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March of the Mummies & Halloween Ferrari Showroom Protest – 2017

March of the Mummies & Halloween Ferrari Showroom Protest: On Tuesday 31st October 2017 I photographed a lunchtime protest in Whitehall by campaign group Pregnant Not Screwed against unfair sacking of women who become pregnant. In late afternoon I went to South Kensington whhere United Voices of the World were protesting outside a luxury car dealer after the its cleaners had been told they could either promise not to strike against their poverty wages or lose their jobs.

Pregnant Then Screwed March of the Mummies

Westminster

March of the Mummies & Halloween Ferrari Showroom Protest - 2017

A march by Pregnant Then Screwed mothers, many wrapped in bandages as ‘mummies’ and pushing buggies or carrying young children called for action over pregnancy and maternity discrimination.

Over a year ago a report commissioned by the government had reported that around 54,000 women, 1 in 9 of those who get pregnant each year had been sacked. That figure had almost doubled in the previous decade and it has been almost impossible for the victims to access justice – fewer than 1% had made a tribunal claim. The government had failed to take any action on the report.

Pregnant Then Screwed called on the time limit for making employment claims to be increased from three months to six for pregnant and postpartum women.

They said companies should be required to report annually how many claims for flexible working had been made by their employees and how many were granted.

They also asked for fathers to be entitled to six weeks paternity leave at 90% salary, for subsidised childcare from six months and for the self-employed to have statutory shared parental pay.

After some speeched in Trafalgar Square they marched down Whitehall to deliver a petition and protest outside Downing St. They then continued to Parliament Square where after posing for photographs they held a rally.

More pictures on My London Diary at Pregnant Then Screwed March of the Mummies.

Halloween Protest for Living Wage at H R Owen

South Kensington

*Protesters, including Jane Nicholl, stop a car attempting to drive through their road block outside H R Owen*

The two cleaners who clean the H R Owen Ferrari showrooms had asked the contractor who employs them for them to be paid the London Living Wage. Contractor Templewood turned down their request and they had then both voted for strike action.

In response Templewood suspended them without pay and H R Owen then banned them from working at their showrooms which they have cleaned for 12 years.

On 30th September their union, United Voices of the World (UVW), had held a protest demanding the two cleaners be reinstated.

At a five hour grievance and disciplinary hearing on 30th October cleaners Angelica Valencia and Freddy Lopez were given a choice – either promise not to strike at Ferrari and accept your poverty wage, or find work elsewhere. The UVW responded by calling this emergency protest with a Halloween theme and despite only 24 hours notice union members and supporters came to take part.

I met them outside South Kensington Station and walked with them down to the showroom, where some rushed towards the door to try to enter. But they had been spotted coming down the street and the doors were locked.

They began a noisy protest on the pavement and street outside, drumming and dancing and were soon blocking the street to traffic. Most drivers turned around and found other routes, but one tried to drive through the protest but was soon halted as more protesters came to stand in the way of his car. Another car was blocked by people holding a banner in front of it.

Eventually a handful of police officers turned up and began to argue with the protesters, telling them they must move off the road.

After a few minutes and some more speeches the UVW decided to march away along the road to protest outside the Royal College of Music whose cleaners are also involved in a dispute, but I had to go home.

Both this and September’s protest had caused considerable disruption in the area, but had also attracted much support from those walking past who had taken the UVW leaflets or listened to the speeches by Angelica and Freddy and others from the UVW. Some were clearly disgusted that people working in the showroom of a company making high profits from selling expensive luxury cars in of the richest areas of London were paid so badly.

Shortly after these protests H R Owen decided it was better to talk with the UVW and a further planned protest was cancelled as a satisfactory settlement meeting the cleaners demands was reached. I found it hard to understand why the company had acted earlier as it, spending large amounts on increased security against the protests – it seemed like the knee-jerk reaction of a company that had no regard for its employees. The extra pay the cleaners had asked for was minuscule compared to the company’s profits and the dispute had damaged their reputation.

More pictures on My London Diary at Halloween protest for living wage at HR Owen.

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Scrap Tuition Fees & No More Fallujahs – 2006

Scrap Tuition Fees & No More Fallujahs: On Sunday 29th October 2006 I went to the start of a National Union of Students march against university tuition fees, first introduced by New Labour under Tony Blair in 1998. University education had been free across the UK since 1945, with local authorities meeting the bill rather than students. In 2004, these fees, initially £1,000 a year, were increased to £3,000. In 2025 fees are now £9.535 a year and a major reform is expected later which will probably result in University education becoming even more expensive.

From there I left to cover a demonstration in Parliament Square where people were intending to set up a 24 hour ‘unauthorised’ peace camp protesting about the battles fought largely by US Marines against the Iraqi city of Fallujah in April and November 2004.

In the November battle US troops used white phosphorus, stopped military age males from leaving the city and treated all the inhabitants as combatants. The levelled thousands of buildings, denied Red Crescent access and according to the UN used “hunger and deprivation of water as a weapon of war against the civilian population“. Their use of depleted uranium shells led after the fighting to a high level of cancer, birth defects and infant mortality in the city.

This protest was illegal under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 which had required any demonstration within one kilometre of Parliament Square (excluding those in Trafalgar Square) to give written notice to the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police six days in advance.

It was as a way to prevent embarrassment to politicians by seeing or hearing protests taking place, and to remove the permanent Peace Camp by Brian Haw which had been in Parliament Square since 2001, but it failed to do so, though it did lend to increased harassment of him by police and more shadowy figures. In 2011 these sections of the Act were repealed and the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 imposed different and in some ways more draconian restrictions on the right to protest.

Below is the text I wrote about these events in 2006.

NUS – Scrap Tuition Fees March

Malet St

I arrived in Malet Street early for the start of the NUS march against tuition fees, but there were already plenty of students there, including many Scottish students who had come down to show solidarity.

My father had left school at 14, at the end of his elementary education and never managed to complete the part-time studies which he had once dreamt would lead to qualifications. I came from the first generation of my family who could go to university, thanks to the 1944 Education Act that opened up secondary education and also the free tuition and student grants that were available. Without that support I would never have gone to university.

Both my sons were also fortunate to be able to study without having to pay tuition fees, [and to get maintenance grants] and were able to leave university with a degree and no debts.

Things are rather different for most of today’s students, with tuition fees now at £3000 a year, and costs of accommodation increasing all the time.

The NUS is campaigning for free education, but also calling for a cap on fees, as some universities call to be able to raise them without limits. Already the current level of fees seems to have led to a drop in the numbers of students entering universities.

more pictures on My London Diary

No More Fallujahs: Peace Camp

Parliament Square

I left shortly before the march started to get to Parliament Square, where the 24 hour ‘unauthorised’ Peace Camp, ‘No More Fallujahs’, was about to start. Potestors formed a circle and joined Maya Evans and Milan Rai in reading the names of Iraqis who have died as a result of the occupation.

*Milan Ray and Maya Evans read the names; Maya sounds a bell after each name*

A year ago, the two were arrested in Whitehall for a similar reading. In december 2005 Maya was the first person to be convicted for taking part in an unauthorised demonstration under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act, and in April 2006, Milan was convicted for organising the demonstration.

Maya is appealing against her conviction and fine, but was risking a prison sentence as arrest for this action would break the terms of her 12-month conditional discharge. Milan has refused to pay the fine of £350 with £150 costs imposed on him, and is also appealing to a higher court.

The demonstrators formed a circle in Parliament Square and began reading the names at one minute intervals, each marked by a bell. Various volunteers joined Maya and Milan in reading names from the list.

The police simply stood and watched for around half and hour, then at 12.30 began to circulate and hand out a notice to everyone that they were a part of an illegal demonstration. Where people refused to take one, they left a copy at their feet.

The officers concerned were extremely patient and polite, and were attended by a police photographer filming everything they did. Rather to my surprise one officer insisted I have a copy, despite my assurances that I was press, so I took it, while being recorded for yet another 15 seconds of so of video by the photographer, pointing out that I always complied with police directions.

It isn’t as if I’m unknown to the police. Earlier in the day in Malet Street, as I walked past two officers, one turned to the other and said “looks who’s here then.” I turned and gave them a smile.

After that, the protestors decided it was time to pitch their tents, and soon the square was covered with small tents, mainly blue. For a while nothing much seemed to be happening, and I went away for an hour or two.

When I returned, the news was that police had taken four people away. they had been approaching individuals involved in the demonstration and asking them to give their name and address.

They were told that they could then later expect a summons for taking part in an illegal demonstration. People were informed that if they did not give their details, they would be taken to the police station and arrested for taking part in the event.

While I was there several other people were questioned and one was taken away when he refused to give his details. Those who gave their names and addresses seemed to be allowed to continue to take part in the demonstration. While I was present, everything was conducted civilly and without any violent handling of those concerned, although I was told there had been a little rough handling of at least one person.

The demonstrators held an open meeting in the centre of the square to discuss what to do in the event of a more concerted approach by the police, while on the corner by Churchill’s statue, Brian Haw was making use of his megaphone to hold his weekly service. Its a sermon I’ve heard many times and I felt it was time to go home.

More pictures on My London Diary.

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Cockroaches Protest Lousy Temporary Housing – 2016

Cockroaches Protest Lousy Temporary Housing; On Friday 28th October 2016, Housing For All activists from Focus E15, two dressed as cockroaches, went together with residents from the Boundary House hostel in Welwyn Garden City to the offices of Theori Housing Management in a Halloween-themed protest at the terrible living conditions for residents in their hostel.

The main statutory housing duty of local authorities is to provide temporary accommodation for those who are homeless, eligible, have a priority need and are not intentionally homeless. Priority can include living with a child, being pregnant, domestic abuse or emergencies such as flood and fire. Most of those who qualify have suffered some fairly traumatic experiences and deserve suitably careful treatment and adequate accomodation, but many do not get it.

Council make use of hostels run by companies such as Theori Housing Management who run hostels providing temporary accommodation such as Boundary House which provides temporary housing for residents from London boroughs including Waltham Forest and Newham for these vulnerable people for months or even years.

Those living in Boundary House say that rooms there have leaking roofs and mould on the walls, are infested with cockroaches, have upper floor windows that children could easily fall out of and dangerous faulty appliances. Several of them had come to the protest but most others were either scared to do so or could not afford the £15 off-peak rail fare into London. This also makes it impossible for those moved to the hostel to continue with any work they had in London as well visits to their doctors or clinics and for children to attend their former schools.

As I wrote in 2016, “Residents who make complaints are hung up on, placed on hold for hours and called liars, ignored, insulted and patronised.” So the campaign had come to bring their complaints to Theori.

Campaigners from Haringey Housing Action Group who were also at the protest “also have experience of poor hostel accommodation, provided by Haringey Council, and we know how hard it is try to go about your daily activities – going to work, taking kids to school – when you are living in cramped conditions, with little or no cooking facilities.“

Residents who have complained to their local authority housing departments complain they are not listened to and no action is taken. The campaigners call on boroughs to stop using companies like Theori who provide sub-standard housing and fail to keep it in good order, and say councils should house Londoners in London where they have schools, friends and jobs.

Focus E15 come from Newham, where Mayor Robin Wales has said that those who can’t afford it should not be living in the borough, where vast luxury housing developments are welcome, but social housing is hardly on the agenda.

They point out that Newham, a Labour stronghold, has hundreds of empty properties in what was a popular estate, the Carpenters Estate close to the centre of Stratford. These homes had then been empty and boarded up for more than ten years while the council has been trying to sell off the whole area for various development schemes. They also point out that Newham has taken out ill-advised loans which have resulted in incredible repayments of interest.

The campaigners tried to enter the Theori offices, pushing against the doors which were held by men inside, and Theori called the police. The two officers who arrived were obviously rather amused at having to talk to a cockroach. The protesters stepped away from the door to that one of the police could enter the office while the protest continued on the pavement outside.

They then held a Halloween party on the pavement outside the office before finally lining up for photographs.

More at Cockroaches at Theori Housing Management.

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Custody Deaths, Gurkhas & John Lewis – 2013

Custody Deaths, Gurkhas & John Lewis: On Saturday 26th October I went to the annual procession to Downing Street by the United Families and Friends Campaign in memory of all those who have died in the custody of police or prison officers, in immigration detention or psychiatric hospitals. Sitting opposite Downing Street were Gurkhas on hunger strike demanding justice. I rushed away to join the IWGB protesting inside John Lewis’s flagship store in Oxford St demanding that the workers that clean John Lewis stores be paid a living wage and share in the benefits and profits enjoyed by other workers in the stores.

United Families & Friends Remember the Killed

Whitehall

Custody Deaths, Gurkhas & John Lewis - 2013

Many from the families of people who have died in police custody, prisons, immigration detention or psychiatric hospitals had gathered in Trafalgar Square along with supporters for the annual procession calling for justice.

Although there have been several thousand who have died in the last twenty or thirty years, some clearly killed by police and others in highly suspicious circumstances, inquests and other investigations have failed to provide any justice. Instead there has been a long history of lies, failures to properly investigate, cover-ups, and perjury.

On My London Diary I quoted the description by the UFFC:

The United Families and Friends Campaign (UFFC) is a coalition of families and friends of those that have died in the custody of police and prison officers as well as those who are killed in immigration detention and secure psychiatric hospitals. It includes the families of Roger Sylvester, Leon Patterson, Rocky Bennett, Alton Manning, Christopher Alder, Brian Douglas, Joy Gardner, Aseta Simms, Ricky Bishop, Paul Jemmott, Harry Stanley, Glenn Howard, Mikey Powell, Jason McPherson, Lloyd Butler, Azelle Rodney, Sean Rigg, Habib Ullah, Olaseni Lewis, David Emmanuel (aka Smiley Culture), Kingsley Burrell, Demetre Fraser, Mark Duggan and Anthony Grainger to name but a few. Together we have built a network for collective action to end deaths in custody.

Among those holding the main banner as the march went at a funereal pace down Whitehall were Stephanie Lightfoot-Bennet, twin sister of Leon Patterson, murdered by Manchester police in 1992, Marcia Rigg, one of the sisters of Sean Rigg, killed by police in Brixton in 2008 and Carole Duggan, the aunt of Mark Duggan whose shooting by police sparked riots in August 2011.

At the rally opposite Downing Street many family members spoke in turn in a shameful exposition of injustice perpetrated by police, prison officers and mental health workers. You can read more and see most of them in the captions and pictures on My London Dairy at United Families & Friends Remember Killed.

Gurkhas Hunger Strike for Justice

Downing St

Gurkhas were sitting opposite Downing Stree on a serial hunger strike after failing to receive any action from Prime Minister David Cameron to their petition calling for fair treatment for elderly Gurkha veterans who are living in extreme poverty.

On 24th October 2013 they had begun a programme of nonviolent resistance (Satyagraha) with hunger strikes, at first with a “13 days relay hunger strike in the name of the 13 Ghurka VCs followed by a fast-unto-death.“

Gurkhas Hunger Strike for Justice

Cleaners Invade John Lewis Oxford Street

I met the cleaners and their supporters in the café on the top floor of John Lewis’s flagship store on Oxford Street for a protest by their union, the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB.)

*Organiser Alberto Durango and IWGB Secretary Chris Ford lead the protesters*

All the other people who work for John Lewis in their stores are directly employed by the John Lewis Partnership (JLP) and are ‘partners’ in the business with good conditions of service and decent pay, including an annual share in the company’s profits, which can amount to as much as an extra two months pay.

But JLP outsources the cleaning of its stores to a sub-contractor, who were paying them ‘poverty wages’, only around 80% of the London Living Wage, and employ them under far worse conditions of sickness, holidays and pensions than JLP staff.

By hiving off the cleaners to another company, JLP can still claim it is a ‘different sort of company’ with a strong ethical basis, but leave its cleaners – a vital part of its workforce – in poverty with minimal conditions of service.

*They stop and let everyone know why they were protesting. The security staff watch but don’t interfere*

In 2013, the cleaning contractor was a part of the Compass Group which had recently declared pre-tax profits for the year of £575 million. And JLP had made £50 million profit from its department stores. Despite their huge profits both were happy to shaft the cleaners.

*A short rally inside the main entrance to the store*

The cleaners were demanding to become employed by JLP, the owners of their workplace, and also to be paid the London Living Wage. JLP told them that this was not appropriate.

*Raph Ashley, a JLP ‘partner’ sacked for supported the cleaners*

Among those taking part in the protest were members of the RMT and PCS trade unions and former John Lewis ‘partner’ Raph Ashley, who like many other partners had supported the cleaners’ claim. He was sacked after he gave a newspaper interview raising concerns about the ethnic diversity at John Lewis and was told that ‘partners’ discussing pay and urging them to join a trade union was a disciplinary offence. The protest also demanded justice for Raph.

*A manager asks the protesters to leave – and they slowly went out*

In the café the protesters got out banners, flags, flyers, drums, horns, whistles and a megaphone and walked noisily around the fifth floor before going down the escalator. At each floor they had to walk around to reach the down escalator, and stopped on the way to explain to the shoppers why they were protesting. Many customers took their leaflets and expressed their support for the cleaners, with some applauding the protest.

They continued down to the basement and then came back up to the ground floor where they held a short rally just inside the main entrance with short speeches from RMT Assistant General Secretary Steve Hedley, IWGB Secretary Chris Ford and Chris Baugh, Assistant General Secretary of PCS.

*The protest continues on Oxford Street in front of the store*

By then the police had arrived and they told the JLP managers to o ask the protesters to leave the store, and they did so, continuing their protest on the crowded street outside for another half hour.

More about the protest and many more pictures on My London Diary at Cleaners Invade John Lewis Oxford Street.

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Global Human Rights Torch Relay – 2007

Global Human Rights Torch Relay: Thursday 25th October 2007 I photographed this rally in Trafalgar Square and the torchlit march which followed to a protest at the Chinese Embassy.

The 2008 Summer Olympics was to be held in Beijing, China from 8th to 24th August 2008 and the official Summer Olympics Torch Relay – which had been a feature of the Olympics since the 1936 Berlin games – was announced in April 2007, though it was to take place from March 24 until August 8, 2008. This travelled the world in a very roundabout 129-day route from Athens to Beijing and was met with protests in many cities including San Francisco, London and Paris.

The Coalition to Investigate Persecution of the Falun Gong in China (CIPFG) organised a series of torch relays in cities around the world beginning in April 2007 to raise awareness about human rights violations, particularly in China and countries surrounding area and in particular the persecution of crimes including torture and the harvesting of human organs of Falun Gong practitioners.

The policing of the event and the intervention of Westminster Council officials showed that there was huge political pressure in London against protests against China and against the Olympics as London was preparing for the 2012 Olympics here. We saw it again when the official torch relay came to London in April 2008.

Here I’ll post – with minor corrections – my account of the event from 2007 with a few of the pictures – many more on My London Diary.

Global Human Rights Torch Relay – 2007

Trafalgar Square to Chinese Embassy

Thursday was a miserable day, with persistent drizzle or light rain, and Trafalgar Square was clogged up with some computer games fair, so that there was little space left for the Global Human Rights Torch Relay on the North Terrace. Organised by the ‘Coalition To Investigate The Persecution Of The Falun Gong‘ this also highlighted other human rights abuses in China, as well as some in countries within the Chinese sphere of influence, notably Burma (Myanmar.)

This relay had started in Athens in August, with events in several European countries, and it is going on to Australia and North and South America before ending in Asia next year.

The relay points out that the these human rights abuses are at odds with the ideals of the Olympic Movement and calls for the Beijing Games to be moved to one of the previous Olympic venues unless there are dramatic improvements in human rights in China. Among the speakers were a couple of Lords and several ex-Olympic competitors.

Westminster Council officials arrived after an hour or so and tried to stop the event, which thanks to the gaming festival, was indeed blocking the pavement. They made the protestors form a narrow line against the back wall. Then they and the police ruled out the use of the sound system, declaring it was a hazard in the wet conditions. Speakers had to make use of a battery operated megaphone.

Despite this harassment, the protest continued, with a ‘Greek Goddess’ bringing the flame to light the torches of figures representing England, Scotland , Wales and Ireland, and perhaps a couple of hundred marched through the West End to the Chinese Embassy for a candle-lit protest.

Here photographers met with deliberate antagonism from the police. Officers are standing in a line around 2 metres into the road in front of the protest. The area between the police and the demonstration is completely clear, absolutely safe, and it is where we need to be to take pictures or film the protest. Much to our disgust, we are ordered out when we attempt to get on with our work.

Many more pictures on My London Diary at global human rights torch relay.

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Safe Passage, Guardians of the Forest – 2017

Safe Passage, Guardians of the Forest: On Tuesday 24th October 2017 Safe Passage held a rally outside Parliament on the first anniversary of the destruction of the Calais ‘Jungle’ calling for help for the hundreds of refugees still sleeping rough in Calais. Later I photographed a rally by Guardians of the Forest, indigenous leaders from Latin America, Indonesia and Africa on their way to the COP23 UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn calling for the rights of indigenous peoples living in forests to be acknowledged and for an end to the destruction of these vital natural resources by mining and cash-crop cultivation.

Safe Passage for the Children of Calais

Old Palace Yard, Westminster

Safe Passage, Guardians of the Forest - 2017

Safe Passage held a rally before going in to lobby MPs on the first anniversary of the destruction of the Calais ‘Jungle’.

Although they praised the government for bringing some child refugees here from France they called for them to provide safe routes here for those still in Calais who have family here and to fill the remaining places allocated under the Dubs amendment.

Eighteen months after the Dubs amendment was passed by Parliament there were still refugee children in Calais who were entitled to come here to be reunited with their families and Safe Passage urged the Home Office to station an official there to help to transfer them and work with the French to provide safe accommodation for all refugee children.

The Dubs amendment had originally proposed that the UK offer a home to 3,000 unaccompanied children but as passed it allowed the government to set a number in consultation with local authorities. Shamefully when the scheme closed in 2020 the government stated it had met its commitment with the transfer of only 480 children.

They were given a special status to stay for for five years with the right to study, work, and to access public funds and healthcare, and to apply after this to settle permanently without paying a fee.

More pictures on My London Diary at Safe Passage for the Children of Calais

Guardians of the Forest – COP 23

Parliament Square

Indigenous leaders from Latin America, Indonesia and Africa held a rally in Parliament Square commemorating those who have lost their lives defending the forests against mining, the cutting down of forests for palm oil and other crops and other threats to the forests and those who live in them.

The Guardians of the Forest held up photographs of a few of the many who have been murdered for the profits of unscrupulous companies including many listed on the London stock exchange. Whole tribes have been forced from their homes and forests where they have lived for many generations, their ancestral rights to their lands ignored and dismissed by governments and occupiers.

They demanded their rights be recognised and for the destruction of the forests they have maintained in a renewable fashion for hundreds or thousands of years to be stopped. These forests have a vital role in removing carbon dioxide from the air and producing oxygen and play a vital role in opposing climate change and preserving biodiversity. As well as reducing emissions we also need to increase rather than reduce forests and other natural habitats that remove carbon dioxide.

*People spoke in their native languages and were interpreted into English*

The Guardians were on their way to the COP23 UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn to argue that the continuing maintenance of the forests by their indigenous inhabitants is vital in the fight against climate change, and that the clearance and devastation has to be stopped. But they face a difficult task against the huge numbers of well-funded lobbyists and powerful governments who dominate these events and have so far prevented the world taking the actions needed for long-term survival.

More on My London Diary – Guardians of the Forest – COP23.

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March Against Cuts & Bloomsbury Festival – 2010

March Against Cuts & Bloomsbury Festival: On Saturday 23rd October 2010 striking London firefighters led a march with other trade unionists against government cuts on spending on public services announced a few days earlier. After photographing the march I walked around Bloomsbury where Bloomsbury Festival was taking place over a week or so.

Trade Union March Against Cuts

Euston Rd to Bedford Square

March Against Cuts & Bloomsbury Festival - 2010

London’s firefighters were taking part in an 8-hour strike from 10am, called after the London Fire Brigade had in August begun firing 5,600 of them to bully them into agreeing a new contract. 79% of firefighters had voted in a ballot over strike action with 79% supporting the strike.

The Fire Brigade Union had been negotiating with the LFB over a new contract, but say that the Conservative chair of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority had pushed the LFB to adopt a more aggressive stance, firing the workers and then offering re-employment on a less favourable contract imposed without negotiation. Birmingham City Council were also attempting this for their 26,000 workers and Sheffield had also sent similar letters to their employees.

Many of us were astonished that any reputable employer could even consider this ‘fire and rehire’ approach, and doubted its legality. Surely every worker treated in this way must have a cast-iron case for unfair dismissal – or certainly should have. Though as usual the main thrust of our laws is to protect the interests of the rich and powerful against the rest of us, so perhaps they could get away with it despite the clear injustice.

If they could do it for firefighters, councils and other employers could do it for other workers and many other trade unionists had come out in support of the FBU, with the London march being called by the RMT, FBU, NUT, PCS and the National Shop Stewards Network.

The cuts announced by Chancellor George Osborne in the previous Wednesday’s Comprehensive Spending Review had been anticipated but still shocked. We – the country’s workers – were being made to pay for the greed of the wealthy bankers who had caused the crisis but were being given handouts. The London march and rally was just one of others across the country including in Cardiff, Manchester, Bristol, Lincoln and Wigan.

At the rally in a corner of Bedford Square there were calls for a much more positive approach from the TUC, and a demand that they bring forword the national demonstration which was planned for Spring 2011 but the TUC kept to its planned date of March 26th.

Some of those taking part in the march and rally went on to a TUC organised rally against the cuts in the nearby TUC HQ Congress House, organised by the South-East Region TUC, but I left to take a walk around the Bloomsbury Festival.

More pictures at Trade Union March Against Cuts.

Bloomsbury Festival

*Modern cloth strips at the Foundling Museum, where ‘Threads of Feeling’ was showing.*

The annual Bloomsbury Festival began in 2006, but this was the first year I had noticed it, and although there had been some events earlier in the week that sounded interesting I hadn’t had time to attend them.

*Paper birds in Russell Square where the main stage and stalls were*

On Saturday there were free events taking place across the area, in museums and galleries, parks and gardens, as well as various dance and film performances, exhibitions, walks and tours and workshops. I walked through the area, visiting most of the squares and parks in which there were artworks as well as some of the museums and exhibitions.

But much of what interested me on my walk were things I saw or found in the area itself, with some of the ‘found art‘ rather more interesting than the actual festival pieces. I was pleased to be able to go into the the charming private garden in Malet St – and the trees, leaves and the grass roller excited me considerably more than the work of photographic art strapped to a couple of trees.

It was good to go into the Foundling Museum for my first visit there, both to see its permanent exhibition with its incredibly moving special display the pieces of 18th century cloth, textile tokens left by mothers with the babies taken to the Foundling Hospital in the hope they could later be identified and reclaimed, along with a show Threads of Feeling, based on this.

More pictures at Bloomsbury Festival.

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Hardest Hit, Biofuels, Tibet and OccupyLSX – 2011

Hardest Hit, Biofuels, Tibet and OccupyLSX: Saturday 22 October 2011 began for me with a protest at City Hall (still then in Southwark close to Tower Bridge) Next in Whitehall I photographed a protest against the pollution, environmental damage and human rights abuses of burning forests produce energy. Also on Whitehall I met Tibetans and supporters marching from the Chines Embassy to Downing Street demanding an end to China’s increasing repression in Tibet. Finally I went to St Paul’s Churchyard for a brief visit to Occupy London a week after their camp there had begun.

Hardest Hit Protest At City Hall

City Hall, More London

Hardest Hit, Biofuels, Tibet and OccupyLSX

The Hardest Hit campaign, organised jointly by the Disability Benefits Consortium and the UK Disabled People’s Council were holding a rally outside City Hall as a part of protests in cities and towns across the country calling on the government to stop the cuts in benefits and services and changes in the assessment of disabilities which have hugely affected their lives.

Of course the Mayor of London was not responsible for the cuts, and I assume this was just a convenient location he had made available for the protest. Of course many services provided by local government had been cut as a result of the government funding cuts. And as usual the government claimed to be concerned with the plight of the disabled and to be trying to help them while at the same time making cuts that really hurt them.

The protest took place in the Scoop, an outdoor sunken amphitheatre next to City Hall, part of the More London development, an events space which can seat around a thousand and it looked a little empty though there were many disabled protesters, some with carers and supporters.

More at Hardest Hit Protest At City Hall.

Environmentalists Protest Against Biofuels

DECC, Whitehall Place

*Protesters against Barton Renewable Energy in Davyhulme, Manchester*

People had come from across the country to protest at continued government support for biofuel energy production despite it now being clear that this is contibuting to climate change, causes deforestation and the loss of valuable forest land, results in a loss of food production and threatens human rights in many areas.

Biofuels were once seen as a green alternative which would help us reduce global warming, but it is now clear that are worse polluters than coal or oil. Despite this, they still receive huge payouts from funding meant to encourage renewable energy sources. The huge wood-burning plant at Drax in Yorkshire in 2024 received £869 million in public subsidies – over £2 million a day for polluting the planet.

At last in February 2025 the UK government has announced a cut in the subsidies for Drax, and the winding down of using imported wood pellets for energy generation. But even when this comes into force in 2027 Drax will still be getting £1.2 million a day. Drax will cut its power production to around half its current level and further reductions are expected from then.

More at Environmentalists Protest Against Biofuels.

Tibetans March Against Chinese Repression

Whitehall

Several hundred Tibetans and supporters marched from the Chinese Embassy to Downing Street in a protest over China’s increasing repression in Tibet, where in March 2011 eight young monks and a nun had set themselves on fire in desperate protests. Five had died.

Protests around the world like this one aimed to get the international community to end their silence over the Chinese abuses of human and civil rights in Tibet. It was supported by the Tibet Society, Free Tibet, Students for a Free Tibet, Tibetan Youth UK and the Tibetan Community in Britain.

The held a rally opposite Downing Street and delivered a letter to the Prime Minister calling for the UK Government to take action.

There was to be a world-wide day of action on Wednesday 2 Novemeber, the to call for action from international governments the day before world leaders meet in Nice, France for the G20 Summit.

More pictures Tibetans March Against Chinese Repression.

OccupyLSX Continues At St Paul’s

St Paul’s Cathedral

A week earlier on 15th October 2011 I had been at the protest when around 2000 Occupy protesters had tried to protest outside the Stock Exchange but were prevented by police. They had returned to the steps of St Paul’s and held a general meeting. Police kettled the protesters (and me) there, but I left when a group of them forced their way through the police line. Those that were still kettled decided to stay and occupy the area after police told them they should leave. A week later they were still there and I went back to see what was happening.

There was a full program of events for the day, and a general meeting was taking place with Selma James speaking.

*A mother and daughter concerned about privatisation of the NHS at OccupyLSX*

As I said “the organisation of the camp is impressive, although clearly there are some people around who don’t respect the camp’s ‘no alcohol’ rule. But like the previous camps in central London, the camp attracts a number of the rough sleepers and odd characters who normally wander the streets of our city. It’s a useful service for people who are normally neglected, but does bring some problems.”

More at OccupyLSX Continues At St Paul’s.

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People’s Vote March, Iranians & Veterans – 2018

People’s Vote March, Iranians & Veterans: On Saturday 20th October 2018 I photographed a huge march – newspapers said an estimated 670,000 people – marched in London demanding the Theresa May hold a new referendum now that there was new evidence and people were clearer what Brexit would mean – and how they had been criminally misled into voting leave. Of course the BBC report lost a zero in the numbers taking part. During the march I also took time to photograph a protest by the People’s Mujahedin of Iran, now exiled in Albania, against the Iranian regime, and Veterans United Against Suicide calling for more help for service men after they return home from wars.

People’s Vote March

Hyde Park Corner to Parliament Square

The 2016 referendum over leaving Europe was won by a relatively small majority – 52% to 48% – following a highly misleading ‘Leave’ campaign – remember that bus – but there was much more, hugely funded by people who would make large personal financial gains.

Nine years on from the vote, the Office for Budget Responsibility judges that “Both exports and imports will be around 15 per cent lower in the long run than if the UK had remained in the EU.” Last year a report by Cambridge Econometrics estimated that by then Brexit had cost the UK £140 billion and that would rised to £311 billion by the mid 2030s.

By 2018 it was already clear that Brexit would be a disaster, and it was a disaster that had been caused by David Cameron’s promise as Prime Minister that the result would be binding. It was seen by many as a crazy promise at the time – and we have been proved right. Britain has often prided itself on not having a written constitution – but if we had one it would almost certainly have saved us – as it would surely have required a more significant majority for any major constitutional change such as this.

It isn’t of course sure that a second referendum would have produced a different result – the same dark forces that swung the first would have gone into overdrive, with an added level of opposition to the ‘people’s decision‘ being disregarded, and with the help of the billionaire media might even have led to a second vote to leave.

From the start at Hyde Park Corner the protest looked huge, with people spreading far up Park Lane and across into Hyde Park.

When the march was due to start one group, Movement for Justice was on the road in front of the official banners, along with more than a thousand other protesters and protesting noisily while refusing pleas from the stewards to get behind the main banner.

Although MfJ were protesting about Brexit, they made the point that this was racist and called for an end to the scapegoating of immigrants and an end to the hostile environment which is ripping families apart.

They demanded an amnesty for all people already present in the country and to an extension of freedom of movement in Europe to include the Commonwealth.

The march was delayed for some minutes until they had all moved off to march in front of the main march and after a good gap had opened up the main march began.

After photographing thousands of marchers coming out from Park Lane I left them and took the tube to Westminster meet the marchers at Parliament Square.

Thousands had come directly to the rally rather than march and Whitehall and Parliament Square were already fairly full before the main body of the march arrived. I made my way up Whitehall past Downing Street, but the whole area was jammed with people as I got close to Trafalgar Square.

The top of Whitehall was jammed with people and the last 100 yards took me 15 minutes to get to where people were partying in the roads on the edge of Trafalgar Square.

The press of people had brought the march to a halt, with people still packed along much of its route. Later I heard from people who had only got part way along Piccadilly that many marchers had ended there and crowded into Green Park.

I had taken so many pictures that I decided to divide my report on My London Diary inato three parts:
People’s Vote March – Start
MfJ at People’s Vote March
People’s Vote March – End

People’s Mujahedin of Iran

Downing St

On the paved area opposite Downing Street I found the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI) protesting against the repressive regime in Iran, with gibbets and three women held in a prison cell illustrating their reign of terror and calling for an end to executions – something in which the Iranian regime leads the world.

The PMOI, exiled from Iran and then to Albania, leads the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), based in France which calls for a modern legal system, gender equality and political and social rights in Iran.

The PMOI appears to have little or no support in Iran but receives some support from US agencies and politicians as the preferred future government for the country. Both the USA and Saudi Arabia are said to provide financial support.

As a lengthy article on Wikipedia relates, there are many allegations about human rights abuses against its own members and its fraudulent money laundering and other financial arrangements.

People’s Mujahedin of Iran

Veterans United Against Suicide

Ministry of Defence

A few yards off from the march route outside the Ministry of Defence, Veterans United Against Suicide were holding a rally calling for more to be done to help service men and veterans in the fight against their developing PTSD and eventually committing suicide.

At least 47 current forces personnel and veterans have committed suicide this year, though the actual figure is thought to be considerably higher.

This was clearly a right wing protest and I did not feel welcome. As I wrote “The lorry being used as a platform also displayed a large banner supporting the soldier discharged for standing with Tommy Robinson in a photo used to publicise his extreme right-wing views. While I was listening a speaker was condemning a major forces charity, accusing it of fraud and failure to act over the mental health problems of serving and former members of the armed forces.“

Veterans United Against Suicide.

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Freedom to Film & World March for Peace – 2009

Freedom to Film & World March for Peace: On Sunday 18th October 2009 I went to Dalston to support a Hackney education charity whose students have been harassed when making films in public places and then joined a small march in the UK which was part of a worldwide humanist movement for peace.

Ridley Road Market: Worldbytes Defends Right to Film

Freedom to Film & World March for Peace - 2009 — *Halal butcher in Ridley Road market, Dalston*

Worldwrite is a Hackney-based education charity founded in 1994 which gives young people free film and media training supporting them to produce alternative programmes for broadcast on WORLDbytes, the charity’s online alternative Citizen TV channel Worldbytes.org. You can read more about them on the web site where you can also see a very wide range of their videos, though I couldn’t find anything now on this 2009 event.

In 2009 their teams were “finding it increasingly difficult to film in public places in Hackney: security guards, community wardens and self-appointed ‘jobsworths’ are refusing us ‘permission’ to film on many of our streets.”

As they stated, “There is in fact NO LAW against filming or taking photographs in public places and permission or a licence is NOT required for gathering news for news programmes in public spaces.“

They had called for photographers and film-makers to go along and take pictures in support of their protest and I went to do so at Ridley Road Market in Dalston, where Worldbytes crews had been told they can’t film there, not by the stall holders or other market users, but by employees of Hackney Council.

I went there to support them and the right to photograph in public places, but also because I wanted to photograph the market. I had previously taken a few pictures there but only as I was passing and had not seriously photographed the market.

After talking to the Worldwite protesters I set about walking up and down the market taking photographs of the buildings and people, particularly some of the stallholders. As well as my post on My London Diary, I wrote about the event at greater length here on >Re:PHOTO a few days later. Here’s a short section of text from that article:

“I took some general views without asking anyone for permission, but as usual, where I wanted to take pictures including stallholders or other people I asked if I might. Not because I need to, but out of politeness, and I shrugged my shoulders and moved on if they refused. Of course at times I photograph people who don’t want to be photographed, but this wasn’t appropriate here.”

“As I was using flash most of the time, it was clear that I was taking pictures and some people asked me to photograph them who I might otherwise have walked by. At one place I did stop to argue after having been refused – and eventually managed to get permission to take a picture; at another I got profuse apologies from an employee who was obviously sorry that the stall owner had decided not to cooperate with Worldbytes.“

“The council employees didn’t turn up to stop filming while I was there; probably Sunday is their day off. But it’s very hard to understand why Hackney Council should allow or instruct their employees in this way. They should know the law after all.”

My use of flash – generally as a fairly weak fill-in – was deliberate to make sure that people knew I was taking photographs, though in some cases it helped with the pictures. After I’d spent around twenty minutes obviously taking pictures I was interviewed by the Worldbytes crew, though I rather hoped they would cut that from their video of the day.

My London Diary : Ridley Rd Market: Worldbytes Film Protest

Re:PHOTO: Worldbytes Defend the Freedom to Film

World March For Peace and Nonviolence

The World March For Peace and Nonviolence had begun in New Zealand on the 140th anniversary of Ghandi’s birth, October 2, 2009. It involved events around the world which ended at Punta de Vacas in the Andes Mountains in Argentina on January 2, 2010, where Silo (Mario Luis Rodríguez Cobos) the founder of the Humanist Movement launched a new campaign for global nuclear disarmament in September 2006.

Volunteers from a base team of around a hundred went from New Zealand to Japan, Korea, Moscow, Rome, New York, and Costa Rica, attending events organised along the way to Argentina.

In London the march began with a vigil close to the Northwood Permanent Joint Forces / NATO Headquarters in Middlesex on Saturday morning, with speeches by World March UK co-ordinator Jon Swinden, Sonia Azad of Children Against War and organiser Daniel Viesnik, who also read out a message of support from John McDonnell MP.

Only around 50 people walked the whole way, but there were others around the world also marching. On the second day in London they began at Brent Town Hall in Wembley Park and I met them as they arrived at Marble Arch. They stopped for lunch at Speaker’s Corner where they then took part in the interactive play ‘Let The Artists Die’ on themes of peace, non-violence and the power of the imagination. It was written and directed by Charlie Wiseman who was also one of the three main actors.

They walked past the front of the US Embassy to the memorial to the British victims of 9/11 in Grosvenor Square, where it stopped to pay its respects. In Mayfair it was almost halted when a taxi driver deliberately drove into one of the marchers, but they continued to Trafalgar Square.

‘Heritage wardens’ stopped the march as it came down the steps in Trafalgar Square, telling them they could not walk through the square as they had not applied for permission.

After resting for a few minutes on the steps the march went around the side of the square and down Whitehall past “the Old War Office, and then the statues of famous generals outside the “Defence Ministry” (governments were more straightforward with language in the past)” and “the fortified gates of Downing Street and on to Parliament Square, where the march stopped at the permanent peace protest by Brian Haw there since 2 June 200l with the help of his supporters.”

I left the marchers there but they continued on to end at the Peace Pagoda in Battersea Park.

More pictures at World March For Peace and Nonviolence.

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