Hunger Strikers & Sotheby’s: Ten years ago today this protest over Palestine was about Palestinians on hunger strike in Israeli jails against the use of indefinite illegal administration. Later I went to Mayfair where cleaners and their supporters were protesting for the reinstatement of two cleaners sacked and victimised because of their trade union activities.
BBC protest over Palestinian Hunger Strikes – Broadcasting House
The hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners Muhammad Allan and Uday Isteiti held in Israeli jails under administrative detention was in its sixth week, but the BBC had failed to report this and other hunger strikes.
So Innovative Minds in cooperation with The Prisoner’s Centre for Studies in Jerusalem had come to the BBC to protest against the continuing pro-Israel bias among management and some reporters. It’s a bias that has often been confirmed by academic studies and is continuing, though the recent use of starvation in Gaza and its appalling consequences we have all seen has resulting in some toughening of the BBC reporting on Israel’s war crimes.
Administrative detention allows people to be held without any real evidence and without trial and although in Palestine it is supposedly time-limited, in practice many are immediately re-arrested when their sentence ends to begin another term and so is in practice indefinite.
As I concluded in 2015: “Many who used to regard the BBC as a great institution and praised its high standards are now disillusioned and feel that they need to listen and watch other broadcasters to get an impartial and more complete view of both overseas and UK news.”
The BBC has some fine reporters but they often come under pressure from their managers – who themselves are under pressure from powerful lobbying groups and politicians with strong sympathies for the Zionist cause, including leading figures in our government. But they also misinterpret their ideas of impartiality, often ignoring the facts of the situation in a misguided attempt to show both sides. As it has been said “there are no two sides to genocide.”
Early in 2015 the United Voices of the World union had come to an agreement with the company who then employed the outsourced cleaners at auction house Sotheby’s which had guaranteed the workers non-toxic products, reinstatements, fairer schedules and the London Living Wage (backdated.)
Sotheby’s, who make huge profits by selling art works and other items, decided to sabotage that deal by ending the contract with that company and starting a new contract with Servest, who decided not to honour the agreement that had been reached earlier.
This led the UVW to organise a series of protests, including a large and noisy one outside a “blockbuster £130m art sale” on July 1st. Sotheby’s responded by sacking four of the most active trade union members who had taken part in the protest, though later were forced by threats of legal action to reinstate two of them.
The protest on 31 July outside another auction demanded the reinstatement of the ‘Sotheby’s 2‘, as well as repeating the cleaners demands for proper sick pay, paid holidays and pensions and the London Living Wage.
The UVW continued with protests in Autumn 2015 and were able to announce in early 2016 that “ALL outsourced workers at Sotheby’s, including cleaners, caterers, porters and security guards would receive both the London Living Wage and contractual (much improved) sick pay.”
Rich Door, Poor Door: Class War’s Long series of protests against the separate and very different entrances to the tower block at One Commercial Street in Aldgate began on 30th July 2014 and weekly protests continued with some short pauses and a few extra visits until May 2015, when Class War devoted themselves to the General Election campaign.
Here is the introduction to my long post I made in 2014 about the event:
Class War, including three of their candidates for the 2015 General Election, protested at 1 Commercial St in Aldgate against London's new apartment blocks providing separate 'poor doors' for the affordable flats they have to include to gain planning permission for the development. Class War characterise this as 'social apartheid.'
You can still read the rest at Class War – Rich Door, Poor Door. At the time the building owners told us that there was “no internal connection between this part of the building and that containing the social housing” but on a later occasion I was taken by an owner of a flat in the “rich” section out of the building from her flat by the poor door – a route she took routinely when walking her dog.
I photographed almost all of the 30 events that took place in front of the building during that time, missing just a couple when I was out of London. And shortly after the protests ended I put together a ‘zine’ full of pictures from them (still available from Blurb) ‘Class War: Rich Door, Poor Door ISBN 978-1-909363-14-4′.
At the front of the zine is the text I posted on My London Diary on 30th July 2014, along with a list of the actions, and at its end a short note about how I came to photograph protests. But the bulk of the publication is simply pages of pictures with just a few short notes.
In a short conclusion I stated:
One Commercial Street still has its separate doors for rich and poor, but the campaign which had been suspended for the general election has made 'social apartheid' in housing an issue, and along with other housing campaigns has brought housing, and housing in London in particular onto the public agenda.
I should also had made it clear that Class War had taken an part in these other housing campaigns and their presence had helped to raise the profile of protests over these. In particular they had played an important part in making clear the involvement of Labour councils in London in collaborating with developers in the transfer of huge public assets into private ownership while failing to provide much-needed social housing.
Our current Labour government has still not got serious about the need to provide social housing rather than simply encourage developers to build more largely private housing (with a largely token amount of unaffordable “affordable” housing.) Perhaps if we do get a new party of the left things will change.
The preview on Blurb includes I think most or all of the publication and shows it better than the print publication. Viewing at full screen you can also read all the text, including my post from 2014 still on My London Diary. The pictures and text from all the other Poor Door protests are also still on My London Diary.
Stop Starving Palestine Pan Protest: Last Friday evening thousands of us came to Whitehall shocked by the news and photographs coming out of Gaza, where much of the population is now suffering from malnutrition and over a thousand have already died of starvation.
The famine there is entirely due to the actions of the Israeli government and their army, the IDF. Over the past months they have denied access to the normal humanitarian supplies of foods and essential items to Gaza.
Israel has also disrupted the well-established channels through which food was distributed in Gaza through the UN and humanitarian agencies. Together with the USA they have set up an alternative way to supply food which has operated at only four centres; the amount of food supplied has been vastly inadequate and over a thousand of those queueing for it have been killed by the IDF.
A holocaust survivor speaks outside the Foreign & Commonwealth Office.
The world has been shocked by the pictures coming out from Gaza, and by well-documented stories from medical staff that snipers and not only target those queueing for food but ‘gaming’ by targeting different parts of the anatomy on different days. One day hospitals treated many who had been shot in their testicles.
For months we have been appalled by the accounts of the shelling and bombing of hospitals, medical facilities and the arrests and interrogation of medical staff, some of whom have clearly been tortured.
L
Large areas of Gaza are now covered with the rubble of people’s homes and people forced to flee and living in makeshift tents, often in so-called ‘safe areas’ have been killed by the military.
The attack began after an attack by Hamas across the border into Israel in which over a thousand died – including some by Israeli military fire and hundreds were kidnapped as hostages. But it has continued for over 600 days, with the killing of many, many thousands of innocent Palestinians, men, women and children in what has clearly become a series of war crimes.
Some Israeli ministers have clearly stated their intention to entirely rid Gaza of Palestinians, and Donald Trump has supported them, with plans to turn the area into a holiday resort. Israel clearly wants to settle the area with Israelis.
From the rest of the world we have seen words of condemnation, but little or no real action, with the USA using its veto in the UN. The UK has banned some of its arms exports and is nowmaking plans for air drops of food – but these will only be a small – and dangerous – drop in the ocean of desperate need.
On Friday evening I travelled up to London with my wife – carrying a large pan and a wooden spoon to bang it with in a protest calling on our government to take effective action.
I began by photographing a rally outside the Foreign & Commonwealth office by the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network UK who began weekly protests in October 2023 against the Israeli Ambassador to the UK who had called for the illegal annexation of the West Bank and for “every school, every mosque, every second house” in Gaza to be destroyed. Their protests have been hounded by police, banned first from being outside her residence and then from Swiss Cottage.
Among the speakers I photographed there was a woman holocaust survivor who received tremendous support with people banging their pans and was unable to continue for several minutes. This was also one of the few parts of the evening of protest where many people had also come with placards.
A few yards up Whitehall there were crowds of protesters banging pans on both sides of Whitehall. Police tried to keep them on the pavement but when they appeared to be trying to arrest one of those who refused to move, crowds surged around them and occupied the whole of the highway.
There were a couple of speeches from in front of the gates to Downing Street, but many of those present were too far away to hear them and people kept up the banging of pans.
Eventually the organisers asked people to come and leave their pans in front of Downing Street and start moving towards Trafalgar Square. Some did, but many others still needed them to cook with. A thin police line held up the movement towards the square for around ten minutes – though the protesters could easily have broken through they waited patiently and then marched on to the square where I left them.
Vedanta AGM Protest: Westminster, Wednesday 28 July 2010
The protest outside Vedanta’s AGM held in Westminster on Wednesday 28th July 2010 was the first time I really became aware of the company and its mining activities. This protest concentrated on its plans to displace and wipe out an ancient civilisation in the Niyamgiri Hills of Orissa, India by bauxite mining.
The hills which would have been destroyed by their mining are sacred to the region’s Adivasis, primarily the Dongria Kondh tribes. By 2010 Foil Vedanta who organised the protest were saying that Vedanta had caused more than 100 deaths in the area though accidents, police shooting, forced displacement, injury and illness.
More than a thousand people have already been displaced, with 8000 under threat, moved away from their traditional sources of income and dumped into shanty towns where there is no work. Thousands of acres of fertile agricultural land have been destroyed, rivers and streams disrupted and drinking water contaminated by fly ash and toxic red mud.
Anil Agarwal is CEO of Vedanta
Vedanta Resouces is an Indian company founded and still run by the Agarwal family, but in 2003 was listed on the London Stock Exchange following a two year ban by the Securities Exchange Board of India from accessing capital markets after they were found guilty of cornering shares and rigging share prices.
Police push back security who assaulted activists who tried to enter the building
A damning report, Vedanta’s Billions: Regulatory failure, environment and human rights‘, issued by Foil Vedanta in 2018 accuses “the City of London and the Financial Conduct Authority” of minimising the risks associated with Vedanta’s legal violations and human rights and environmental abuses’ and failing to investigate or penalise any London listed mining company on these grounds.”
Among other crimes, the report names Vedanta as “the latest in a string of London listed mining companies linked to the murder or ‘massacre’ of protesters, including Lonmin, Glencore, Kazakhmys, ENRC, Essar, GCM Resources, Anglo Gold Ashanti, African Barrick Gold and Monterrico Metals.”
As well as Foil Vedanta the campaign against them was supported by Amnesty International, Survival International and Action Aid, and a number of campaigners had become shareholders so they could attend the meeting and attempt to question the company’s activities – and these included Bianca Jagger. Her presence and that of two bright blue aliens from the tribe destroyed in the James Cameron film ‘Avatar’ ensured that the protest for once got some press coverage. Also supporting the protest were the South Asia Solidarity Group, South Asian Alliance, Brent Refugee and Migrant Forum and London Development Education Centre.
The campaign against Vedanta had already been successful in getting various shareholders to end their investment, including the Church of England, the Joseph Rowntree Trust and the Dutch pensions company in ending their investments due to concerns about its approach to human rights and the environment. And continued protests by Foil Vedanta undoubtedly played a part in the company’s decision to de-list from the London Stock Exchange in 2018.
The company was helped to list in London by the British Government’s Department of Trade and Industry and the Department for International Development (DfID), and was getting continued support from the DfID Building Partnerships for Development programme and the Orissa ‘Drivers for Change’ research project, and former British Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and High Commissioner of India David Gore-Booth had been a directory.
Its billionaire CEO Anil Agarwal was said to have close links with the extremist umbrella group for Indian Hindu right-wing organistions, Sangh Parivar, said to be responsible for many attacks on Muslim and Christian communities in Orissa, Gujurat and other parts of India.
The Foil Vedanta report has a “special focus on illegal mining in Goa, pollution and tax evasion in Zambia, as well as illegal expansion and pollution in Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu, industrial disaster at Korba in Chhattisgarh, land settlement and pollution issues in Punjab, displacement and harassment of activists in Lanjigarh, Odisha, and a mineral allocation scam in Rajasthan.“
You can see and read more about the 2010 protest on My London Diary at Vedanta AGM Protest.
Al Quds Day March in London: International Quds Day is an annual event at the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan which expresses support for Palestinians and oppose Israel and Zionism. In particular it is a protest against the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem – al-Quds in Arabic.
Neturei Karta ultra-orthodox Jews oppose Zionism
A peaceful Al Quds march has taken place every year in London for over 40 years and the organisers describe it as having a “family atmosphere with demonstrators coming from all walks of life. Christians, Jews, Muslims, people of other faiths and none all march in common cause side by side.”
This is largely true, but the march in London attracts counter-protests from Zionists and others (including Iranian freedom, communist and royalist movements and UK right wing fringe groups), which have sometimes led to confrontations and delays and increased security with some marchers becoming mistrustful of photographers.
It has at times been a difficult event for me to cover in the close way I like work. Many of my pictures are made with wide angle or extreme wide angle lenses, 28mm or less focal length down to fisheye, working inside or on the edge of crowds. I want to be close to people, if not within touching distance, seldom more than a couple of metres away to give greater interaction and immediacy.
The Quds Day march and rally in 2025 was on Sunday 23rd March, but chaotic rail services that day prevented me from covering it, though I had photographed a pro-Palestine rally close to the Israeli Embassy the previous day. The organisers pointed out that it was taking place “amid an ongoing genocide in Gaza where Israeli forces have slaughtered 50,000 civilians in Gaza, most of them women and children. At the same time armed colonial settlers and troops are running rampage in the occupied West Bank, invading, looting and attacking Palestinian towns and villages with the international community turning a blind eye or actively complicit in the slaughter.”
Back in 2014, the situation in Gaza was dire. As UNRWA states, “During the 50 days of hostilities lasting from 8 July until 26 August 2014, 2,251 Palestinians were killed; 1,462 of them are believed to be civilians, including 551 children and 299 women. 66 Israeli soldiers and five civilians, including one child, were also killed. Overall, 11,231 Palestinians were injured during the conflict, including 3,540 women and 3,436 children.”
83 schools and 10 health centres were damaged, over 12,600 homes were totally destroyed and there was “a massive displacement crisis in Gaza, with almost 500,000 persons internally displaced at its peak.” The “scale of human loss, destruction, devastation and displacement caused by the 2014 conflict in Gaza – the third within seven years – was catastrophic, unprecedented and unparalleled in Gaza.”
But of course Gaza is now experiencing something far worse – and humanitarian agencies including UNWRA are being prevented by Israel from supporting the people and supplies of food and other necessities are largely being blocked. Inadequate amounts are brought in by the so-called “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation” and people desperate to get it are being shot by the Israeli Defence Forces.
Of course we all know this npw – even though the Israeli government has tried to hide it by preventing international journalists from entering Gaza – and also systematically targeting the Palestinians who are able to report. An article in Modern Times Review on July 15, 2025 quoted the Cost of War project as stating “more journalists have been killed in Gaza in the past 18 months than were killed in the U.S. Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam, and Afghanistan combined.” Early in July the number killed in Gaza had risen to 226.
On 24th July 2014, the march began close to the BBC and went to a rally outside the US Embassy, then still in Grosvenor Square. It was covered by several foreign media organisations but – as with most UK demonstrations – willfully ignored by the BBC.
Protesters called for a boycott of Israel and an end to the occupation of Palestine as well as an end to the attacks on Gaza.
On My London Diary I give a list of the organisations supporting the march – and there is a rather longer list of those supporting the 2025 march. One of the major organisations in both is the Innovative Minds Human Rights Group (InMinds). Founded in 1997 and alleged to have links to the Iranian Islamic Republic it has held regular protests in London against companies supporting the Israeli military, against the arbitrary detention of Palestinians, the torture and imprisonment of Palestinian children and calling for an end to apartheid in Israel.
In the pictures you will see many flags and posters from Inminds – and also a few images of Ayatollah Khomeini who started the celebration of Al Quds Day in Iran in 1979 as well as the current Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei.
Also standing out in my pictures are the ultra-orthodox anti-Zionist Neturei Karta Jews who state clearly their belief that Judaism is a religion and not a state, and “Judaism rejects the Zionist state And condemns its ATROCITIES”
One contentious issue in 2014 was over the carrying of flags of the Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group Hezbollah. In 2014 the political party, which was part of the government of Lebanon had not been proscribed and it was only illegal to carry it if there was other evidence to show support of the proscribed terrorist group. I was looking for these flags but only found a very few to photograph.
As the march made its way down Regent Street there were shouts against it from an upper floor window and vegetables were thrown down at the marchers who shouted back angrily. The march organisers asked police to investigate and urged to people to march on.
I left the march well before it reached the US Embassy and saw no other protests against the march. You can see more pictures from the march on My London Diary at Al Quds Day march for Jerusalem.
End the Genocide, Stop Arming Israel: Last Saturday, 19th July 2025, the weather forecast for London was dire. Thunderstorms and heavy rain until clearing a little later in the afternoon, with up to several inches of rain leading to some localised flooding. In the event it was a bit under two inches, with small rivers running along the side of some streets.
London, UK. 19 July 2025. Many thousands march in pouring rain in London
In this account I intend to write about my personal experiences and working as a photographer on the day rather than my views on the terrible situation in Palestine and the reprehensible actions of the Israeli government and army – and Hamas. I’ve often written about the need for peace and justice, for an end to occupation and destruction and for the release of hostages and prisoners.
London, UK. 19 July 2025.
Linda and I were determined to go out and join the national demonstration, to show our support for the people of Gaza, to demand our government stop selling arms to Israel and to call on the Israeli government to end its terrible destruction and genocidal attacks and to allow humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza, many now starving. A little rain was not going to stop us.
As usual I checked online for our trains, only to find that our services into London were subject to delay and cancellation due to signalling problems. We dropped everything and hurried to get an earlier train than we had intended – and which actually was more punctual than usual – only two or three minutes late into Waterloo.
It was raining fairly heavily as we walked out of the station and by the time we’d crossed the Jubilee bridge to the Embankment where the march was gathering we were already quite wet.
As the forecast was for afternoon temperatures in the low to mid twenties I’d grabbed a lightweight waterproof jacket on my way out, which was a mistake. It did keep the water off to start with but was soon getting soaked through in places. I realised too late that I should have worn my poncho – or a heavier jacket that although too warm would have kept me dry. At least I’d had the sense to put on my truly waterproof walking boots rather than my usual trainers.
We joined the large crowd that was sheltering under the bridge carrying the rail lines into Charing Cross and I started to take photographs. It was dry – so long as you avoided the areas where water was leaking down from above – but rather dark.
I was working with my Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III (what a crazy mouthful of a name) a camera that came out over 5 years ago. It’s a Micro 43 camera with a sensor only around half the size of full-frame, but that does mean it can be significantly smaller and lighter – something increasingly important to me as I get less able to carry heavy camera bags. And, vitally important today, it is a camera that has good weather protection.
I also had my Fuji X-T30 in my camera bag, with a 10-24 zoom fitted. Had I not rushed out I might have chosen a more suitable body and wide angle for use in wet weather. Neither that camera or lens are weather sealed (the more recent 10-24mm is) and for most of the day they stayed in my bag. I did take them out a couple of times when the rain had eased off, but hardly any of the pictures I took with them were usable.
Under the bridge light was low, but the Olympus has good image stablisation and the main problem was subject movement, as people shouted slogans, jumped up and down, banged drums and more. Being very crowded also meant people were often banging into me as I was working.
I also use small and light lenses – in the case the Olympus 14-150mm F4-5.6 – equivalent to 28-300mm on full frame, going from a decent but not extreme wide-angle to a long telephoto. Its a small, light and incredibly versatile lens, but not one at its best in low light with its rather small aperture.
I started off working with the lens on the P setting, the programme choosing suitable shutter speed and aperture – with the lens wide open and shutter speeds of around 1/15 to 1/25 second. But I soon realised to stop action I would need a faster speed and switched to manual, deliberating underexposing at 1/100th second, f5.0 and at ISO 3200. The RAW images were dark but I knew that I could get Lightroom to make them look fine – if sometimes lacking in shadow detail.
Eventually people began to move out into the rain and march and I went with them, holding my camera under my jacket and only taking it out quickly to take pictures. I looked in my bag for the chamois leather I usually hold to dry and hold in front of the lens filter and it wasn’t there – I’d left it back home in the pocket of the jacket I was wearing when it last rained while I was taking pictures. I had to make do with a handkerchief instead, giving the protective filter a quick wipe before each exposure.
Outside it was a little brighter and I was able to increase the shutter speed to something more sensible, and was using manual settings of 1/160 f5.6 with auto-ISO giving me correct exposure. I was mainly working at the wider focal lengths of the lens and f5.6 gave me enough depth of field.
I hadn’t got out my umbrella, but of course many others were carrying them to keep dry. I find it hard to work with one hand while holding an umbrella in the other. But other people’s umbrellas were a little of a nuisance, with water often pouring from them onto me as I took pictures, adding to the effect of the rain.
So I was getting increasing wet – and soon retreated to the sheltered area under the bridge where different groups were now coming through. Keeping close to the end of the sheltered area I was able to keep working at the same settings, with the ISO now 3200.
London, UK. 19 July 2025. Stephen Kapos and another holocaust survivor on the march.
After a while I went out into the wet again – the rain had eased off slightly, and took more pictures. Then I noticed the banner for the Jewish holocaust survivors and their descendants and went over to greet Stephen Kapos, photograph him and another survivor as they set off on the march.
Shortly after I decided I would move to Westminster Bridge to take pictures of the marchers with the Houses of Parliament in the background, and walked as quickly as I could to there. Crowds of marchers and tourists watching the march slowed my progress somewhat.
The bridge is open to light and I was now using 1/250 second, but still with the Olympus lens at its wide-angle lens there was no need to stop down and I was working at around ISO 640.
I think around half of the march had gone over the bridge before I got there and I stayed taking pictures around halfway across the bridge for around half an hour, only leaving when I could see the end of the march coming on to the bridge. Fortunately the rain had eased off, but I was still getting wet.
I then hurried taking a short cut to get to Waterloo Bridge, taking just a few pictures where hurried past the march again on York Road. I took more photographs as people came onto Waterloo Bridge and then saw that a large group had stopped in the shelter underneath the railyway bridge and were having a spirited protest there – so I went to photograph them. When they marched off I went with them to Waterloo Bridge.
I looked at my watch. I had thought about taking the tube to Westminster and then going to photograph the rally in Whitehall, but decided it was perhaps too late to bother. I’d taken a lot of photographs and was rather wet and also hungry and decided it was time to go home.
I went to Waterloo and got on a train. Eventually, 15 minutes late, it decided to leave, and with a few stoppages at signals got me home around 25 minutes later than it should. Fortunately I’d packed some sandwiches and was able to eat them sitting at Waterloo, though the view wasn’t interesting. I’d edited and filed my pictures by the time Linda arrived home.
Shut Down Yarl’s Wood 14 – Yarl’s Wood immigration prison, near Bedford
The protest outside Yarl’s Wood Immigration Detention Centre on Saturday 14th July 2018 was the fourteenth on the remote site built on a wartime air base organised by Movement for Justice, although I had been covering protests in and around London calling for the closure of this and the other immigrant prisons for over 10 years.
Antonia of Movement for Justice tells people what is happening. We are waiting for a final coach
I’d been at most of the previous thirteen at the site, although I had missed the first, largely because of transport problems – living outside London it wasn’t practical for me to travel on one of the coaches organised from London. In July 2018 I came with my bike on the train to Bedford and then cycled the 5 hilly miles to the event.
The march starts along the road
This protest was the smallest of them all I had attended there, with only a little over a hundred protesters. Many of those present had themselves been held for some time in this or other detention centres.
And then along a public footpath
Yarl’s Wood was being used to hold women and a few families, and previous protests had been widely supported by other groups including many feminist groups, who on this occasion stayed away. Later some other groups organised protests but on a smaller scale than the previous protests.
and through a gate into the field next to the detention centre
A woman who had been part of Movement for Justice and active in earlier protests here had left the group, complaining bitterly about the way the group had treated her. She had received widespread support including from some other former members leading to many boycotting this protest. I knew both her and others in MfJ and commented: “However justified her personal complaint, it revealed little if anything about the group that was not already public knowledge, and MfJ has played a major role in protests against our racist immigration detention system, and still seems to be supported by the former detainees.”
Where they stand and greet the women held inside over the fence
You can read about that public knowlege of MfJ on Wikipedia and on the complaints on the “Speak The Plain Truth” blog. I was saddened by the dispute but more so at the effect it had in weakening this and related campaigns – and I had never had any illusions about the nature of the organisation which I had first met in the 1990s.
A woman looks out at the protesters who were obviously welcomed
The protest followed the usual pattern, meeting on the public highway and, after a rally there marching a mile or so along a public footpath to a field next to the prison and overlooking a part of the site across a 20 foot high metal fence.
Others hold messages in the windows which only open a narrow slit
The lower 10ft of the fence is solid metal sheeting but the upper 10ft is a thick metal gauze (out of focus in the picture above.) Standing back on a slope I could see women held inside greeting the protesters. Guards inside had apparently tried to keep them away from the windows – even enticing them to another part of the building with offers of free ice-cream!
They could hear the protest and know that there were people outside who supported them, and some inside were able to speak to us over a mobile phone link. Some of those who spoke outside were able to greet friends still inside – some are held for long periods, with one released a day under three years.
Mabel had spent 3 years inside and knew many of those still held there
Most asylum seekers are genuine and are eventually released, but the Home Office has long appeared to have a policy of putting as many hurdles as possible in their way, often demanding records that are impossible for the detainees to provide – a similar tactic to that used in the Windrush scandal. Many were deported under illegal “fast-track” procedures – and MfJ has also managed to take legal action along with others to stop some individuals being deported.
Between speeches many banged on the fence to make a great deal of noise
Most of our legal system is based on the principle that people are innocent until they are tried and proven guilty. But our asylum system works in the opposite way, assuming claims are fraudulent and demanding that asylum seekers prove they are genuine.
It was hot in the sun and I got tired. The protest was still continuing as I got on my bike to ride back to Bedford station.
London Saturday 16th July 2005: Another long series of posts from a day in London 20 years ago which I think is worth rescuing from the depths of My London Diary. Here, with the usual corrections and links to the many pictures on My London Diary is my day.
SWFest 05 – Pimlico
Back in London [from a visit to East Yorkshire], Saturday 16 July was a busy day. I started in Pimlico, with the ‘SWFest 05’ parade and festival In St Georges Square. It was a local event, with plenty of local people enjoying themselves.
International Brigade Commemoration – Jubilee Gardens, South Bank
The Internationale unites the human race – sung by a veteran of the Spanish Civil War with a raised fist.
Getting from there to Jubilee Gardens for the annual commemoration of the International Brigade who fought fascism in Spain was made tricky with the obvious bus route being held up by a parade. I got a little exercise jogging there, but it was really too hot.
Sam Russell speaks, Jack Jones and John Pilger listen
The weather was indeed rather Spanish, hot and breezeless, with a clear blue sky. There was no shade around the memorial to those 2,100 who fought 67 or more years ago for freedom. Many died in Spain, and there are now relatively few still living, though some were there, now in their 80s and 90s, and some clearly still going strong.
Sam Russell spoke movingly of the events in Spain and Jack Jones chaired the meeting. It fell to him to read out the names of the comrades who had died since last year’s event. Several came in their red berets, and with their badges
Jack Jones llstens as John Pilger talks.
John Pilger had been invited to speak about the meaning of the Brigaders’ heroism today. [His account of the event and his speech I linked to on Truthout is no longer available, but is many other articles are worth reading, including Chomsky’s Remembering Fascism: Learning From the Past which begins with a mention of Spain.]
The commemoration ended with singing: “So comrades, come rally and the last fight let us face – The Internationale unites the human race.” Unfortunately there still seems to be an ever longer road before that happens.
Fascism is still with us, and showed its face – if largely shamefacedly – in London later that afternoon, when around 50-60 National Front supporters gathered to march. It wasn’t quite clear what message they wanted to put across, there were few banners and less articulacy in a flood of union jacks.
Most of the marchers were men. I talked to quite a few, asking permission to take some of the pictures. No-one refused, some said yes, then turned away or moved behind their flags. At one point I was threatened with violence, but the guy’s mates came and pulled him away. One of the women demonstrators had a bunch of flowers. I asked her about them and was told the march would leave these at the Book of Condolence for the London Bombings.
The police let them walk to the corner of Victoria Street, where they could be seen by the public walking by. Many of those passing were clearly hostile to the Front, most showing it by their expressions, a few shouting at them.
I took a few more pictures and then left. Another photographer there was commissioned to cover the march, but I was free to do something more pleasant on this fine summer’s day. I went and sat in the park and ate my sandwiches and had a drink.
more pictures
Turkish Festival, Coin St – Bernie Spain Gardens
Turkish chorus
Meanwhile, at Bernie Spain Gardens, another of the programme of Coin Street events celebrating London’s diversity was taking place. I arrived just as a procession of Turkish singers and musicians was making its way to perform on the south bank walkway there.
Later I went to hear one of Turkey’s leading singers perform on the main stage, and she was followed in the limelight by a belly dancer. I’ve photographed several belly dancers over the years, and this one had rather less belly than some, but that made the performance none the less compelling. I can’t claim to understand the finer points of the genre, but it still has a certain attraction. It isn’t just me being mesmerised by the mobility of a female body, although that certainly doesn’t detract.
Divided Cyprus – Greek Cypriots protest in Trafalgar Square
Dragging myself away from Turks and Turkish London and a rather pleasant Turkish beer – on sale here at over 5 times its price in Turkey – I walked past the skateboarders and over the bridge towards Trafalgar Square. Supposedly there was to be a march of Greek Cypriots protesting against the ‘foreign’ Turkish occupation of the north-east third of Cyprus, continuing since the 1974 invasion.
The march didn’t seem to be happening, but there was a rally in Trafalgar Square, and I photographed a number of people holding photographs of some of the 1476 people – soldiers and civilians – still missing since 1974.
Despite these outstanding problems, Greek and Turkish Cypriots live together peacefully in London, particularly along Green Lanes [in Harringay in North London.] The Cypriots (especially now Cyprus is in the European Union) claim to “long for a viable and durable settlement that would enable Greek and Turkish Cypriots to live amicably as they have for centuries in the past“.
Barts NHS Cleaners march against Serco: On Saturday 15th July 2017 a rally and march in Whitechapel follow five days of strike by cleaners and porters at the Royal London Hospital and the other East London hospitals in the Barts NHS Trust – Mile End Hospital, Newham University Hospital, St Bartholomew’s Hospital and Whipps Cross University Hospital.
John McDonnell with others on the march down the Mile End Rd
Cleaning, portering, laundry, cleaning and security services were outsourced to Serco in 2017 and the workers involved immediately found their conditions being adversely affected. Serco’s first action was to write to them telling they were no longer allowed paid tea breaks; the workers sat in the canteen and refused to move before these were re-instated. But they accused Serco of increasing stress and workload with a climate of bullying, intimidation and fear and a failure to set up procedures for reporting problems with facilities and other issues.
When Serco refused a Unite claim for 30p per hour in line with inflation and cost of living increases in London the workers voted 99% in favour of strike action. Serco illegally brought in poorly trained agency workers to replace them and on the strike days conditions became unsanitary and many patients did not get hot meals.
Barts Trust had put these services out to tender to save money they needed to pay out £2.4million a week because of a disastrous PFI contract made under New Labour. Although It had provided a much-needed new hospital completed in 2016 but with two floors Barts didn’t have the money to fit out, it left them paying these huge sums long into the future. But Barts were attempting to save money at the expense of their workers and endangering patients.
Gail Cartmel, , Assistant General Secretary at Unite and TUC Executive member
The protest began on the busy street outside the old Royal London buildings but there were soon too many for the pavement here and we moved around to the side of the hospital for a rally, where speakers including Gail Cartmel of Unite, John McDonnell, then Shadow Chancellor and Unite pickets and other trade unionists including Victor Ramirez of United Voices of the World who spoke forcefully in Spanish – the first language of many of the cleaners – spoke from a balcony above the crowd – and I was able to take some pictures. Some brought greetings and support from other unions.
Serco employ mainly migrant workers in other public sector workplaces as well as running immigration prisons such as Yarl’s Wood where migrant women and families are daily repressed and subject to physical and sexual abuse and some had come to support the Barts workers and also to protest against their activities elsewhere.
Eventually the marchers formed up behind the banner and made there way along Mile End Road to another rally in a small park close to Mile End Hospital, where there were a few more speakers before we all dispersed.
Back in 2003 I’d spent time in several hospitals and had experienced a clear difference between the standards of cleaning and food between those with contracted out cleaners who were allowed insufficient time to clean the wards and one where the cleaners were still a part of the hospital team. It was the difference between dirt and used needles under my bed and a spotless shiny floor.
Victor Ramirez of UVW
Protests continued at Barts and in 2023 Serco withdrew early from the contract. Both Unite and Unison claimed victory for the decision by Barts to directly employ the workers under the same conditions as other existing staff.
Labour in opposition were clearly opposed to outsourcing particularly in the public services and promising to outlaw it, but the Employment Rights Bill Implementation Roadmap published this month seems to have drawn back from the earlier promise and contains no explicit reference to outsourcing.
I was pleased with the photographs I had been able to make at the event and as well as the few here there are many more you can see on My London Diary at Barts NHS Cleaners march against Serco.
Lettings Scam, Bears, Bahrain & John Lewis: Saturday 14th July 2012 was another day I spent travelling to protests around London. On the Holloway Road Harringey Private Tenants Action Group protested against letting agents who take hundreds of pounds from people looking for homes but do nopthing for them, PETA marched from Waterloo to Marble Arch against bears being killed to make busbys for the guards, a protest at the Bahraini embassy in Belgrave Square against killing and jailing of political prisones. Finally I went to John Lewis in Oxford Street where cleaners were calling to be recognised as partners in the business and to be paid the London Living Wage.
I photographed protesters standing in the rain outside letting agents Drivers & Norris on Holloway Road, condemning them for taking over £300 from home seekers and providing nothing return but refusing to return the payment.
Harringey Private Tenants Action Group stated:
Agency ‘fees’, reference ‘checks’, admin ‘fees’, leaving ‘fees’ are all costs that have been created over the past few years by and for Letting Agents like Drivers and Norris, to increase their profits and exploit the basic nee of tenants to find a home. We, as private tenants, will not accept this anymore. We have a right to really affordable, secure and decent housing just like anyone else.
Police came and tried to get the protesters to end their protest, claiming it might distract drivers on the busy main road. The protesters told the police firmly that they were simply trying to suppress lawful protest and if they considered there was any real danger they should divert traffic from the area and that instead of wasting police time here they should be investigating the Drivers & Norris scam rather than harassing protesters.
I commented that there was no real reason for any police presence as there was “unlikely to be any breach of the peace. But I suppose it was an easy number to drink tea in the estate agents“.
On My London Diary I pointed out that agents had profited enormously from high property prices in London, now well above what people on average or lower wages can afford, and that successive governments had weakened the security of private tenants and cut the provision of social housing creating the current dire housing problems. Many new developments were also being aimed at overseas investors to enable them to take advantage of the rapidly rising property prices while often leaving the properties empty.
PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) had stated:
It can take the entire hide of one Canadian black bear to make just one cap. Bears can be shot several times before they die, and some escape and bleed to death. In some Canadian provinces, there are no restrictions on the shooting of mothers who have nursing cubs, leading to the slaughter of entire families during hunts.
We need to send a clear message to the Ministry of Defence that the slaughter of wildlife for The Queen’s Guards’ ceremonial headwear is unacceptable and that the time has come for them to go fake for the bears’ sake.
I’d called in to the start of the march next to the Shell Centre at Waterloo before going to Haringey, but hadn’t taken any pictures, deciding instead to meet them at the end of the march. It took them much longer than they had expected and I’d almost given up when I saw them coming up Park Lane and rushed to take pictures.
It was perhaps a too regimented protest with so many identical placards and bear masks provided by PETA which made it difficult for me to find anything really different to photograph.
They had also been asked to wear black clothes, but at least had been told to bring their own teddy bears.
Solidarity with the Bahraini prisoners – Bahraini embassy, Belgrave Square
The Al Khalifa family has ruled Bahrain since the late 1700s and in 1820 made a treaty with Britain – since renewed on various occasions, becoming a British protectorate. The country became independent in 1971 – when the USA took over what had previously been the Royal Navy base – and the family is still in power.
Various attempts to extend democracy in Bahrain led to little change in the ruling family’s control and to an uprising in 2011 with large protests and a brutal crackdown with many protesters tortured and around 120 killed. Mohammad Rahdi Mahfoodh was one of the ‘martyrs’ and was hit by a police vehicle and died from deliberate lack of care in a military hospital and mourners at his funeral were attacked.
Speakers at the protest including Jeremy Corbyn were there and people were still arriving for the protest opposite the embassy which was just beginning when I had to leave for my next event.
The flagship John Lewis store on Oxford Street is cleaned by people employed by Integrated Cleaning Management (ICM) who employ them on far worse conditions than if they were directly employed by John Lewis, and on the legal minimum wage, then more than two pounds an hour below the London living wage.
Unlike others who work in the store the cleaners do not take part in the bonus scheme in which John Lewis shares its profits with its workers (the ‘partners’) although their work is essential to the operation of the store.
The cleaners also complain about poor management by ICM with discrimination and abuse at work, and are currently threatened by a 50% cut in their hours.
They had been long campaigning for equality of treatment and to be directly employed by the company they actually work for – John Lewis – and had held a one-day strike the previous day which had ended with a rally and a brief invasion of the store, though had caused no damage. But this perhaps explained the large numbers of police present, with small groups around each of the shop entrances.
John Lewis senior management watched the noisy but peaceful protest from inside the store. The management were still refusing to talk with the cleaners Union, and another one-day strike was caused the following week.
