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Epiphany Rising Against King

Epiphany Rising Against King: On Monday 7 January 1660 (1661 by our modern calendar – New Year back then was the 25th March) Samuel Pepys recorded in his diary “This morning, news was brought to me to my bedside, that there had been a great stir in the City this night by the Fanatiques, who had been up and killed six or seven men, but all are fled. My Lord Mayor and the whole City had been in arms, above 40,000.”

The Fanatiques – a term used to describe the Fifth Monarches (and other nonconformists) believed that the killing of King Charles in 1649 had brought to an end of the last of the four kingdoms mentions in the biblical Book of Daniel – considered as the end of the Empire of Rome (before that had come Babylon, Persia and the Greeks – though there were many other interpretations) and that the time was near for the second coming and the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth. Their uprising was against the re-establishment of monarchy in 1660.

Led by preacher and cooper Thomas Venner they marched from a religious meeting in Swan Alley to take forcibly the keys to St Pauls Cathedral which they then occupied for some hours. Here the band of around 50 men defeated a much larger body of troops sent to capture them, but then failed to decide what to do next, and went out into the woods at Kenwood north of London. Three days later on 9th January they came back to the City and first forced the soldiers sent to stop them to retreat but were finally defeated by a much larger body of soldiers. Twenty-six of them were killed and twenty soldiers also died.

Venner and around 50 others were arrested and tried. Venner was hanged, drawn and quartered on 19 January 1661. His head and those of 12 others were then displayed on London Bridge.

Pepys has a longer entry in his diary for the 9th January about the insurrection – and on seeing everyone else carrying arms he went back home “and got my sword and pistol, which, however, I had no powder to charge” but after taking a walk into the city he “went home and sat, it being office day, till noon.” Later he was persuaded to go out, but then went home and played his lute then went to bed “there being strict guards all night in the City, though most of the enemies, they say, are killed or taken.”

In January 2013, Ian Bone and Class War collaborated with film-maker Suzy Gillett to film a re-enactment of the events of 1661, including a number of speeches and performances about the original events before setting off behind a banner made for the occasion led by a young woman playing the role of Baptist visionary prophet Anna Trapnel, a Fifth Monarchist best known for her 1653 tract ‘The cry of a stone” which recorded her speaking in a trance in Whitehall at great length, in particular berating Oliver Cromwell who many felt was by then setting up a new monarchy. In it she said “the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus is at hand, all the Monarchies of this world are going down the hill: Now is a time that thine should look off from the fethings, and lift up their head, for their Redemption draws near.”

You can read an account of what happened in 2013 on My London Diary at Epiphany Rising Against King or another account by another of those taking part, Paul Brad, also illustrated by my photographs.

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Around the Olympic Site – January 2007

Around the Olympic Site: Thursday 4th January, 2007 looked like being a pleasant enough day for a bike ride around the area where preparations were getting into full swing for the London 2012 Olympics to see how things were going in the area. So I wrapped up warm and put my folding bike on the train to make my way to Stratford.

Most of the central area of the site was already closed off to the public, but I was able to cycle to various parts of the perimeter and take photographs, though I was disappointed to find large areas where nothing was yet taking place already fenced off. From Stratford I went around in an anti-clockwise direction and on My London Diary you can read a fairly long piece about where I went and my opinions about what was happening.

It was becoming more and more clear that many of those who lived and worked in and around the area were being very shabbily treated, with nothing being allowed to stand in the way of the Olympic juggernaut. People were being lied to, promises being made and then abandoned.

Probably the worst case of this was with the 430 residents of the Clays Lane Housing Co-Operative who were first promised they would be rehoused in conditions “as good as, if not better than” their present estate but were later told “at least as good as in so far as is reasonably practicable.”

The tenants there had already suffered from their cooperative estate with its strong community being transferred against their wishes to Peabody Housing following an adverse Housing Corporation inquiry, losing their mutual status. After their eviction under the Olympic Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) they were dispersed and many found they were having to pay much higher rents and living in worse conditions in places that lacked any of the feeling of community of Clays Lane.

*Carpenters Lock and part of the closed area*

I’d hoped to visit the Eastway Cycle Circuit and the Bully Fen nature Reserve, but both were fenced off, as were some of the footpaths I had hoped to cycle down, resulting in some fairly lengthy detours. Some of the closures claimed to be “temporary” – but some were still closed ten years later.

*Samuel Banner, inventor of white spirit, founded the company in 1860. It relocated to Teeside*

I commented “Parliament smooths the way for the Olympic Delivery Authority at the expense of people and environment, enabling them to slough off the inconvenience of democracy and justice. The situation for some of the local people – particularly those living in Clays Lane – can only be described as Kafkaesque.”

I rode down Marshgate Lane and went onto the Greenway and then returned and went on to Hackney Wick, pausing to eat my sandwich lunch in a sheltered suntrap by the lock on the Hertford Union Canal before riding on the Greenway, turning back where this was blocked and coming back to the Lea Navigation towpath and on to Stratford High Street.

*Bridge over Pudding Mill River to Marshgate Lane, Stratford Marsh.*

From here I was able to go along a short length of footpath next to the Waterworks River before returning to the Greenway on the other side of the High Street, past some more areas covered by the CPO.

*Bow Back River. Both sides in the foreground are part of the CPO area*

By now the light was beginning to fade, but I rode on to Canning Town and took a brief look (and some rather dark pictures) of the Pura foods site then being demolished before riding over the Lower Lea Crossing to the station for the Jubilee Line back to Waterloo.

*Parts of Pura Food had yet to be demolished.*

Many more pictures begin a short scroll down the January 2007 page of My London Diary.

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My 2024 in Photographs – Part4

My 2024 in Photographs: The fourth and final part of my selection of images from 2024.

London, UK. 26 Oct 2024. As the end of the peaceFul march against extreme right hate came into Trafalgar Square, a group behind a black banner ‘NO TO TOMMY ROBINSON – NO TO FASCISM’ turned off the route towards the Mall and made a halfhearted rush towards a police line, with a small group trying to push their way through – most just stood watching. Police pushed back and the two groups faced each other. A few minutes later one man was pushed out of the crowd and through the line by a small police squad.

London, UK. 26th October 2024. The letter to Starmer. The annual remembrance march by the United Families and Friends Campaign (UFFC) from Trafalgar Square could only go a short distance down Whitehall and held their rally at the Cabinet Office. Speakers from families whose relatives killed by police and in penal, mental health and immigration detention called for justice and proper investigations of the officers.

London, UK. 28 Oct 2024. Men in oilskins carry a pink inflatable dinghy. Extinction Rebellion marches to stages theatrical flooding scenes outside insurers in the city to show how insurers are green-lighting fossil fuel crooks to flood our homes and our lands. They hope to stop insurance for new fossil fuel projects; flooding due to global warming is already common and threatens us all.

London, UK. 30 Oct 2024. Reading The Crimes outside insurers MarshMcLennan. Extinction Rebellion ended their 3 days of protests at Insurance Companies in the City with a Zombie protest, predicting the social collapse with wars, famine and floods that will happen if CO2 levels and the climate chaos they cause continue to increase. They protested with zombie dancing, die-ins and speeches outside some of the worlds major insurance companies based in London urging them not to insure fossil fuel projects.

London, UK. 2 Nov 24. Health Care Workers. After a die-in by some at Downing St, many thousands marched in a massive PSC National Demo to a rally close to the US Embassy in Nine Elms calling for urgent action by the international community to end brutal attacks on civilians, hospitals and schools in Gaza and an end the deliberate starvation of Palestinians. All arms supplies to Israel should end, with an immediate permanent ceasefire, the release of hostages and negotiations for a two state solution.

London, UK. 2 Nov 24. Jeremy Corbyn. After a die-in by some at Downing St, many thousands marched in a massive PSC National Demo to a rally close to the US Embassy in Nine Elms calling for urgent action by the international community to end brutal attacks on civilians, hospitals and schools in Gaza and an end the deliberate starvation of Palestinians. All arms supplies to Israel should end, with an immediate permanent ceasefire, the release of hostages and negotiations for a two state solution.

London, UK. 3 Nov 2024. Marches wear blue for water flood the streets from Vauxhall on route to a rally in Parliament Square called by River Action. They demand a review of Ofwat and the Environment Agency, an immediate end to industry polluting our waters for profit and greed – particularly sewage discharges, for laws on water pollution to be enforced and for all industries to invest in better use of water.

London, UK. 30 Nov 2024. As the death toll from Israel’s attacks in Gaza is now over 43,000 and many now face starvation with every hospital having been bombed and with virtually no medical supplies, with the UK is still complicit in the genocide, thousands including many Jews, marched in yet another entirely peaceful mass protest in solidarity. They call for an immediate ceasefire with the release of hostages and prisoners and for negotiations to secure a long-term just peace in the area.

London, UK. 14 Dec 2024. Hundreds of BMX riders dressed as Santa, Elves, Snowmen, Christmas Trees and Reindeer set off from the graffiti tunnel at Leake Street Waterloo for the 10th annual Santa Cruise around central London, a fund raising event for the charity Evelina Children’s Heart Organisation. BMX Life raises money for ECHO through sponsorship on these rides and two major raffles each year and has so far raised over £180,000 for ECHO.

London, UK. 14 Dec 2024. Tenants organised by the London Renters Union march demanding urgent action on city’s spiralling rents, which are tearing London apart – the average rent of £2,172 is now more than the pay of many vital workers such as teaching assistants and care workers, forcing many into cramped temporary accommodation. The scrapping of rent controls in 1988 and the mass sell-of of council homes have prioritised landlord profits and Labour’s current housing plans are based on private developers profits rather than providing social homes.

You can double-click on any of the images to see them larger and you can see many more pictures from these and other events in 2024 and earlier years in my albums on Facebook.

My 2024 in Photographs – Part 3

This the third page of a selection of my work in 2024. Not my “best pictures” but some of my better images, all I think pictures that worked well and told the story I was trying to tell. Captions are those I wrote in haste on the day they were taken.

London, UK. 6 July 2024. A health worker holds a white smoke flare. Many thousands marched through London to call on the Labour Government to end its support for Israel’s continuing genocide in Gaza and the UK arms sales which support it and to call for an immediate ceasefire and a huge increase in humanitarian aid. They called for a political solution based on international law to with freedom for Palestine. A few counter protesters on Waterloo Bridge were met with angry shouts and derisive gestures.

London, UK. 18 July 2024. John McDonnell was among those at the rally Disability rights campaigners came to Parliament Square for ‘Disabled People Demand’, presenting the new Labour government solutions to the many crises faced by disabled people across the UK caused by cuts in resources and services under previous administrations and celebrating the the music, art and poetry of disabled people.

London, UK. 20 July 2024. Local protests around the country including this march from Edmonton Green to Silver Street call for the UK to halt arms supplies to Israel which are being used in the genocidal assault on Palestinians which have so far killed over 39,000 people. Yesterday the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel’s presence in the Palestinian occupied territories is “unlawful” and called on it to end as rapidly as possible.

London, UK. 27 July 2024. People met at the Cuban Embassy before marching to Oxford Street to protest against collaboration by British banks with the attacks on the Palestinian and Cuban peoples. UK banks such as the HSBC have implemented the US blockade of Cuba for 62 years since the revolution and back the occupation of Palestine by investing in the arms trade and Israeli business deals with the UK.

London, UK. 27 July 2024. Thousands met outside the BBC at Langham Place to march to Hyde Park Corner in the sixth Trans Pride March, taking place after a year of increasing anti-trans media campaigns, hate attacks and the Cass report which raised questions about the future of trans healthcare. They called for trans rights and proper healthcare including ending the ban on puberty blockers.

London, UK, 3 Aug 2024. A Trans Strike Back rally and march in Parliament Square called for an end to the ban on prescribing puberty blockers to trans kids. Proven safe for kids over many years the ban only applies to trans kids and appears to be the result of an ill-informed transphobic campaign and it will endanger the lives of trans kids. They also call for the rejection of the Cass Report and demand a trans led structure of their healthcare.

London, UK, 3 Aug 2024. A rally in Parliament Square by Extinction Rebellion, Defend Our Juries, Just Stop Oil and Fossil Free London called for an end to the jailing of non-violent protesters and an end to the gagging by judges of those who try to argue that the climate crisis is a “lawful excuse” in our courts. Jurors should hear the whole truth of the cases. Around 200 people have been jailed for peaceful protests since 2019 and widely criticised draconian sentences were given to the ‘Whole Truth Five’.

London, UK. 3 Aug 2024. Thousands march through London to Downing St calling on Starmer to end arms sales to Israel and for a ceasefire to end the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Schools, hospitals and homes are continually being bombed and people are dying from starvation and a lack of clean water. A Lancet study suggests that by now 180,000 Palestinians may have died in Gaza, far more than the official figures.

London, UK. 10 Aug 2024. Several thousand crowded the area opposite the Reform Party address in Westminster for a lively rally against the extreme right following the thuggery encouraged and promoted by Nigel Farage and Tommy Robinson. Speakers included Weyman Bennett and Louise Raw. They called on everyone to take a stand against racism in workplaces and elsewhere and for politicians to end scapegoating immigrants and their racist anti-migrant speeches and policies which have emboldened the extreme right.

Part 4 follows tomorrow. You can see many more pictures from these and other events in my albums on Facebook.

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My 2024 in Photographs – Part 2

What you see here is just the second page of a selection of my work in 2024. Not particularly my “best pictures” but all I think pictures that worked well and told the story I was trying to tell. Despite getting out rather less often than in some previous years, particularly pre-Covid, I think it has been quite a good year for my photography even though I’m getting older, lacking stamina and generally taking things much easier.

Most of my pictures have been from protests over the genocide being carried out by Israel in Gaza but other campaigns have continued, and I’ve been able to photograph some of their action. You can see more pictures from all the events I’ve photographed in around 70 albums from 2024 on Facebook – together with a few from my summer holiday in Wales. They are here in roughly the order they were taken – those from January and February are in the previous post.

London, UK. 20 April 2024. Witnesses call for the man to be released as they say the police officer was accidentally hit.A funeral procession in Ilford carries small coffins mourning the death of over 34,000 Palestinians, more than 13,000 children, with over 8,000 missing probably buried under rubble in Gaza. It ended with a rally outside Barclays Bank which campaigners say funds Israel’s genocidal assault on Palestinians.

London, UK. 20 April 2024. Piers Corbyn hands out leaflets for his London Mayoral campaign. People march to a rally in the centre of Lewisham to demand an immediate ceasefire and an end to UK arms sales to Israel. This was one of many local actions around the country.

London, UK. 27 April 2024. Latin Americans stand with Palestine. Many thousands march peacefully through London from Parliament Square to Hyde Park in another huge protest demanding an immediate permanent ceasefire and an end to British arms sales to Israel, calling for a free Palestine. Many carried posters identifying themselves as Jewish. Israel is using British weapons, surveillance technology and military equipment in the attacks which have devastated Gaza and killed over 34,000, including more than 14,500 children.

London, UK. 27 April 2024. Many thousands march peacefully through London from Parliament Square to Hyde Park in another huge protest demanding an immediate permanent ceasefire and an end to British arms sales to Israel, calling for a free Palestine. Many carried posters identifying themselves as Jewish. Israel is using British weapons, surveillance technology and military equipment in the attacks which have devastated Gaza and killed over 34,000, including more than 14,500 children since October 7th.

London, UK. 1 May 2024. Several thousands met at Clerkenwell Green on May Day for the International Workers Day March to Trafalgar Square. Those taking part included many from London’s various ethnic communities – Turkish, Kurdish, Latin American, Phillipine, West Indian, Indian, Sri Lankan, Tamil, Iraqi, Iranian and more as well as many from UK trade unions, communist and anarchist groups. Many showed their support for Palestine and other international issues.

London, UK. 11 May 2024. London CND supporters protest at the US Embassy in Nine Elms as part of a national day of action against US nuclear weapons coming to Britain which would make us a target for nuclear attacks. Many sat well back under trees in the shade to listen to speakers and singers.

London, UK. 18 May 2024. People pose with giant keys. Many thousands march through London on the 76th anniversary of the ethnic cleansing of 750,000 Palestinians by Israel. Marchers demanded an end to the current genocide, an end to arms sales to Israel and the apartheid regime and for the opening of crossings for urgent humanitarian aid to Gaza. Many carried large keys symbolising the right for Palestinians to return to their homes.

London, UK. 25 May. Poppies labelled with the names of children killed. People meet in Peckham to march to a rally in Camberwell as part of a weekend of local protests across the country calling for an end to the genocide in Gaza and UK arms sales to Israel which make our government complicit in Israel’s war crimes. They demand a huge increase in humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza to avoid famine, and call for an end to Israeli apartheid, and freedom and justice for Palestine.

Part 3 follows tomorrow. You can see many more pictures from these and other events in my albums on Facebook.

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My 2024 in Photographs – Part 1

My 2024 in Photographs – Today I set out on the impossible task of summing up the photographs I took over the year. It’s something I find very hard to do not least because I’ve taken so many pictures. But here is the first of a four-part presentation of some I’ve taken – though on any other day I might have chosen completely different pictures – with the often rather generic captions written in haste on the day they were taken. So its perhaps more a cross-section than a selection.

London, UK. 13 Jan 2024. Hundreds of thousands march in London in a global day of action for a full ceasefire in Gaza, an end to the genocide and a political solution to bring peace and justice to Palestine under international law. Israeli forces have killed over 23,000 people including more than 10,000 children, with many bodies sill under the rubble. Bombing has made humanitarian aid and medical treatment impossible and widespread deaths from disease and starvation now seem inevitable.

London, UK. 22 Jan 2024. A large crowd outside Twickenham Rugby Stadium protested against the arms fair attended by companies supplying Israel with armoured vehicles and other weapons used in its devastating assault on Gaza and used to repress, terrorise, abduct and kill civilians and children in Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Yemen and elsewhere around the world. They called on the Rugby Football Union to end hosting arms sales.

London, UK. 27 Jan 2024. A march from Edmonton Green to a rally at Silver St demanded Israel ends its genocidal attack on Gaza, calling for an immediate ceasefire and an urgent programme of humanitarian aid to end famine and provide shelter, medicine and water. They praised South Africa for taking Israel to court for genocide and called for a just peace with freedom for Palestine.

Making the selection was a fairly long job. There are a little over 22,000 RAW images stored in my 2024 folder at the moment – those I thought worth saving from the rather more I actually made.

London, UK. 3 Feb 2024. Hundreds of thousands march from the BBC to Downing Street calling for a full ceasefire in Gaza where Israeli forces have now killed over 27,000, mainly women and children, and are ignoring last week’s ICJ ruling to prevent acts of genocide. Humanitarian aid and medical treatment is largely impossible and widespread deaths from disease and starvation are inevitable. They call for restoration of funding to UNRWA and a political solution to bring peace and justice to Palestine.

London, UK. 3 Feb 2024. A dove with a key. Hundreds of thousands march from the BBC to Downing Street calling for a full ceasefire in Gaza where Israeli forces have now killed over 27,000, mainly women and children, and are ignoring last week’s ICJ ruling to prevent acts of genocide. Humanitarian aid and medical treatment is largely impossible and widespread deaths from disease and starvation are inevitable. They call for restoration of funding to UNRWA and a political solution.

London, UK. 10 Feb 2024. A rally outside Ealing Town hall was one of many local protests around the country calling for an immediate ceasefire and an end to the genocide in Gaza which has now killed 28,000 mainly women and children and severely injured around 68,000. The entire population of Gaza is now living in desperate conditions with constant threat of bombing, shelling, famine and disease. They condemned the failure to respond to the ICJ ruling to prevent acts of genocide.

London, UK. 17 Feb 2024. A huge march to the Israeli Embassy demands a full ceasefire in Gaza and an end to genocide. Israeli forces have now killed over 30,000, mainly women and children, are ignoring the ICJ ruling and launching a brutal assault on Rafah. Humanitarian aid and medical supplies are desperately needed to avoid mass deaths from disease and starvation and UNRWA funding is essential. Protesters demand a political solution to bring peace and justice to Palestine.

London, UK. 17 Feb 2024. Movement for Justice. A huge march to the Israeli Embassy demands a full ceasefire in Gaza and an end to genocide. Israeli forces have now killed over 30,000, mainly women and children, are ignoring the ICJ ruling and launching a brutal assault on Rafah. Humanitarian aid and medical supplies are desperately needed to avoid mass deaths from disease and starvation and UNRWA funding is essential. Protesters demand a political solution to bring peace and justice to Palestine.

London, UK. 24 Feb 2024. Women with flower head dresses leading the march. Two years after the Russian invasion thousands march from Marble Arch to a vigil in Trafalgar Square in solidarity with the Ukrainian resistance and to show opposition to Russian aggression and war crimes. Russia has occupied parts of Ukraine since 2014. The event was organised by the British-Ukrainian community in London and the wider UK.

This is too many for me to look through, so I made this selection to the roughly 2,000 that I posted on Facebook over the year. In the end I gave up trying to cut down my selection to only the dozen or so I could show in a single post here, so this is the first of four daily posts of my pictures from 2024.

London, UK. 28 Feb 2024. Poice arrested one man on the march. Extinction Rebellion protesters marched from Trinity Square to a festival outside the Lloyds insurance building, some in business attire. They demand the insurance industry refuses to provide cover for fossil fuel developments as these are risking our future. 40% of the world’s fossil fuel production is insured by Lloyds. The peaceful protest included music, speeches and dancing.

London UK. 29 Feb 2024. Extinction Rebellion artivist troupe Red Rebel Brigade in front of the march to protest for climate justice and solidarity with Palestine at AXA Insurance which is insuring new oil and gas fields and investing in companies creating illegal Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine. They demanded AXA divests from Israel’s genocidal actions and end its investments in new oil and gas. The protest in heavy rain remained entirely peaceful.

London, UK. 4 March 2024. Mary Ellen is surrounded by police as they clear wheelchair protesters from DPAC block of Victoria St after protest at the DWP in a National Day of Action before the budget against proposed brutal and horrific social security reforms which will cut benefits for hundreds of thousands of the disabled and give new powers to work coaches in Job Centres. A 2020 UCL report found almost 150,000 had then died as a direct result of Tory cuts and welfare reform policies.

Part 2 follows tomorrow. You can see many more pictures from these and other events in my albums on Facebook.

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XR at the BBC, Noahs Ark & Nine Elms – 2018

XR at the BBC, Noahs Ark & Nine Elms: On Thursday 21st December 2018 after photographing a protest at the BBC by the Climate Media Coalition over the BBC failures in presenting the climate emergency and their programmes which encourage climate wrecking activities I took a few pictures of the nearby Noah’s Ark Earth Rescue display before going to the US Embassy to cover a protest there. Unfortunately although I and the police made it on time the protesters failed to turn up. I took a walk around the area – London’s largest development taking a few pictures and when after an hour only a single protester and another photographer had arrived I went home.

Extinction Rebellion at the BBC – Broadcasting House

XR at the BBC, Noahs Ark & Nine Elms - 2018

Climate campaigners from Extinction Rebellion came to the BBC to tell it to stop ignoring the climate emergency and mass extinction taking place and promoting destructive high-carbon living through programmes such as Top Gear and those on fashion, travel, makeovers etc.

The BBC had long misused its policy of impartiality to give huge prominence to a small group of climate deniers, largely fossil fuel lobbyists, to give them equal airtime to the warnings supported by the huge body of scientific evidence on global warming caused by our increasing consumption of coal, oil and gas with the associated rise in greenhouse gases in the earth’s atmosphere.

The protest had been organised by environmental campaigner Donnachadh McCarthy and the Climate Media Coalition and they had brought with them mannequins wrapped in white sheets to represent the 27 climate victims from the Greek Village of Mati, burned alive by a wildfire. They were among a hundred people are known to have died in Greece in the fires caused by global warming. They set these out in front of the BBC for a vigil at the start of the protest

Later there were angry protests at both entrances to the BBC site which which was closed off by barriers and security staff. It took a couple of minutes through the local streets to get between the two and I was at the other one where two protesters had superglued their hands, one to the steps and another to the door, when Donnachadh McCarthy attempted to climb over the security banners and was arrested.

You can read more about the protest along with many pictures and captions on My London Diary at Extinction Rebellion at the BBC.

Humanity Face Extinction – Great Portland St

The protest at the BBC was continuing when I walked towards the tube to travel to a protest sceduled at the US Embassy in Nine Elms and stopped to take a few pictures of the Noah’s Ark Earth Rescue display.

This was deserted probably as those usually here were all at the BBC protest. The display was a part of the “eco-warriors’ worldwide publicity campaign to save the South Pacific island nations from vanishing beneath the rising sea levels and offering genuine solutions to save humanity from being driven to extinction by global warming as a result of the burning of fossil fuels.”

More pictures at Humanity Face Extinction

Nine Elms Wander

I arrived at the US Embassy at the time given on the press release and the Facebook event page for a protest against Trump’s announcement of the withdrawal of US troops from Syria to find two police vehicles but no protesters.

After waiting around ten minutes I took a walk around the area, part of a huge redevelopment between the former Battersea Power Station and Vauxhall which I’d been watching for some years from the train as I came into London and had often photographed through the train windows.

Under the River Thames construction was also taking place for London’s new super-sewer, the 16 mile long Thames Tideway Tunnel expected to be fully operational in 2025 and the first major upgrade to London’s sewage systems since Bazalgette in 1875.

I went back to the embassy an hour after the protest was due to start. By now one man had arrived also looking for the protest, and a second photographer. I walked back up to Vauxhall Station to see if I could find any protesters on their way, but met none and so I caught the train home.

More pictures at Nine Elms Wander.

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Cuts Kill, Turban Traveller & Brexit Bullies – 2018

Cuts Kill, Turban Traveller & Brexit Bullies – The area outside the Houses of Parliament was busy on Wednesday 19th December 2018 with a protest by Disabled People Against Cuts, a welcome for a driver who had come from Delhi and arguments between remainers and Brexiteers. But the most newsworthy event was when a small group of extreme right Brexiteers spotted MP Anna Soubry walking to Parliament and went to harass her. By then other photographers had drifted off and I was the only photographer on the scene. It made the news headlines and though the the press accounts were laughably inaccurate, some of my pictures did get used even if my story filed with them was ignored.

As usual you can read more about all of these events and see more pictures by following the links to My London Diary below.

Cuts kill disabled people say protesters – Old Palace Yard

Cuts Kill, Turban Traveller & Brexit Bullies - 2018 — *‘Tory Cuts Kill’ say DPAC and another banner has the names of a hundred who have died*

Disability groups DPAC (Disabled People Against Cuts) and MHRN (Mental Health Resistance Network) together with WOW campaign protested in support of the parliamentary debate due later in the day on the cumulative impact of the cuts on the lives of disabled people.

Laura Pidcock, then Labour MP for North West Durham and Lib-Dem peer Lord Roberts of Llandudno came out to talk with and support the protesters who said the the changes in benefits and inappropriate use of sanctions were resulting in great hardship, denying people their rights and causing many deaths. Labour MP for Ealing Virendra Sharma, there for another event also had a lengthy talk with the protesters.

Cuts kill disabled people say protesters

MP welcomes Delhi to London driver

British-Indian Labour MP for Ealing Southall Virendra Sharma whose constituency includes very many Sikhs and those from other Indian communities had come out to to welcome The ‘Turban Traveller‘, a Sikh with a film crew from Creative Concept Films in Delhi who arrived in London today after driving overland from Delhi.

MP welcomes Delhi to London driver

Extreme Brexiteers Clash with SODEM

A small group of extreme right-wing pro-Brexit protesters had come to shout and argue with protesters from SODEM (Stand of Defiance European Movement) and to shout personal insults at Steven Bray who had founded SODEM in September 2017.

They accused Bray of being a drunk and asked “Who funds Drunk Steve“, a question that was rather redundant as two large banners were covered with logos of organisations supporting SODEM’s daily pickets.

Police warned the Brexiteers about the language they were using and were accused of taking sides, but the SODEM people were not shouting and using offensive language. Eventually the Brexiteers moved away to continue their protest on the pavement in front of the Houses of Parliament.

Extremist Brexiteers clash with SODEM

Extremist Brexiteers at Parliament

A small group of extreme right Brexiteers wearing high-viz vests with Union flags and the message ‘Justice for Our Boys’ protested outside parliament calling for an immediate Brexit and attempted to stop vehicles leaving parliament but were moved away by police.

I recognised many of them; some from the video of an attack on the socialist bookshop Bookmarks earlier in the year and others from protests by the EDL and other extreme right groups.

Some of them then went to try and enter the by the visitors entrance and I went with them and took more pictures. But most soon left, probably to a nearby pub.

Extremist Brexiteers at parliament

Anna Soubry MP Harassed by Extremists

I hung around watching the few who remained when all the other photographers had moved away to file their pictures of the protest at the gates to parliament, wondering what they might do next.

One of them shouted to the others as he recognised Conservative MP Anna Soubry walking along the pavement to go into the House of Commons, and they met her and began calling her a traitor and asking her way she was suggesting there might be a second referendum. She clearly knew the man leading the group, addressing him by name.

She tried to walk away along the pavement, but they followed, some standing in her way (and in mine) and after another in the group shouted at her ‘You fucking traitor!’ she turned to one of the several police officers around and complained to him that this was an offence, and remained standing close to him.

Other officers came across to help and quickly escorted her away and into Parliament. There were no immediate arrests, but the incident later became subject to an inquiry by the speaker of the house, who extended his sympathy to Ms Soubry.

In later interviews she complained that she had been compared to the Nazis, but I had not heard this at any point in the exchanges. Though as I wrote. “I was busy moving backwards in a fairly confined space while trying to keep her in shot while she was walking briskly away, with one of the protesters who was filming on his phone in my way.”

It was certainly an unpleasant incident but perhaps one that became rather exaggerated. She was never in any real danger and although the questioning was certainly loud and aggresive she responded to it in a similarly forceful manner. Something that might be described by that old cliché as the “rough and tumble of politics”. I was rather surprised that she had not earlier simply asked one of the many police standing around for assistance or that none of them had seen and heard as I had and come to help.

I rushed away to file my pictures, and while one or two of these were fairly widely used I was never contacted about what happened despite being the only real witness to the event.

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UK Uncut, Syria, Iraq, Egypt & More – 2011

UK Uncut, Syria, Iraq, Egypt & More – Saturday 17th December was a busy day for me in London, with three protests by UK Uncut over companies not paying their share of tax in the UK, protests by Kurds over the massacres in Syria, Iraqis celebrating the withdrawal of US troops, Syrian supporters of President Bashar al-Assad demanding no US intervention in Syria, protests by Congolese over the rigged elections and atrocities, Egyptians against the military attacks on protesters and a birthday protest for Bradley – later Chelsea – Manning.

Now at last Assad is gone though the future in Syria is still uncertain, Manning is long out of jail, but companies are still finding ways to avoid paying tax. The Congo and Egypt are still both suffering. More about the protests and many more images on My London Diary – links for each event.

UK Uncut Santa Calls on Dave Hartnett – HMRC, Parliament St

UK Uncut, Syria, Iraq, Egypt & More - 2011

UK Uncut’s Santa, along with two helpers called at the Westminster offices of the head of UK’s tax collection with a present and a card. but unfortunately Dave Hartnett was not at home.

UK Uncut Santa Calls on Dave Hartnett

UK Uncut Xmas Protest At Topshop – Oxford St

Supporters of UK Uncut protested briefly inside the Oxford Circus Topshop at the failure of Arcadia group to pay UK tax on its UK earnings, continuing their protest on the pavement outside until cleared away by police.

UK Uncut Xmas Protest At Topshop

UK Uncut Xmas Protest At Vodaphone – Oxford St

After their protest at Topshop had been moved away by police, UK Uncut moved to Vodaphone to protest about their dodging of UK tax. Police kept them a few yards from the shop but otherwise did not interfere with the peaceful demonstration.

UK Uncut Xmas Protest At Vodaphone

Kurds Call For A Stop To Syrian Massacres – Downing St

The Syrian Kurdish community protested at Downing St as massacres continue in Syria, calling for Britain to help to stop them. They want freedom for Syria and also for Kurds in Syria in a federation to replace the Assad regime.

Kurds Call For A Stop To Syrian Massacres

Congolese Election Protests Continue – Downing St

Congolese continued their protests in London against the election fraud, rapes and massacres and called on the British government to withdraw its support from the immoral regime of President Kabila responsible for the atrocities and voted out by the people. I had photographed two larger protests earlier in the month at Congolese Protest Against Kabila Vote-Rigging and Congolese Election Protests Continue.

Congolese Protests Continue

Iraqis and Syrians Protest At US Embassy – US Embassy, Grosvenor Square

*Iraqis celebrate victory over the US but want all mercenaries to leave and the BBC to report fairly*

Iraqis met to celebrate their defeat of the occupation on the day US troops left Iraq, and called for the mercenaries to go too, as well as for proper coverage of Iraq by the BBC. They were joined by Syrian supporters of President Bashar al-Assad, at the embassy to demand no US intervention in Syria.

Iraqis and Syrians Protest At US

Bradley Manning Birthday Demo – US Embassy, Grosvenor Square

*It was the 24th birthday of Bradley Manning, who was in court for disclosing US documents to Wikileaks*

Supporters of Bradley Manning held a vigil at the US Embassy on Saturday afternoon, his 24th birthday, and on the second day of his pre-trail hearing, calling him an American Peace Hero.

Bradley Manning Birthday Demo

Egyptians Protest Against Attacks on Protesters – Egyptian Embassy, Mayfair

News of the deaths and injuries in Cairo as armed forces attacked protesters prompted Egyptians to protest at the London Embassy, calling for the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to halt the attacks and hand over power.

Egyptians Protest At Embassy

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Frost Fair, Oxford St and Santas – 2006

Frost Fair, Oxford St and Santas: I wrote a long post on My London Diary about my activities on Saturday 16th December 2006, which perhaps deserves bringing out of hiding and re-publishing, as usual with appropriate corrections, and with links to the many pictures I took, a few of which I’ll use to punctuate the re-posting.

Bankside Frost Fair: Traditional Thames Cutters

Southwark’s Frost Fair is a reminder of days long gone, when Old London Bridge so restricted the flow of the Thames that there was a lake above it between the City and Southwark. In cold winters, this would freeze over, and in some years the ice became so thick that a fair could be held on it.

The chances of this happening again given global warming seem slight, although once the polar ice cap melts in twenty or so years time, the whole global weather system will be upturned. We may even lose our warming water and air streams and our climate could perversely become more continental with freezing winters and torrid summers. Of course, we may by then be abandoning the City and Southwark as water levels rise.

Today it was sunny, though there was a chill in the wind, and the tide was running out at a rate of knots that made it hard going upstream for the rowers in the cutters that came from the city to Southwark, going upstream of the Millennium Bridge before turning to reach the pier outside the Globe Theatre.

Waiting for them there (and we were waiting a long time) was a group of London guildsmen. There was a speech of welcome, shaking of hands, and then the company went off for refreshments while I wandered through the Frost Fair. To be honest, there didn’t seem to be a great deal going on. A band playing, then some carols sung, food and drink being sold. Even the promised huskies didn’t seem to be around, though the stall was taking bookings for rides.
more pictures

St Paul’s & Oxford Street

I should have been there yesterday for the lantern parade, but had other things to attend to, and there seemed to be little to do or to photograph today, so I strolled over the Millennium bridge and around St Paul’s to get a bus to the West End.

I was looking for Santas. I thought I might find some on Oxford Street, and have a look at the Xmas decorations too, but both seemed rather thin on the ground. A few holding sandwich boards, the odd person with a Santa hat. Stalls with hats and costumes for sale, but where were the people wearing them?

I paused briefly outside Marks and Spencers for the regular picket there, today a small choir was singing. I thought of the dispatches I’d recently read from Deacon Dave, on a peace visit to Palestine, assaulted by a Jewish settler, and the many stories of how Palestinians are being denied the right to work their lands, including the building of the wall that separates some from their fields.

More pictures from St Pauls and Oxford St.

Santacon – Trafalgar Square

I jumped back on a bus again, going to the top deck to peer out for Santas, and as the bus came up to Trafalgar Square, there they were, around the base of Nelson. I jumped up. Fortunately the bus was just coming to a stop and I was able to run off and start taking pictures.

The assembled Santas sang a few Santacon carols:
Away On A Bender,
O Come All Ye Santas, Hark!
The Drunken Santas Sing and more,
Hymns to drunken excess, though it was early in the day and most santas still seemed pretty sober.

We were all waiting for more Santas to arrive, and at last they did so in a group coming from the northeast of the square. Now there were certainly several hundred of them, though I couldn’t manage even a rough count, as people kept moving. As well as Santas there were also some others including a team of reindeer and a few oddities.

Then came a piece of real life drama as one Santa declared his love for another, down on his knees, surrounded by the crowd, producing an engagement ring.

*A traditional knee-level approach despite the unusual dress*

I can’t actually remember how I proposed (probably my wife can) but it certainly wasn’t like this. Certainly an event the two of them will remember (and fortunately she said yes.)

After that, anything else would be anticlimax, and as the Santas left to go up Strand, I turned away for home.

View many more pictures from Santacon on My London Diary.

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