protest | >Re-PHOTO

Filipino Health Workers, Coal Line, Tax Dodgers, Biafra & National Gallery – 2015

Filipino Health Workers, Coal Line, Tax Dodgers, Biafra & National Gallery: Ten years ago today, Saturday 30th May 2015, I began at the Daily Mail offices in Kensington where Filipino NHS workers were protesting about scandalous insults the rag had made, then went to Peckham to view the proposals for a linear park confusingly named and promoted as the ‘Coal Line’. From there I came back to central London for a UK Uncut banner drop on Westminster Bridge against tax dodgers, a Trafalgar Square protest by Biafrans and finally a rally there by staff on strike at the National Gallery.

Filipino Nurses tell Daily Mail to apologise – Kensington

Filipino health workers came to protest atthe Daily Mail over its reporting of the Victoriano Chua case which insulted Filipino NHS workers as a whole despite the vital contribution they make to the NHS. The demand the Daily Mail apologise for its racist comments and recognise the contribution that they make.

As a patient in intensive care in 2003 I had been very impressed by the care and attention I received from a Filipino nurse, and others when I was on the general ward had all been “competent, committed and caring” – along with those of other nationalities. We should be training more British nurses and improving conditions to keep them working for the NHS, but without staff from abroad at all levels the NHS would have collapsed long ago.

More pictures at Filipino Nurses tell Daily Mail apologise.

Walking the Coal Line – Peckham

The Chelsea Fringe festival began in 2012 as an unofficial fringe, an alternative gardens festival to the annual Chelsea Flower Show and has since become an international event. Anyone can take part so long as “it’s on topic, legal and interesting, it can go in the Fringe, no matter how outlandish or odd it may seem.” It is “unsponsored, unfunded, unbranded and wholly independent, with no medals or judging committees. It relies entirely on volunteer efforts and survives on its registration fees.“

*Rye Lane – the walk would start here opposite ZA Afro Foods and Peckham Rye Station*

The Coal Line project began in 2014 and became a registered charity backed by many local people as well as TfL, Southwark Council, The Peckham Settlement, Sustrans and the Mayor of London for a 900 metre linear park linking Peckham Rye Station on Rye Land with Queens Road Peckham station.

It seemed a good idea and would provide useful local short cuts for walkers and cyclists as well as a link in longer leisure walks at a relatively low cost. But its advocates over-hyped it tremendously, comparing it to the ‘High Line’ in New York.

I wrote in 2015:

“More interesting than the Coal Line are both the Bussey Building in the former industrial estate Copeland Park and the multistorey car park. Saved from demolition by a locals, the Bussey Building, reached by an alley between shops in Rye Lane, houses small businesses, artists, faith groups, art spces and a rooftop bar.The multi-storey car park on its upper floors now has a cafe, a local radio performance space and another rooftop bar, next to the Derek Jarman memorial garden, as well as better views than the Bussey across Peckham and to central London.

Part of the Coal Line is already open to the public as a small nature reserve, left by the railway line after a scheme for a massive inner-ring road was fortunately abandoned. Its legacy is a hefty wall along part of the edge of the service road by the Cossall Walk line of flats.”

More from along the Coal Line and other parts of Peckham at Walking the Coal Line.

UK Uncut Art Protest – Westminster Bridge

*Protesters at Waterloo – Rich get Richer, Poor Get Poor – Osborne and Cameron*

UK Uncut supporters marched from Waterloo to Westminster Bridge where they spread a large piece of cloth on the roadway and painted a banner telling Parliament that collecting dodged taxes would bring in more than cutting public services.

*Painting the banner on Westminster Bridge*

*The message on the banner was £12 bn more cuts £120 bn tax dodged – AUSTERITY IS A LIE’.*

I had to run to the southern end of the bridge and then rush down the Albert Embankment to photograph the banner hanging from the bridge along with the smoke from flares. It was perhaps the least interesting photograph of the event and it would have been rather better had they put it over the opposite side of the bridge to have the Houses of Parliament as a background.

While this was happening on Westminster Bridge, there was another protest against Tory plans to repeal the Human Rights Act closer to Parliament which I was sorry to have missed, with just a few people still standing on the roadway.

More pictures at UK Uncut Art Protest.

Biafrans demand independence – Trafalgar Square

Biafrans had come to Trafalgar Square on the anniversary of their declaration of independence in 1967 which began a long and bloody civil war in which as well as those killed in fighting many Biafran civilians died of starvation.

Biafrans say that the Igbo Kingdom of Nri lasted from the 10th century until 1911, although it was incorporated into Southern Nigeria by the 1884 Berlin Conference. Britain decided to unite Northern and Southern Nigeria in 1914 as the North was in financial difficulties.

Many at the protest wore t-shirts with Biafran flag and coat of arms and waved Biafran flags, still demanding independence for their country, as well as remembering those who died in the Ngerian-Biafran War.

More pictures at Biafrans demand independence.

Mass rally Supports National Gallery Strikers – Trafalgar Square

Workers at the National Gallery were on strike against plans to privatise staffing at the gallery and were supported at a rally with many trade unionists including speakers and in the body of the square.

They were also demanding the reinstatement of Candy Udwin, a PCS rep at the National Gallery, who had been sacked for her trade union activities over the privatisation. Speakers included PCS General Secretary Mark Serwotka and comedian and activist Kate Smurthwaite.

Exhibitions in the Sainsbury wing have already been guarded by privatised staff, and the security there is also run by the private company. At the end of the rally the crowd moved to protest at the Sainsbury Wing. Police stopped them entering the gallery and the doors were locked.

Many more pictures at Mass rally Supports National Gallery strikers.

Flickr – Facebook – My London Diary – Hull Photos – Lea Valley – Paris
London’s Industrial Heritage – London Photos

All photographs on this page are copyright © Peter Marshall.
Contact me to buy prints or licence to reproduce.

Jobs, Services, Education, Yemen, Rev Billy, Police Violence – 2009

Jobs, Services, Education, Yemen, Rev Billy, Police Violence: Saturday 23 May 2009 was another busy day for protests in London. I began with the March to Defend Jobs, Services and Education in North London, moved to Whitehall for a protest by Southern Yemenis calling for independence and met the The Reverend Billy and his ‘Life After Shopping’ Gospel choir for a performance in front of the gates of Downing St. Later I met the Rev again on a march against police violence prompted by the killing of Ian Tomlinson by a police officer at he G20 protest at the start of the month.

March to Defend Jobs, Services and Education – Highbury Fields to Archway

Jobs, Services, Education, Yemen, Rev Billy, Police Violence - 2009

The march by around 500 workers in Islington from Highbury Fields to Archway followed the loss of 1500 jobs in the area, including 550 mainly support workers from London Metropolitan University, 500 civil servants from Archway tower and more at City University, where adult education is under threat.

It was supported by many local groups including the Islington National Union of Teachers, the Public & Commercial Services Union, London Metropolitan University Unison and the University and College Union. Among the speakers at the Archway rally were local MP Jeremy Corbyn and local trade union leaders.

Education in the area has been particularly important in giving people who have missed out in various ways in their schooling a chance to gain qualifications, and the cuts threaten the future of many of these courses as well as the support such as nurseries which enable many mature students to continue education. Islington has the highest population density of any local authority in England and Wales and a third of its residents live in poverty – well above the London average.

March to Defend Jobs, Services & Education

Southern Yemenis Demonstrate For a Separate State – Downing St, Whitehall

Southern Yemenis from the Southern Democratic Assembly (TAJ), based in London came to protest following protests in Aden the previous week on the 15th anniversary of the attempt by Southern Yemen to break away from the North which began the 1994 Civil War, a short but brutal conflict which ended in July 1994 with defeat for the South.

Southern Yemen, until 1967 the British protectorate of Aden, was granted independence and in 1969 became the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen. Although a decision to unite with North Yemen – the Yemen Arab Republic – was made in principle in 1972 this only happened in 1990 when the Republic of Yemen was formed. South Yemen contains most of the reserves of oil and other resources and TAJ accuse the government of grabbing land and property and of human rights abuses.

Since 2004 the rise of the Houthis has dominated politics and armed conflict in Yemen with a full-scale civil war between them and a Saudi-led coalition backed by the US and the west since 2015.

Southern Yemenis Demonstrate

Rev Billy Performs at Downing St

*“Officer, I can see you have a shopping problem”*

The Reverend Billy and his ‘Life After Shopping’ Gospel choir from New York were busy in London today on their 2009 UK Shopocalypse Tour.

Police obviously had no idea of how to handle the Reverend and his green-robed choir when the came and gave a brief performance on the pavement in front of the tall gates with their armed guards.

As I wrote, ‘The Church of Life After Shopping believes that we need to “back away from the product” and resist the way that advertising and the media persuade us to live only thorough consuming corporate products, and get down to experiencing life directly. We can live more by consuming less – and at the same time help save the planet and put an end to climate change, which is a result of our excessive consumption. ‘

Consumerism is at the root of our government’s economic programme with its emphasis on growth but this comes at the expense of both personal fulfilment and the future of the planet, driving catastrophic climate change as we pursue this false God.

“As Billy says, following the G20 summit and the pathetic waste and greed shown in the continuing parliamentary allowances scandal, our government and MPs are clearly in need of the Life After Shopping Gospel.

Amen indeed brother!”

Rev Billy Performs at Downing St

National Demonstration against Police Violence
Trafalgar Square to New Scotland Yard

The United Campaign Against Police Violence was set up after the G20 protest at Bank in London where Ian Tomlinson died following an assault by a police officer as he tried to make his way home from work through the area where the demonstration was taking place.

*Who Killed Ian Tomlinson? And Sean Rigg?*

Thee organisers included trade unionists and activists who had organised the G20 protest and campaigners against police violence, particularly those involved with the United Families and Friends Campaign by friends and the families of people who have died in police custody. Among those taking part were the families of two men who died in Brixton Police Station, Ricky Bishop and Sean Rigg.

In all these killings the police reaction to the deaths was to issue a number of highly misleading statements and to try to protect its officers by failing to make proper and timely investigations. This march attracted far more police attention and resources than any of these deaths where families have had to fight to get any information from police.

Leading the start of the march was a coffin and the red ‘Horse of the Apocalypse’ one of the four which headed the G20 protests – and gave the clear message at that protest that the intention was street theatre rather than the kind of insurrection that the police anticipated and then went on to themselves create.

Sean Rigg’s two sisters were on the march and making their views felt, and the Rev Billy came with his giant non-powered megaphone.

At Scotland Yard the mood became more solemn for a period of silence for those who had died and people linked hands to surround New Scotland Yard in a symbolic “kettle”.

Chis Knight spoke with Sean Rigg’s sisters on each side of him. A police officer stands impassive as people prepared to release black balloons in memory of the dead.

The mood was somber, solemn as we remembered those who have died. Suddenly the whole mood changes as an officer reads out a warning from her chief over the loudspeakers interrupting the ceremony.

For a few moments an angry crowd looks likely to attack the van – and it did seem an incredibly provocative action in what to this point had been a well ordered and restrained – although angry – demonstration against police violence.

Fortunately the moment passes and the release of balloons continues. It’s impossible to understand why police took this action at this time – unless they really wanted to provoke a riot. I can find no other explanation and it remains another of the many actions that has resulted in a loss of public confidence in the police as we drift relentlessly towards a police state.

Many more pictures from the protest on My London Diary at Demonstration against Police Violence.

Flickr – Facebook – My London Diary – Hull Photos – Lea Valley – Paris
London’s Industrial Heritage – London Photos

All photographs on this page are copyright © Peter Marshall.
Contact me to buy prints or licence to reproduce.

Legal Aid Funeral & Daddy’s Pig – 2013

Legal Aid Funeral & Daddy’s Pig: On Wednesday 22nd May 2013 lawyers held a mock funeral and rally against government proposals for further changes to legal aid proposed by Justice Secretary Chris Grayling. Legal aid had already been greatly restricted by the Civil Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013 which had come into effect earlier in the year. I rushed away at the end of the rally to join Artist taxi-driver Mark McGowan who was pushing his Daddy’s Pig from Downing Street three miles to the Bank of England.

Lawyers Funeral for Legal Aid – Old Palace Yard, Westminster

Legal Aid Funeral & Daddy's Pig - 2013 — *The coffin of Legal Aid*

Justice Secretary Chris Grayling having made huge cuts in legal aid was now proposing to end the right of legal aid clients to chose their solicitor with the work going to the lowest bidder in ‘price competitive tendering’, PCT. This would be open to “to large non-legal companies, including Eddie Stobart and Tesco, and remove the ability of those in need of legal aid to chose appropriate specialists in the legal area involved.”

The short funeral procession to Parliament Square by the London Criminal Courts Solicitors’ Association was led by a marching jazz band, followed by robed and wigged figures carrying the coffin of Legal Aid and a woman dressed as the Scales of Justice.

As well as lawyers others joined the protest including Women from Winvisible, Women Against Rape, Defend The Right To Protest, Liberty and more. The proposed changes would particularly effect women involved in domestic violence and rape cases, and immigrants fighting for asylum.

There were many excellent speakers and on My London Diary I gave a partial list on My London Diary:

Labour MPs Sadiq Khan, Jeremy Corbyn and his fellow Islington MP Emily Thornberry, Natalie Bennett of the Green Party and senior figures involved with the law from both Tories and Lib-Dems. There were those who had been involved with legal aid over cases of injustice, including Gerry Conlan, one of the Guildford 4, a member of the family of Jean Charles De Menzes, Susan Matthews, mother of Alfie Meadows and Breda Power, the daughter of Billy Power, one of the Birmingham 6. Solicitors who spoke included Clive Stafford Smith, the founder of Repreive, and Blur drummer Dave Rowntree, and notable among the QCs, Helena Kennedy. There were many memorable quotes (almost all of which I’ve forgotten) with Gerry Conlan making clear “Back in the 1970s they sent innocent people to jail by the van load. But if these cuts go through they’ll be sending them in by the Eddie Stobart truckload“.

The rally ended with “a summary by leading barrister John Cooper QC after which the whole assembly delivered its verdict on Grayling, guilty as charged.”

The plans for PCT were dropped in September 2013 but didn’t go away entirely with new plans to introduce it in 2016, and it took a High Court ruling in 2018 to quash proposals to use PCT for Housing Possession Court Duty schemes.

Legal aid remains unfairly restricted and in only the very wealthy and those of the very poor who are able to access legal aid are almost “equal under the law”, with the great majority of us being able to afford it. And of course the wealthy are able to use much greater legal resources than legal aid will ever provide.

True equality under the law would only become possible if we made a huge systemic change to essentially nationalise our whole justice system, making it entirely a public service.

More on My London Dairy at Lawyers Funeral for Legal Aid.

Daddy’s Pig heads for the Trough – Downing St to Bank

Artist taxi-driver Mark McGowan pushed his Daddy’s Pig, accompanied by another protester pushing a fire engine, the three miles from Downing St to the Bank of England, hoping to present it to the governor for services to austerity and the criminal activities of the City of London.

McGowan had a small group of supporters with him as he undertook the second stage of his gruelling journey on hands and knees, pushing the pig on its plastic roller skate.

A few days earlier, he had pushed the pig from from Kings College hospital in Camberwell where he is receiving cancer treatment to Downing street as a protest against the privatisation of the NHS which is being driven by the bankers and private equity firms.

I walked with him and his pig on part of the second half of his painful slow route, joining him at the Royal Courts of Justice and leaving him and his colleague with the fire engine as they rested briefly before reaching Ludgate Circus. Even with knee pads and gloves the going was tough and Mark was struggling to meet his appointment with a banker at 3pm.

Daddy’s Pig heads for the Trough

Flickr – Facebook – My London Diary – Hull Photos – Lea Valley – Paris
London’s Industrial Heritage – London Photos

All photographs on this page are copyright © Peter Marshall.
Contact me to buy prints or licence to reproduce.

Vedanta, Tampon Tax, Roma, Monsanto & Mental Health – 2016

Vedanta, Tampon Tax, Roma, Monsanto & Mental Health: Saturday 21 May 2016 was another busy day for me covering protests across London. It started with a protest against mining company Vedanta at the Royal Festival Hall, then across the river to Parliament Square where protesters were calling on the government to meet their pledge to axe the tax on tampons and later Roma, Gypsies and Travellers arrived with horses and carts to protest against increasing attacks on their way of life.

A short distance up Whitehall was a small protest against Monsanto, part of a world-wide ‘March Against Monsanto’. My work ended out to the east in Stratford where Focus E15 housing campaigners held a march and rally against the mental health problems that Newham Council’s housing policy is creating.

Foil Vedanta at Jaipur Literary Festival – Royal Festival Hall

Vedanta, Tampon Tax, Roma, Monsanto & Mental Health - 2016

Foil Vedanta were inside the Royal Festival Hall to protest against the sponsorship of the Jaipur Literature Festival taking place there by Vedanta “the most hated company on Earth, causing pollution, illness, displacement, poverty and deaths by its mining operations, sometimes criminal, in India, Zambia, South Africa and Australia” in an attempt to whitewash its image.

An open letter by Foil Vedanta and Round Table India signed by around 50 mainly Indian writers, poets, academics and activists had persuaded several authors to withdraw from the event and some others had promised to criticise Vedanta in their presentations.

The protesters took to the stage for a brief presentation of the case against Vedanta and then withdrew to continue protesting inside the venue but outside the area containing the festival stage. They intended to continue their protests for a couple of hours but I had taken enough pictures and left to walk across the river.

Foil Vedanta at Jaipur Literary Festival

End Tampon tax Now Osbourne! – Parliament Square

A massive campaign and lobby had resulted in the removal of regulations preventing the removal of tax, but the government had so far failed to implement the removal. Protesters held a short rally and then marched to Downing Street to deliver their message to Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne.

Among the protesters were ’50:50 Parliament’ who call for equal representation of women and men in Parliament. They say that if there were more women in Parliament there would not be taxes such as this – and rather less of the public-school bickering that often dominates the House of Commons.

More at Tampon tax now Osbourne!

‘Dosta, Grinta, Enough!’ – Parliament Square

Roma, Gypsies and Travellers came to Parliament Square on four horse-drawn vehicles to protest against the increasing attacks by governments which make their way of life difficult.

*You are not allowed to bring your horse onto Parliament Square*

Changes have let local authorities stop providing traveller sites and made it harder to find places to stop as they move around the country. And where travellers have bought sites local authorities have used planning laws in a discriminatory way to prevent them using it – as at Dale Farm near Basildon.

They say changes to the planning guidance are an attack on their ethnicity and way of life and they call for an end to 500 years of persecution.

Police and heritage wardens forced them to move off the grass in Parliament Square and they made a few circuits on the road before leaving as a rally began.

I left too, to cover another protest at Downing Street.

More on My London Diary at ‘Dosta, Grinta, Enough!’

March Against Monsanto Rally – Downing St

I’d looked earlier for the ‘March Against Monsanto’ but the march in London – part of a world-wide series of annual protests – was small and I had failed to find them until they arrived for a rally oppposite Downing Street.

Monsanto’s widely used herbicide Roundup was said by the WHO to be “probably carcinogenic to humans” and its neonicotinoid insecticides contribute to the killing of bees and other pollinators. Campaigners also oppose the genetically modified crops which they say are dangerous to human health.

March Against Monsanto Rally

Housing is a Mental Health Issue – Stratford

*‘Your Dream Home Awaits You’ a bus advert for a property show at Olympia. Only for the rich*

As a part of Mental Health Awareness Week, housing campaigners Focus E15 held a rally outside Stratford Station against Newham Council which they say is causing mental health problems for vulnerable people through evictions and placements with insecure tenancies and away from families, friends and support systems in cities and towns across the UK.

*Newham Council has kept some properties on the Carpenters Estate empty since 2004, despite a desperate housing shortage in the borough*

After the rally with speeches, songs and poems, the group marched around central Stratford where new high-rise building to house wealthy newcomers to the area or simply bought as investments and often kept empty is rapidly springing up “while those unable to afford sky high market rents are being forced out.”

These tall blocks also create inhospitable micro-climates at ground level which make areas such as these unpleasant for people at street level – and a sudden gust in front of one block tore one of the banners in two.

The short march ended on Stratford Broadway where despite harassment by police and council staff Focus E15 continue to hold a regular Saturday morning street stall.

More at Housing is a Mental Health Issue.

Flickr – Facebook – My London Diary – Hull Photos – Lea Valley – Paris
London’s Industrial Heritage – London Photos

All photographs on this page are copyright © Peter Marshall.
Contact me to buy prints or licence to reproduce.

The Wall Must Fall & Kyoto – 2004

The Wall Must Fall & Kyoto: There were two protests on May 15th 2004 over major issues still very relevant now. The first was against the separation wall being built by Israel which was breaking up many Palestinian urban settlements and dividing some farmers from their lands. Designed for the convenience of IsraelI Security forces it reconfigures many boundaries and paved the way for further IsralI settlements on Palestinian land, in complete disregard of the needs and civil rights of Palestinians.

Later I joined the march from Leatherhead to the US Embassy for the final few hundred yards of their march in protest against the failure of the US to ratify the Kyoto climate accord. US policies on climate change were and now are largely driven by the fossil fuel companies and have led to our current position with global temperatures continuing to rise towards levels the science tells us endangers human life on our planet. Though warming in the oceans may lead before long to a loss of the Gulf Stream which makes life in the UK tolerable and bring in a new Ice Age in the UK!

As with other events in the early years of My London Diary, the page design separated text and images, and the text was made less legible by eschewing capitals, a victory of style over sense which made no sense when I had begun to post more events on the pages with longer stories – but which it took me until 2008 to redesign. Below I’ll reunite some of the pictures with the text I wrote and links to the many more pictures still on their own pages on My London Diary.

The Wall Must Fall – Free Palestine Rally, Trafalgar Square

The Wall Must Fall rally in Trafalgar Square on 15 May started with an an ugly scene, when stewards stopped Peter Tatchell and a group from Outrage from being photographed in front of the banners around Nelson’s Column. The rally organisers argued that raising the question of the persecution of gays in Palestine distracted attention from the Palestinian cause. Their childish attempts to distract the attention of photographers by jumping in front of the Outrage protesters, holding placards in front of theirs and shouting over them simply increased the force of Tatchell’s arguments and coverage they gained.

Fortunately the rally soon got under way. The main speaker was Jamal Jumaa – Director of the Stop The Wall Campaign In Palestine, although there were many others, including Sophie Hurndall, the mother of murdered peace activist Tom, Green MEP Caroline Lucas, Afif Safieh the Palestinian General Delegate to the UK, George Galloway and more. Too many more for most of us.

War On Want activists came with a wall to dramatise the effect of the wall in Palestine. When the march moved off down Whitehall, the wall walked with them, and it was erected again opposite Downing Street. Here there was a short sit-down on the road before the event dissolved.

Many more pictures on My London Diary including of the main speakers.

Kyoto march to US embassy, Grosvenor Square

*Bristol Radical Cheerleaders in the Kyoto march to the US embassy*

I caught up with the Kyoto march, organised by the Campaign Against Climate Change, as it reached Berkeley Square on the last quarter-mile or so of its long trek [around 19 miles] from the Esso British HQ in Leatherhead. Esso are seen as being one of the main influences behind the refusal by President George Bush and the US administration to ratify the Kyoto Accord.

*Pedal-powered Rinky Dink sound system supports the Campaign against Climate Change*

The campaign had previously organised a number of marches in london, and this was an annual event.

*Marchers ready for the ‘Dinosaur Party’ at the US Embassy*

*CodePink campaigners with a coffin carrying planet Earth: TAKE ACTION NOW TO STOP CLIMATE CHANGE*

Among the marchers it was good to find a number dressed ready for the promised ‘Dinosaur Party’ at the US Embassy, as well as the fantastic Rinky Dink cycle-powered sound system. It was also good to meet a few of the Bristol Radical Cheerleaders again, bouncing with energy as ever. A little colour was also added by a small group of of Codepink activists forming a funeral cortège, carrying the globe on their coffin.

*Even the Statue of Liberty implores Bush to sign Kyoto*

*E$$o campaigners in front of the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square*

The police in Grosvenor Square were not helpful, but eventually the speeches got under way in a corner of the square.

More pictures on My London Diary.

Flickr – Facebook – My London Diary – Hull Photos – Lea Valley – Paris
London’s Industrial Heritage – London Photos

All photographs on this page are copyright © Peter Marshall.
Contact me to buy prints or licence to reproduce.

Punch, Morris, Nakba & London May Queen – 2012

Punch, Morris, Nakba & London May Queen: Saturday 12th May 2012 was an unusually busy day for me, rushing from Covent Garden to Westminster and then out to Hayes Common. There were two very different events I was determined not to miss, the Nakba Day protest at Downing Street remembering the anniversary of the eviction of around 750,000 Palestinians from their homes by Israeli forces in 1948 and the crowning of London’s 100th May Queen taking place on Hayes Common on the edge of London, around a hour’s travel away. And a couple of other events I could fit in too.

I wrote all of these up on My London Diary and you can read those accounts there on the links in this post – as well as finding many more pictures, so I won’t repeat myself too much here.

Punch Celebrates 350th Birthday – Covent Garden

Punch, Morris, Nakba & London May Queen - 2012 — ‘*Professors’ had come from around the world including Uncle Shiro the only Japanese Punch*

Punch and Judy professors from around the country and around the world brought their booths to Covent Garden this weekend to celebrate 350 years since Samuel Pepys first recorded a performance there in his diary.

His was the first recorded performance of the “Italian puppet play” and though Punch was then called Pulcinella and has obvious earlier roots in Italy it is regarded as the start of Punch and Judy in England.

The fun was only just starting when I left for more serious matters in Westminster. More about the day and many more pictures at Punch Celebrates 350th Birthday

Morris Men Occupy Westminster

Pavements across Westminster were filled with gaily dressed men with bells on them leaping and dancing as twelve Morris sides performed in around twenty sets over the day in Central London on the Westminster Day of Dance.

The performances were taking place at various locations in the City of Westminster, including the Victoria Embankment, St Margarets Westminster, Westminster Cathedral and Tate Britain, with the various Morris sides rotating between them throughout the day.

I left as the morning sessions ended and the Morris Men had a break for a doubtless mainly liquid lunch (dancing really is thirsty work) before the afternoon sessions which, after a euphemistically named ‘Tea Break’ were to conclude with a mass performance south of the river in Lambeth by the National Theatre.

Nakba Day Protest at Downing St

*This was a family protest – young protesters hold a Palestinian flag and placards*

Nakba Day is generally commemorated on 15 May and remembers the eviction of around 750,000 Palestinians from their homes by Israel forces in 1948. This London protest opposite Downing St was on the nearest Saturday.

At the time of the protest around 2000 Palestinians were on hunger strike in Israeli jails in protest against ‘administrative detention’ which allows them to be detained for consequtive periods of up to six months without any charge or trial.

Israel was still displacing Palestinians from their homes – and is currently in 2025 planning to clear them entirely from Gaza, either killing them through starvation, bombing or military eviction. Back in 2012 they were planning to forcibly displace around 40,000 Palestinian Bedouin from the Naqab desert, threatening to demolish the homes of around 85,000 Palestinians in East Jerusalem and to forcibly evict 2,000 from the West Bank.

Unfortunately I had to rush away while people were still arriving for the protest as I had promised to photograph the crowning of London’s 100th May Queen and was only able to take very few pictures to accompany the text.

More at Nakba Day Protest in London.

London Crowns 100th May Queen – Hayes, Kent

*The Merrie England Children Dance around the maypole with the newly crowned Queen at its centre*

The 100th London May Queen was crowned at the Merrie England and London May Queen Festival on Hayes Common, Kent, part of an unbroken tradition stretching back to 1913. 20 other Queens and their realms took part.

The ceremonies at Hayes Common, now a part of the London Borough of Bromley, continued even during both World Wars, though they were then carried out inside the local church as it was feared the procession around the village might attract unwanted attention from the German air force.

I’ve written often here and elsewhere about the London May Queen organisation and events, including a long account in my book London’s May Queens. [You can read a little more about this book – also available much more cheaply as an e-book – on >Re:PHOTO and can read the text and see many of the pictures at the book link.]

But there is one section of my post in 2012 which adds something to the story, so I’ll repeat it here.

“Whitelands College in London started its May Queen festival rather earlier in 1881 at the prompting of John Ruskin, and this still continues at the college (now part of the University of Roehampton) although since the college now admits men, some years they have a May King in place of a queen. Talking to one of the organisers of the event yesterday I learnt that Deedy had worked at Whitelands – contrary to the published information on him.”

Fortunately I arrived at Hayes Common just in time – though rather out of breath having run from Hayes Station – for the start of the procession around the village before the crowning.

Text and many more pictures at London Crowns 100th May Queen.

Flickr – Facebook – My London Diary – Hull Photos – Lea Valley – Paris
London’s Industrial Heritage – London Photos

All photographs on this page are copyright © Peter Marshall.
Contact me to buy prints or licence to reproduce.

Strangers into Citizens March and Rally – 2007

Strangers into Citizens March and Rally: On Monday 7th May 2007 on the Bank Holiday, London Citizens, an organisatioin working for social change through ‘community organising‘ inspired by the US civil rights movement and earlier struggles in the UK by “the Levellers, the Abolitionists, the Chartists, early trade unionists like the match girls and dock strikers, and the Suffragettes” organised a march and rally to launch their ‘Strangers Into Citizens’ campaign, This called “for the mass regularisation of people without immigration status, who have put down roots in this country over years but are vulnerable to exploitation and hardship.”

I attended this, took photographs and published a post about it on My London Diary, which is a little hard to find and to connect with the pictures there. Here it is again with the usual corrections and a few of the pictures – with links to the rest.

Strangers into Citizens March and Rally

Westminster, London. Monday 7 May, 2007

Over the past years, many people without British passports had come to live in our country. Some of course had the right to do so as EU nationals. Many have claimed asylum, often refused for trivial reasons of paperwork or formalities even when people were clearly endangered in their home countries. Some claims drag on for years before a decision is made. Others have simply stayed on after studies or holidays, or entered the country without any permission.

Almost all of these people have one thing in common; they want to work and earn a living. Their work – often for very low wages at or below the national minimum – has helped to keep our economy buoyant, although in many cases they do not have the correct papers to work legally. They are thus open to exploitation and often unable to access medical services or even open bank accounts. One in 100 of those living in Britain is currently in this kind of limbo.

Many have lived here for years, paid their taxes and contributed to society in various ways – helping to run the parent teacher associations at their children’s schools, supporting local churches and mosques, volunteering for charities – as well as their work. Most of them will remain here – as the government admits there are just too many for them to be removed in any remotely civilised manner.

Not that it is civilised for the unfortunate few picked out by the authorities for a 4.30am raid, not given the opportunity to properly pack their belongings or say goodbye to friends and neighbours, taken to the airport and put on a plane back to a country where they may well face persecution for their political or religious beliefs.

This is a problem that needs a sensible, humane and pragmatic solution. Strangers Into Citizens have proposed one: – those irregular migrants who have lived here for more than 4 years should be given a 2 year work permit; at the end of this, provided they get suitable employer and character references, they would be given leave to remain indefinitely.

Although a great advance on the current treatment of these people it seems to me not to go far enough; too many would still be left out in the cold. It’s also a a one-off measure, and needs (as Strangers Into Citizens propose) to be a part of a wider package of fair treatment for those applying for asylum or immigration.

Since 2007 our political parties have shifted dramatically to the right, strengthening their already racist stances and now a new extreme-right party has gained significant votes in elections although still only having 5 MPs. At the last General election only the Lib-Dems and Green Party had more sensible and positive policies on migration.

So while the proposals by Strangers into Citizens seem sensible and humane – if rather limited – there seems to be no political possibility of them or anything like them becoming law.

More pictures on My London Diary.

Flickr – Facebook – My London Diary – Hull Photos – Lea Valley – Paris
London’s Industrial Heritage – London Photos

Long Live Mayday! London 2015

Long Live Mayday! London 2015: I don’t often post recent work I’ve taken on this site but I am still covering events in London though not on the scale I used to. I no longer post regularly on My London Diary as there are almost the maximum possible number of files on that site and I would have to delete older work to continue posting there. But all my new work – or at least my selection of it – now gets posted on Facebook – and you can follow me there.

As well as albums of new work I also post one of my earlier images every morning – currently colour images from around 1986.

I’m still working on putting a large selection of my earlier work on film on Flickr, both black and white and colour images, mainly of buildings and events in London but also pictures from Paris, Hull and elsewhere. Currently I’ve uploaded almost 40,000 images, mainly from 1974 to 1987, probably around a quarter of those I took. It’s now one of the largest archives of images of London, including many of its less well known parts.

But on Thursday 1st of May, International Workers Day, I was out again on the streets of London, meeting friends and taking pictures at the start of the London May Day March at Clerkenwell Green.

It was London’s hottest May Day since records began, and I couldn’t walk the whole length of the march taking pictures now. So I started with the marchers and then stopped for the whole long march to go past me, photographing people and banners. Then I walked down the shaded side of Farringdon Road to Farringdon Station to catch the Elizabeth Line – cool in several ways – the one stop to Tottenham Court Road where I changed to the rather warmer Northern Line, arriving at Charing Cross well before the march.

I walked along Strand and sat down at a bus stop. Traffic had already been stopped along the road ahead of the march, but the TfL indicator board was still showing buses due which would not arrive until after the march had passed and I passed on the news to those waiting so they could find other transport – or stay to watch the march.

Sitting at the bus stop I was able to eat my sandwich lunch before the march drew close and I walked towards it, continuing moving slowly east as it came past me taking more pictures. I was on my way to the Indian High Commission where I had heard another protest was taking place.

*London, UK, 1 May 2025. Sikhs protest opposite the Indian High Commission against Modi over Kashmir*

When I arrived at Aldwych I found there were actually two groups of protesters, both there because of the killing of tourists last month in Kashmir. Opposite the High Commission were a group of Sikhs with a effigy of Indian Prime Minister Modi hanging upside down, opposed to his extreme-fight Hindu nationalist government which has threatened Pakistan, suspended the water-sharing agreement and made savage reprisals against Kashmiris after the 22 April attack.

*London, UK, 1 May 2025. Supporters of Indian Prime Minister Modi protest against terrorism in Kashmir*

After spending a few minutes photographing them I walked across the road to another group of protesters at the side of the High Commission. They had come to support Modi and protest against Pakistan which he claims had supported the militant group which carried out the killing. Part of Kashmir became a disputed territory at partition in 1947 when the local ruler decided to join India despite a majority Muslim population. It was granted some autonomy under an article of the Indian constitution, but this was recently rescinded. The country has been under a savage military occupation by India for many years. Other parts of Kashmir are administered by Pakistan and a smaller area by China.

On May Day I sent three groups of pictures to on-lin agency Alamy, a total of 84 pictures. The pictures in the three albums on Facebook are smaller versions of the same 84 images I posted the following day and a few of them are in this post. Unfortunately I think you need a Facebook login (free) to view the rest.

International Workers Day, Clerkenwell Green, London
International Workers Day March, London
Opposing Protests over Kashmir at Indian High Commission

Flickr – Facebook – My London Diary – Hull Photos – Lea Valley – Paris
London’s Industrial Heritage – London Photos

Occupy Gandhi – stop fossil fuel criminals – Parliament Square – 2015

Occupy Gandhi – stop fossil fuel criminals: Monday 4th May 2015 was the third day of Occupy Democracy’s 10 day ‘Festival of Democracy‘ in Parliament Square “building a movement for real democracy: free from corporate control, working for people and planet!“

I arrived in time for the meditation in front of the statue of Gandhi, noted for his direct action civil disobedience, which called for fossil fuel exploration and investment to be made a crime.

Blue tarpaulins had become a symbol of protest by the Occupy movement worldwide, and particularly in Parliament Square where the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 had allowed police to seize tents and anything else “adapted, (solely or mainly) for the purpose of facilitating sleeping or staying in a place for any period” and there had been many battles between police and protesters over the seizing of blue tarps.

Donnachadh McCarthy spoke at the start of the rally and tarps were put into placeon the paved area in front of the statue of Gandhi. Occupy protesters then sat on them in a circle with others standing around and watching.

At the centre of the circle was a blue tarp with the message ‘CRIMINALISE FOSSIL FUEL EXPLORATION’ and there were some short speeches and a time for meditations, during one of which Donnachadh and another person leading the event got up and wrapped a blue tarpaulin around Gandhi.

Heritage wardens came and asked for the tarp to be removed, but were ignored and they then removed it themselves.

Two protesters than brought up a another tarp, putting it around Gandhi but taking care – at least until the wardens moved a little away – not to letting it actually touch the statue.

At the end of the meditation, Donnachadh announced an act of civil disobedience and pulled a folding tent onto the tarpaulin on the pavement in front of him and erected it. Several people then came and sat inside it, and the protest continued around the tent with Donnachadh joining the others inside.

Heritage wardens talked with police and after around half an hour a few police officers came to tell those in the tent they were committing an offence and might be arrested if they failed to leave. The police then walked away.

The protest continued and twelve minutes later as Big Ben was striking for 2pm a group of around 20 police marched in and surrounded the tent. Donnachadh had been standing in front of it but quickly jumped back in as they arrived.

Those inside the tent were told they would be arrested unless they left immediately. With officers surrounding the tent it was had to see or photograph what was happening, but only three remained.

Police then went inside the tent where the protesters had linked arms around each other and slowly managed to drag them out, one by one.

When Donnachadh was dragged out and carried away to a police van he was still shouting against fossil fuels. After the police had pulled out the final protester and the torn and broken remains of the tent the protest continued around the statue of Gandhi, but many including myself soon left.

Many more pictures, particularly of the final scened when police surrounded the tent and dragged Donnachadh away on My London Diary at Occupy Gandhi – stop fossil fuel criminals.

Flickr – Facebook – My London Diary – Hull Photos – Lea Valley – Paris
London’s Industrial Heritage – London Photos

Just Shares, Riverside & No to the Crook, the Toff, The Fascist or Cop 2008

Just Shares, Riverside & No to the Crook, the Toff, The Fascist or Cop: Friday 2nd May 2008 was the day the results came out for the election for London Mayor and it turned out to be a sad day for London. Earlier I’d covered a protest calling on the City of London to move away from its unjust economic prcarices and then gone to an exhibition and walked along the riverside while I waited for the mayoral declaration, though it came after I had given up and left for home

Just Shares Take On The Bank – Royal Exchange, Bank

‘Just Share’, “a coalition of churches and development agencies seeking to engage with the City of London on issues of global economic injustice” and to “address the widening gap between rich and poor in the global economy” based at St Mary-le-Bow church in Cheapside had organised a protest in the heart of the City, in front of the Royal Exchange and at the side of the Bank of England.

I don’t think anyone at the Bank was listening to Ann Pettifor, Guardian economist Larry Elliott or the others as they spoke on the steps of the Royal Exchange, or took seriously the seminar later by Pettifor in one of Hawksmoor’s finest churches, St Mary Woolnoth, where former slave captain John Newton, writer of ‘Amazing Grace‘, preached his last 28 years.

She argued that current global debt-based financial systems are unsustainable and that structural change is necessary which gives proper regard to actual production, and the rediscovery of the insights of earlier Christian (and of course Muslim) traditions.

more pictures

London Riverside – South Bank and Southwark

After visiting an exhibition at the Hayward Gallery on the South Bank next to Waterloo Bridge I walked slowly along the riverside and took a few pictures.

I was on my way to London’s City Hall, then close to Tower Bridge, owned by the government of Kuwait. In 2021 City Hall moved to a GLA-owned property in Newham, some miles to the east. The results of the London Mayoral Election were expected to be announced there in the early evening.

A few more pictures.

No to the Crook, the Toff, The Fascist or Cop -City Hall, Southwark

I sat on a wall close to City Hall reading John Updike’s novel ‘Terrorist’ which is perhaps why I attracted quite so much attention from a Metropolitan police FIT team (Forward Intelligence Team) photographer who took a number of photographs of me sitting there. I don’t object to being photographed, but was a little surprised when later I put in a Freedom of Information request to find the Met claimed they had no pictures of me, despite having photographed me working at many protests.

Protesters from various anarchist groups including Class War had come to City Hall to wait for the new London Mayor to be announced, though they were clear that they were against all the candidates – who they described as the Crook, the Toff, The Fascist and the Cop (there were six others also standing including Green Party candidate Sian Berry who got more votes than “the fascist” BNP candidate.

The protesters were allowed to protest in front of City Hall for around 35 minutes until Fitwatch went into action to frustrate the FIT teams (who could really use a little more intelligence) enclosing one of them in their banner.

Police called up their waiting reinforcements and the TSG arrived four minutles later and began to push the demonstrators, along with some bystanders, mainly tourists, towards the waiting pen which had been set up a short distance away.

One French woman was bemused. “But why are they just letting themselves be pushed” she asked me as I took photographs. “Because this is England and not France” I replied.

I watched as police told a man leaning peacefully on the river wall watching that he had to move as he was “obstructing the highway“. Clearly he wasn’t (though the police were) and he refused to move. They dragged him from the wall, claimed he was struggling (visibly he wasn’t), handcuffed him and led him away to one of the over 40 police vans parked nearby.

I showed my press card and for once was allowed through the police line obstructing the riverside path and made my way to a public balcony overlooking the area. “Cannier protesters had moved away faster, and were able to display their banner” for a couple of minutes but as I arrived they saw the police coming after them and made a run for a nearby pub.

“The police obviously couldn’t be bothered to chase them, and contented themselves with moving the innocent public away from the balcony, and after a short time, also moving the press.” I joined the protesters in the pub for a drink before leaving for home.

By the time I arrived home Boris Johnson (the Toff) had been announced as the winner and London suffered from a dysfunctional mayor for the next 8 years as he was again elected in 2012. Later those the police had penned were allowed to go home.

Many more pictures.

Flickr – Facebook – My London Diary – Hull Photos – Lea Valley – Paris
London’s Industrial Heritage – London Photos

Filipino Nurses tell Daily Mail to apologise – Kensington

Walking the Coal Line – Peckham

UK Uncut Art Protest – Westminster Bridge

Biafrans demand independence – Trafalgar Square

Mass rally Supports National Gallery Strikers – Trafalgar Square

March to Defend Jobs, Services and Education – Highbury Fields to Archway

Southern Yemenis Demonstrate For a Separate State – Downing St, Whitehall

Rev Billy Performs at Downing St

National Demonstration against Police Violence Trafalgar Square to New Scotland Yard

Lawyers Funeral for Legal Aid – Old Palace Yard, Westminster

Daddy’s Pig heads for the Trough – Downing St to Bank

Foil Vedanta at Jaipur Literary Festival – Royal Festival Hall

End Tampon tax Now Osbourne! – Parliament Square

‘Dosta, Grinta, Enough!’ – Parliament Square

March Against Monsanto Rally – Downing St

Housing is a Mental Health Issue – Stratford

The Wall Must Fall – Free Palestine Rally, Trafalgar Square

Kyoto march to US embassy, Grosvenor Square

Punch Celebrates 350th Birthday – Covent Garden

Morris Men Occupy Westminster

Nakba Day Protest at Downing St

London Crowns 100th May Queen – Hayes, Kent

Strangers into Citizens March and Rally

Westminster, London. Monday 7 May, 2007

Just Shares Take On The Bank – Royal Exchange, Bank

London Riverside – South Bank and Southwark

No to the Crook, the Toff, The Fascist or Cop -City Hall, Southwark

National Demonstration against Police Violence
Trafalgar Square to New Scotland Yard