on My London Diary at not a drop more

Cleaners picket Lloyd’s Building

City of London

Cleaners at Lloyd’s Of London – a bastion of wealth and privilege in the City – are among the lowest paid workers in London and don’t get sick pay or holiday pay.

Open House Day provided a good audience for the London Citizen Workers Association to publicise their appalling treatment.

[The cleaning at Lloyd’s – and almost all other office buildings is outsourced with cleaners being employed by contractors, notoriously poor employers.]

More pictures at Picket at Lloyd’s.

Remembering The Battle of Lewisham

New Cross to Lewisham

*Photographer Red Saunders talks about his experiences in Lewisham on 13 Sugust 1977*

It is now just over 30 years since the battle of Lewisham in which protesters humiliated the National Front when they attempted a march through the area.

*The event began outside the New Cross Inn*

Having escorted the National Front home, the police then turned on the anti-racist protesters, using horses, batons, and, for the first time on the British mainland, riot shields.

*Batwinder Rana describes what happened to him in 1977*

At this incredible outbreak of police violence, the community came out onto the streets and the police lost control. Lewisham now has a massive police fortress.

*Our route took us past Mr Brenton Pink’s painted house on Loampit Hill*

On a walk around the area, a number of those present [in 1977] talked about the event and their own experiences on the day.

*and on to Lewisham High Street where the police used riot shields for the first time on the UK mainland*

*Here more people shared their experiences and the event ended.*

On My London Diary you can see many more pictures including of others who spoke at the event at Lewisham77

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Christian Aid Trade Justice March to the Treasury – 2006

London, Thursday 14 Sept, 2006

I like to bring back to life many of the posts I wrote in the first six or seven years of My London Diary not just because of their interest and that many of the issues are still very relevant 20 or more years later, but also because as the site developed it became harder and harder to locate things and to find both images and particularly the text I had written about them.

These problems with My London Diary were largely resolved with a redesign of the site for new posts in 2008 which kept pictures and text together and a search facility. I also moved away from the lower case only text which had seemed appropriate when the site began around 2000. Revisiting posts from back then on >Re:PHOTO allows me to reunite text and some of the pictures (with links to the rest) and also to correct the many typos and misspellings from them. So here with these minor corrections is what I wrote back in 2006.

In Mary Harmsworth Park, waiting for the Christian Aid organised March On The Treasury to start I bumped – literally – into the Archbishop Of Canterbury. He looked even more distracted than usual. A couple of minutes later I returned to take his picture. Moving in his direction I took my eye off him for a second, and he vanished, leaving not even a cloud of smoke. Later we were told he had another appointment and so couldn’t stay.

*And the Mad Hatter was having his tea party*

However there were plenty of other people to photograph, perhaps a couple of thousand in all. We were there to march on the Treasury, to demand that the government withhold funding from the International Monetary Fund, because of the unfair economic conditions they impose on countries that want loans. When the IMF insists on free trade in agricultural produce for example, cheap EU subsidised tomatoes from Italy can flood local markets and put the local tomato farmers out of business.

Daleep Mukarjee, Christian Aid’s Director was able to tell us (as most had heard on the radio earlier in the day), that Development minister Hilary Benn had announced that we were holding back £50 million for that reason. It would stretch belief to think that this announcement, coming on the day of this major demo, had no connection with the six-month campaign leading up to it. Of course it is only a first small step in what needs to be done.

Among the other speakers was former Boyzoner Ronan Keating, (since going solo he has an impressive list of top ten singles and albums, though I’ve never knowingly heard any of them.) He gave a decent speech and spoke movingly about his trip to Ghana for Christian Aid.

Then we were on the march, across Lambeth Bridge and up past the Houses Of Parliament to Whitehall, where the two thousand or so of us paused outside Downing Street while a small group went in to deliver an African drum and the Christian Aid petition to Gordon Brown’s door.

*People in the Treasury were listening – But will more action follow?*

The parade came to a halt outside the Treasury Offices in Whitehall Place, with more drumming and speeches. At least some of those inside took a little interest in what was going on, breaking off from their tea break to listen to the speeches.

Many more pictures beginning here on My London Diary.

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Al Quds Day March – 2009

Marble Arch to Waterloo Place

The annual Al Quds Day (Jerusalem Day) march in London as usual attracted controversy, with various groups coming out to protest against it. In 2009 these included Iranian democrats, royalists and socialists as well as far right groups including the English Defence League and March For England, but there seemed to be few organised Zionists on the streets.

Al Quds Day was initiated by Ayatollah Khomeini when he became Supreme Leader of Iran in 1989 as a day on the last Friday of Ramadan (the London march is on the following Sunday) to oppose the Israeli occupation and control of Jerusalem, and at least one of the groups involved in organising the event is said to received funding from the Iranian authorities – which accounts for the Iranian protesters.

The march has become a wider protest calling for freedom for Palestine and an end to the Israeli occupation of land which for many centuries was Palestine. For many of the marchers this also means support for those fighting against Israeli occupation, both in Palestine and Lebanon.

A few of the marchers carried Hezbollah flags, the flag of both the Lebanese Shia political party and its military wing. The military wing had been proscribed in the UK in 2008, but it was only in 2019 that this ban was extended to cover the political wing, making carrying the flag an offence. You can see a few of these yellow flags in my pictures. There are also some placards supporting Hezbollah and Hamas for their resistance to Israel.

In 2009 the march was carefully policed to keep the marchers and protesters against the march from coming into contact and I saw some from both groups being stopped and searched in the area around Marble Arch where the march gathered.

People come to the march in coaches from mosques around the country and many come as families. Although there were separate men’s and women’s blocs the organisers announced that those who wanted to march as families were welcome to do so, and many, particularly the younger marchers, took advantage of this.

*Rabbi Ahron Cohen who spoke at the rally at the end of the march*

At the front of the march were Muslim clerics and two Neturei Karta Jewish leaders. These ultra-orthodox Jews are anti-Zionist and believe that Jews are forbidden from establishing a Jewish state until the arrival of the Messiah and support the peaceful dismantling of the state of Israel to become a part of Palestine.

The main counter-protest came at Piccadilly Circus, with most of those taking part encircled around ‘Eros’ by a double line of police. They protested noisily as the march went by but most of the marchers followed the advice of the march stewards and ignored them. Some held up their posters and there were minor scuffles when a few marchers tried to leave the march and approach them.

As well as shouting insults at the Muslims, the counter-protesters were also making threats, gestures and shouting at the photographers, and I was glad not to be too close although the police bodies between made taking pictures difficult.

Police had also told the march organisers that they could not march to Trafalgar Square but must end with a rally in the much smaller area of Waterloo Place, which became extremely crowded. I left after listening to the first few speakers.

*The head of the march comes to Waterloo Place*

Many more pictures on My London Diary: Al Quds Day March.

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