march | >Re-PHOTO

Anti-Homeless Spikes & No More Austerity – 2014

Anti-Homeless Spikes & No More Austerity: On Saturday 21st June 2014 I photographed a small protest against anti-homeless spikes outside the Tesco Metro on Lower Regent Street on my way to a much larger protest against austerity meeting at the BBC in Portland Place and marching to a rally in Parliament Square.

Call for Nationwide Homeless Spikes Ban

Public disquiet was mounting against the increasing use of anti-homeless spikes on and around buildings, metal or concrete spikes used to make pavements, ledges and other horizontal surface impossible or very uncomfortable for people to lie down or sometimes even sit on, aimed in particular at stopping homeless people sleeping there.

These spikes and other ‘hostile measures’ are increasingly used to force homeless people out of public spaces – you can read more about it in a 2016 article on the Crisis web site as well as in various newspaper reports. ‘Defensive Architecture’ continues and you can read about a 2024 campaign against spikes by artist Stuart Semple and creative agency TBWA\MCR in Big Issue.

Call for Nationwide Homeless Spikes Ban

No More Austerity – Demand The Alternative

There was huge support for the march and rally by The People’s Assembly, trade unions and campaign groups calling for an end to austerity which gathered outside the BBC to march to a rally in Parliament Square.

Clearly the government cuts since 2010 were causing huge problems across the nation and were stifling economic growth. And while we were still wasting huge amounts on senseless projects such as Trident nuclear missiles, public services were being cut, public sector workers were getting cuts in pay through below inflation increases. Education was suffering, the NHS was being increasingly privatised and generally the interests of the majority were being sacrificed while the wealthy were getting even richer.

Measure such as 2012 bedroom tax and later the two child benefit cap brought in in 2017 plunged many of the poorest even deeper into poverty and there were continued attacks on disability benefits.

I put almost all of the pictures from the march on-line without captions with a promise to add them later but – as so often – later never came. But I think most of the pictures tell their own story,

Among them are a number of pictures of Class War – some of them carrying a banner which later became their manifesto for the 2015 general election – for which they became a political party and stood a handful of candidates – who each only received a handful of votes. But perhaps ‘DOUBLE DOLE – NO BEDROOM TAX – DOUBLE PENSIONS’ was never likely to be an entirely convincing alternative.

In 2017 we did have a real alternative and the Labour vote was up by 9.5% and it was only a deliberate and deceitful campaign by the party right who were in control of the party mechanism diverting resources from key marginals that stopped a Corbyn victory. They out-manoeuvred the left again in 2019 both to ensure defeat and for the key architect of the disastrous policy that lost them the vote as minister for Brexit to become party leader.

But people in 2024 still wanted change, and voted against the hopeless and hapless Tories who had blustered under Boris, wilted faster than lettuce under Truss and submerged under Sunak. But what we got was not chage but Tory-lite, even resurrecting the tired skeletons of Blair and Mandelson. It now seems more than likely that at the next election we may get change – but for the even worse.

I won’t bother to put any of the pictures of speakers at the rally on-line, though I photographed a long list of them – all on My London Diary.

Parliament Square was pretty full and people were still arriving at the square long after I made a picture of the crowd at the start of the rally.

More pictures:
People’s Assembly Rally
No more Austerity – demand the alternative

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

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

Wimbledon, Pensions & Hammersmith – 2004

Wimbledon, Pensions & Hammersmith: On Saturday 19th June 2004 I paid a short visit to Wimbledon Village Fair before photographing a TUC protest calling for changes in pension law and better pensions in Westminster and then going for a short riverside walk in Hammersmith. There are more pictures from the protest on My London Diary, I’ll include the short text I wrote at the time about the day as well as some from the captions I wrote in 2004.

Wimbledon Village Fair

Wimbledon, Pensions & Hammersmith - 2004

Home of tennis and the Wombles, Wimbledon always strikes me as an alien implant in London by some civilisation with a time machine, a sense of humour and a very fat wallet. I dropped in to the Village Fair just to see it still existed.

Pay Up For Pensions – Trade Union Congress March and Rally

Half an hour later I was back in the real world. Where companies make off with the pension funds leaving people who have paid in to schemes for years with no pensions. where other creditors come before pension holders when companies go bust.

Where millions of lower paid workers now have no employment pension rights at all. Where women have always been treated unfairly in many respects. Where government has worsened conditions for civil servants, teachers and others. As TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber says “Those who used to have good pensions now have poor pensions. Those who used to have poor pensions, now have no pension.”

*Marchers included many workers who have already lost their pensions when their companies folded*

*Banners on the march included many union branches including those for civil servants*

*People of all ages took part; not only the old are affected by pensions.*

*Marchers included pensioners who had served in WW2*

*Women have never been treated fairly over pensions by employers or state*

*The pink pensions pig caught between Big Ben and Parliamentary Offices*

*Workers from Samuel Jones lost their pensions when the company was taken over*

*‘Protect the Pension Promise’, ‘NO to work ’till you drop”. The labour movement looks to the government to act on pensions*

*Pensioners want a better deal, and the unfairness of pension theft is widely recognise*d

Unfortunately the New Labour Government wasn’t listening and the “the great British pension theft” begun by Margaret Thatcher and taken over by Gordon Brown continued, while ineffectual legislation introduced after the scandal when Robert Maxwell stole £460 million from the Mirror pensioners continued to allow companies to steal pensions from their workers. Despite pension protection schemes, workers can still lose when companies are taken over or fail.

More pictures on My London Diary.

Hammersmith

On the way home I went for a walk by the river in Hammersmith, another area of London strongly associated with William Morris. The Funivall Sculling Club here was established in 1896 as the Hammersmith Sculling Club For Girls – the world’s first women’s rowing club – by Dr Frederick Furnivall; it went unisex in 1901. Furnival had earlier championed rowing for working men. He served as the model for Ratty, the water rat in ‘Wind In The Willows’, as well as being involved with the preparation of the Oxford English Dictionary.

*Hammersmith Mall* – The second building is the Furnival Sculling Club

*Plastic bottles and other rubbish collected up by this landing stage near Hammersmith Bridge*

The former BBC Riverside Studios – part converted to offices which were advertised by the banner at roof level. It was imaginatively redeveloped in 2014-6 to provide better public facilities, a riverside walkway and 165 flats.

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

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

The Carnival of Dirt – 2012

The Carnival of Dirt: Friday 15th June 2012

The ‘Carnival of Dirt‘ united activist groups from the UK and around the world in a funeral procession for the many killed by mining and extraction companies, powerful financial organisations whose crimes are legitimized by the City of London.

Mining companies have exploited mineral resources in countries around the world, mainly in the majority countries to feed the industrial development of countries such as ours, and have done so with little or no regard for the environment or the people who work in their mines or live in the areas around, creating large amounts of pollution and destroying vital habitats and traditional ways of life, driven by producing minerals at the lowest possible cost.

Many of those companies are based in London, in part because of our imperial past and are listed on the London Stock Exchange and trade on the London Metal Exchange. They are propped up by our pension funds and protected by our government and even allowed to get away with evading millions (if not billions) of UK taxes – as well as often evading taxes in the countries where they mine. Among the major criminals named were Xstrata, Glencore International, Rio Tinto, Vedanta, Anglo American, BHP Billiton, BP and Shell.

The carnival procession began at St Pauls and stopped at the Stock Exchange, the Bank of England and the London Metal Exchange for speeches about the various crimes, before going to stop for lunch at Altab Ali Park.

There had been several heavy showers and by lunchtime my zoom lenses were all steamed up internally – zooming draws in damp air which condenses on the glass – and I only had a 16mm fisheye giving totally clear images. I needed to dry the others out and decided I had taken enough pictures and it was time for me to go home – although the carnival was going to continue to the West End and end with a ‘Reclaim the Streets’ style party starting on the Embankment at 6pm.

I described the event at length in 2012 and here I’ll quote some of it, but you can still read it all at Carnival of Dirt on My London Diary.

The funeral cortege that gathered at St Pauls included a large snake, a turtle and a tortoise, a reminder of XStrata’s criminal diversion of the McArthur River, destroying the ecosystem and despoiling the sacred sites of Australian aborigines.

There were coffins representing the dead and naming many of the companies involved one said ‘Glencore Values – Toxic Assets, Toxic Environments‘, another ‘XStrata – X-Rated on Human Rights‘ and pointed out the CEO Mick Davis “Gets £30 million to stay in job while 2 Dead 80 Injured protesting at Tintaya mine in Chile.’

A small coffin represent the over 18,000 child miners in the Phillipines, while another read ‘10 Million Dead Through Conflict in 16 years equals a 9/11 every 2 days‘. A black coffin carried on the side the message ‘Resist Corporate Terrorism‘ and on the top the message ‘London Metal Exchange – Setting the Global Standard in Bloodshed‘ with red drops bleeding from it. Another testified to the genocide in West Papua where Indonesian troops have torched villages.

Many carried placards with photographs of a few of the better-known activists who have been murdered for standing up to corporate terrorism, and marchers distributed a leaflet naming 15 of them – Valmore Locarno, Fr Fausto Tentorio, Victor Orcasita, Alexandro Chacon, Fr Reinel Restropo, Dr Gerry Ortega, Armin Marin, Dr Leonard Co, Elizer Billanes, Jorge Eliecer, Floribert Chebeya, Raghunath Jhodia, Abhilash Jhodia, Damodar Jhodia, Petrus Ayamiseba. Others carried photographs of unnamed and horribly mutilated victims.

More – and many more pictures at Carnival of Dirt.

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

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

Grenfell 8 Years On – 14th June 2025

Grenfell 8 Years On – 14th June 2025: Usually I write about events in the past, but today I’m thinking about something that will take place this evening in Notting Hill on the eight anniversary of the terrible Grenfell Tower fire on 14 June 2017. I’ll put the invitation to join this evening’s silent walk by Grenfell United at the end of this post.

Eight years have passed, a long and detailed inquiry has taken place, but still we have seen no justice. Before long the tower will be taken down and the government will be hoping that we will all forget the terrible crimes that led to the fire.

The essential details were largely known well before the inquiry began, within a month or two of the fire. More would have come out in court had prosecutions begun then. Instead we have had 8 years with little or no action, and certainly no justice.

Eight days after the fire, Architects for Social Housing held an open meeting with residents, housing campaigners, journalists, lawyers, academics, engineers and architects about it, and the following month produced a report, THE TRUTH ABOUT GRENFELL TOWER.

I went to many of the silent walks that have taken place to remember Grenfell – the images here are from the first anniversary on 14th June 2018, when around 10,000 people took part. I’l post the link to this event and to that in 2019 at the bottom of the post. As well as many more pictures these also contain more of my comments on the fire and its aftermath. And you can find more events I covered related to the fire by a search for ‘Grenfell’ on My London Diary.

Grenfell United

Please join us at the Silent Walk for the 8th Anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire on 14 June.

8 years on. No arrests. No justice. The tower is a stark reminder of what happened that night but the government has decided it’s time to bring it down.

Walk with us to show them you still stand united with the Grenfell Community. They want the tower out of sight. But we won’t stop until the criminals are brought to justice.

The Grenfell Silent Walk to remember the 72 people who died at Grenfell, to honour their memory and demand justice starts at 6pm at Notting Hill Methodist Church. Please wear green in solidarity.

Massive Silent Walk for Grenfell Anniversary

Grenfell Silent Walk – 2 Years on

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

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

Nicaragua, Votes For Women, Al Quds Day – 2018

Nicaragua, Votes For Women, Al Quds Day: Sunday 10th June 2018 my work began in Trafalgar Square where Nicaraguans called for an end to the current government violence in their country. I then photographed a march commemorating the extension of the UK vote to include many but not all adult women a hundred years earlier. Then I went to the Saudi Embassy where there were two groups facing each other, kept well separate by police. It was Al Quds (Jerusalem) Day and supporters of the oppressed people of Palestine had come to protest there, with a counter-protest by Zionists.

End government killings in Nicaragua – Trafalgar Square

Nicaragua, Votes For Women, Al Quds Day - 2018

Nicaraguans came to call for an end to the violent attacks by police on protests in Nicaragua where they have killed over 100 protesters, injured over 600, and others have been unjustly detained, tortured and some raped.

The government atrocities have been condemned by he CIDH (Inter-American Commission on Human Rights) and Amnesty International and this was one of protests across Europe in solidarity, demanding the resignation of president Daniel Ortega and his wife and and vice-president Rosario Murillo and free and fair elections.

More pictures on My London Diary at End government killings in Nicaragua.

100 years of Votes for Women

Women wore purple, white and green head scarves to make up three strands of a huge procession in the suffragette colours through London marking 100 years since many British women gained the right to vote.

The 1918 act gave the vote to the first time to all men over 21 and to men like my father over 18 serving in the armed forces, but did not bring in universal suffrage for women. Women had to be over 30 and meet a property requirement. It was another ten years before all women over 21 – including my mother who was by then 23 – could vote.

My mother made no secret of her support for the Conservative party, displaying their poster in our front window at every election. My father, who kept quiet about his politics to avoid conflict at home, went into the polling station every time to cancel out her vote with one for Labour.

I left the march as the end of it passed Piccadilly Circus on its way to Westminster.

Many more pictures at 100 years of Votes for Women.

Zionists protest against Al Quds Day – Saudi embassy, Mayfair

As well as the official Zionist protest kept behind barriers by police around a hundred yards away from the pro-Palestine Al Quds day event there were also a number of extreme right football thugs roaming the area, together with some well-known Zionists. Some of these managed to come close to the Al Quds day event and shout at it and at times there was some forceful policing as the thugs were moved away.

The official Zionist Federation protest kept behind the barriers, shouting at the Palestinian supporters, most of whom simply ignored them though a handful faced them at a distance and shouted back. There seemed to be rather fewer of the Zionists than in earlier years and there were almost certainly more Jewish protesters in the Al Quds day event which was supported by several groups and numerous individuals from the Jewish left as well as the ultra-orthodox Neturei Karta, who always attract a great deal of venomous anti-Semitic shouting from the Zionists.

There had been considerable pressure on the UK government to ban the display of the Hezbollah flag, which was then still legal here, as the same flag was used by both the military wing, banned in 2008 and the political wing of the party which at the time had two ministers in the Lebanese government. Despite this the UK government banned the group as a whole in 2019, making the display of this flag from then on a criminal offence.

More pictures at Zionists protest against AlQuds Day.

Al Quds (Jerusalem) Day – Saudi embassy, Mayfair

*Protesters hold the largest Palestinian flag ever made, 70m long to symbolise the 70 years since the Nakba*

The much larger crowd who had come to the protest organised by the Justice for Palestine Committee and supported by the Islamic Human Rights Commission and a wide range of pro-Palestinian organisations was squashed into a small area in front of the Saudi Embassy.

There was a large police presence in the area that kept them well apart from the counter-protest by the Zionist Federation and stopped the football hooligans from attacking this peaceful protest.

Al Quds Day was established by the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979 and is celebrated in many countries particularly across the Arab world. There have been events like this one in London for over 30 years.

The protest this year was a gesture of defiance to the demonisation campaign and the ongoing murders by Israeli troops of innocent Palestinian protesters in the Gaza Strip commemorating 70 years since Israel was formed on expropriated Palestinian land.

More on My London Diary at Al Quds (Jerusalem) Day.

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

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

Lord Maruga, Portugal Day & Khalistan – 2008

Lord Maruga, Portugal Day & Khalistan: My day on Sunday 8th June 2008 very much reflected the multicultural nature of London, beginning with a Hindu Festival in Thornton Heath, moving on to a Catholic Mass celebrating Portugal Day in Kennington and finally a march by Sikhs remembering the 1984 massacre and calling for an independent Sikh state, Khalistan.

Lord Muruga in Thornton Heath

Hindu God Lord Muruga is particularly popular with the Tamils of southeast India (Tamil Nadu), Sri Lanka and Malaysia, and several hundred from the Sivaskanthagiri Murugan Temple in Thornton Heath celebrated him by pulling a chariot carrying his representation through the local streets.

The procession was led by musicians, and by women carrying pots of burning embers on their heads and in their arms. As the chariot made its way along the street, people brought offerings of good to be blessed, and these were returned to them flaming.

Lord Muruga is the son of Agni, the fire god. He also carries a spear and a staff with a picture of a cockerel, and rides on a peacock. He is noted for the help that he gives for devotees who are in distress and the procession in particular visits those who cannot come to the temple because of their poor health or other disabilities

The flames are from camphor, widely used in Indian rituals and thought to eliminate negative energies. This waxy white solid burns with a relatively cool flame and emit little smoke.

Many more pictures on My London Diary at Lord Muruga in Thornton Heath.

Portugal Day in Kennington Park

Also known as Camões Day, Portugal’s National Day marks the anniversary of the death of its greatest poet and writer, Luís de Camões, on 10 June, 1580. He died in the year that Portugal became part of Spain, and the date of his death (the day of his birth around 1624 is not recorded) was celebrated as a national day after Portugal regained independence in 1640.

His great epic poem ‘The Lusaids’ centres on Vasco da Gama’s voyage to discover a sea route to India which was the foundation of the colonial explorations that brought the country great wealth and it made him a symbol of the nation.

Fascist dictator Salazar who ruled Portugal from 1932 to 1968 made the day a celebration of a fictional Portuguese ‘race’, but it is now simply a day for celebration by Portuguese communities around the world – and London has the largest Portuguese community outside Portugal, centred in Stockwell close to Kennington Park. The celebrations in the park includes entertainments and considerable eating and drinking after the initial open-air Catholic Mass I photographed.

Portugal Day in Kennington Park

Sikh Remembrance March and Freedom Rally

Sikhs remember the massacres at Amritsar by the Indian Army and the mob killings encouraged by the Indian government following the assassination of Indira Ghandi by her Sikh bodyguards in 1984.

Sikh interests were ignored by an ignorant and incompetent British administration led by the Viceroy and Governor-General of India Lord Mountbatten who were responsible for the partition of India in 1947.

This annual rally and march in London calls for the establishment of an independent Sikh homeland, Khalistan in the Punjab and possibly incorporating some nearby areas of India and Pakistan.

Some Sikhs had been calling for an independent state since the 1930s and the movement continued to grow after partition with various militant Sikh groups including Babbar Khalsa, proscribed in the UK. Violent repression by Indian police led to a decline in the 1990s, but repression continues against Sikhs and in particular against those campaigning for separation and has increased in recent years. This makes it very difficult to determine how much popular support there is for the Khalistan movement in the area.

Data in the UK suggests that only a small fraction of British Sikhs support the establishment of Khalistan. In 2018, India asked UK to ban Sikh Federation (UK) who organise these events for its anti-India, pro-Khalistan activities, including proscribing the organisation but this has not happened.

More at Sikh Remembrance March and Freedom Rally.

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

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

Knife Crime & Sikh Genocide – 2018

Knife Crime & Sikh Genocide: On Saturday 3rd Jun 2018 Anti-Knife UK protested opposite Downing Street calling on Prime Minister Theresa May to take action against knife crime in the UK. From there I went to Hyde Park where several thousand Sikhs were meeting to march through London to Trafalgar Square in memory of the 1984 Indian Army attack on the Golden Temple in Amritsar and the mob killings of Sikhs later in the year encouraged by the Indian government following the assassination of Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards.

Anti-Knife UK protest – Downing St

Anti-Knife UK had been founded by Danny O’Brien in 2008 to monitor knife crime incidents from across the UK on a daily basis and to campaign for legislation and other actions to reduce them. He announced at the protest that he was stepping down from active leadership because of the strains it had put on his mental health leaving the campaign to be carried forward by others.

Anti-Knife UK had organised this protest by community groups and campaigners from various groups across the country to urge Theresa May to take action against this growing problem. Many at the protest were family and friends of those, mainly young men, who had been killed in knife crimes and wore t-shirts with pictures of the victims.

As well as placards and banners some had brought pairs of empty shoes to remember those killed.

Speakers at the rally called for government support for measures to tackle the problem including tougher sentences, tagging of all knives, knife arches in night clubs, equal rights for victims and families, and a review of the laws governing self-defence and reasonable force as well as more work in schools and communities.

More pictures at Anti-Knife UK protest.

Sikhs remember the 1984 genocide

Several thousands of Sikhs sat in front of a stage on a lorry in Hyde Park for a rally addressed by a succession of Sikh leaders calling for and end to the persecution of Sikhs in the Punjab and for freedom in an independent Sikh state of Khalistan. Sikhs got a raw deal at partition in 1947 and promises made to them at the time were never kept.

They remembered the thousands of Sikhs killed in the 1984 Indian Army attack on the Golden Temple in Amritsar, Operation Blue Star, and more murdered later that year after the assassination of Indira Gandhi when the Indian government encouraged mob killings of Sikhs, crimes for which none have been brought to justice.

Since the 1984 Sikh genocide there has been a continuing program of police arrests, torture and killing of Sikh males in the Punjab and crippling economic and social policies. Many Sikhs demand independence from India and a Sikh state of Khalistan.

The militant Sikh group Babbar Khalsa calling for independence had been formed a few years before 1984 and had been active for some years in the Punjab before they gained international notoriety by planting a bomb in an Air India flight to Canada which killed 329 people in 1985. Some at least of the continuing activities of this group are thought to be financed by Pakistan.

Babbar Khalsa are a proscribed group in the UK and in some earlier years I photographed this event some people were arrested for allegedly promoting this organisation. This year I saw none of this, but Babbar is an Indian family name.

*Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale was killed in ‘Operation Blue Star’*

Some did carry placards showing Kulwant Singh Babbar, one of the first members and founders of Babbar Khalsa and a supporter of Khalistan movement, killed by Indian army snipers in Operation Blue Star in 1984.

This was a peaceful protest and I was made to feel welcome as I took pictures – and enjoyed some of the free food being handed out to all at the event before the march.

The start of the march was led by groups from Birmingham and when they reached Marble Arch they were unsure which way to proceed. They decided to go back into Hyde Park and get the police to tell them which way to go, and were led back through a gate a short distance down Park Lane and led across to continue,

I left them at Hyde Park Corner on their way down Piccadilly towards a rally in Trafalgar Square.

More pictures on My London Diary at Sikhs remember the 1984 genocide.

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

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

Turkish Spring, Badgers & BNP – 2013

Turkish Spring, Badgers & BNP: My day was particularly full on Saturday 1st June 2013 as I attended a memorial service for a close friend held at Southwark Cathedral in the early afternoon as well as as the protests in this post.

London Supports Turkish Spring – Marble Arch

Turkish Spring, Badgers & BNP - 2013 — *Supporters of Turkish football team Garsi support the Gezi protests*

I began at 11am at Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park, next to Marble Arch, where Turks were massing to march to the Turkish Embassy in Belgrave Square in solidarity with the ‘Turkish Spring’ protests against the Erdogan regime in Istanbul’s Gezi Park and across Turkey.

It was a high-octane event with a great deal of high-spirited chanting and more and more people were arriving for the march.

I had to leave as the event was getting underway, with most of the protesters sitting on the ground to listen to speeches. Later I heard that around 4,000 had marched to protest at the embassy,

More about the protest and more pictures on My London Diary at London Supports Turkish Spring.

Cull Politicians, Not Badgers – Westminster

This was the day on which it became legal to cull badgers in two pilot areas and over a thousand, many dressed in black and white and with badger masks or face paint met at Tate Britain on Millbank for a rally and march to Parliament against the cull.

Campaigners argue that the cull is not supported by most scientific evidence and that it will result in many badgers suffering cruel lingering deaths after being wounded by largely untrained marksmen.

*Among the speakers was Queen Guitarist Brian May, a leading campaigner for badgers*

I had to leave before they marched to go to Southwark Cathedral for the memorial service, but when I returned after attending this I met some of protesters who were still in Parliament Square, where they danced on the road in front of Parliament until they were cleared by police.

More about the cull and the protest – and many more pictures at Cull Politicians, Not Badgers.

BNP Stopped From Exploiting Woolwich Killing – Old Palace Yard

*Nick Griffin answers questions from the press under a placard ‘Hate Preachers Out’ and fails to appreciate the irony*

Fortunately police had stopped the BNP from holding a mass protest in Woolwich capitalising on the killing there of soldier Lee Rigby and had also banned their proposed march from Woolwich to Lewisham on grounds of public safety. Both would have been inflammatory and Lee Rigby’s father had also made clear that he and his family did not want his son’s death to be used to stir up hatred against Muslims.

Instead Nick Griffin and a small group of BNP supporters had come to Old Palace Yard intending to march from there to the Cenotaph to lay wreaths in Rigby’s memory, but their gesture to exploit the killing was opposed by a thousands of anti-fascists. It was a confrontation that stirred up memories from the anti-fascist mobilisation at Cable Street against Oswald Mosley’s blackshirts, and as on that occasion the police attempted to force a way through for the fascists, arresting large numbers of protesters, but eventually the BNP had to abandon the attempt to march.

*Across the heads of police they could see the counter-protest – and could clearly hear the chanting*

There were only a small group of supporters with Griffin, who blamed the low attendance on police turning back his supporters and making Westminster a “a virtual exclusion zone”. But I’d walked there with no problems from Westminster Station; there were large numbers of police and parked police vans as well as thousands of protesters, but I was not challenged or stopped.

Griffin and his group waited for around for several hours while police attempted to clear the route for him, arresting and driving away two double-deck buses full of protesters, but there were still enough to block the route. Eventually they walked in the opposite direction to their coaches.

BNP Exploiting Woolwich Killing Stopped

Anti-Fascists Stop BNP Wreath Laying – Parliament Square,

*Anonymous were there along with Antifa, trade unionists and the UAF to oppose the BNP hate*

I walked back from Old Palace Yard where Nick Griffin was being photographed and questioned by the press the short distance to Parliament Square where I saw a steady stream of protesters being arrested and taken onto two double-deck buses.

I photographed a number of those arrested, mainly walking calmly with police who were rather more violent with some others, and saw them threatening legal observers, then walked through the lines of police to the protesters who were still blocking the route. I imagine few of those arrested were charged with any offence, but probably detained for a dozen or more hours before being released – probably in the middle of the night. It’s a short period of arbitrary punishment that avoids the police having to do much paperwork.

There were some in wheelchairs who had come to block the fascists – and some were at the front of the protest.

Others were in ‘Anonymous’ masks.

Many linked arms to make it harder for police snatch squads to grab individuals

And there were some of the ‘badgers’ who had stayed on for this protest too.

The stand-off between protesters and police continued – and it was clear that it would not be possible for the police to clear the route without a clearly excessive use of force – and that they were not going to drift away as police had hoped.

There was much celebration When they heard that the BNP had abandoned their march and left the area, and the protesters marched up Parliament St to the Cenotaph, where there was a short speech and people began to leave.

Many marched up to Trafalgar Square but I went back the other way on my way home.

More on My London Diary at Anti-Fascists Stop BNP Wreath Laying.

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

Hizb ut-Tahrir, Spain and Copyright: on Sunday 31 May 2009 I photographed a march by Hizb ut-Tahrir against attacks by Pakistan army on Taliban militants in Swat and then went to the ‘Taste of Spain’ festival in Regent Street, which led me to think and write about the copyright position over reproductions of works of art.

As I pointed out then, if works of art are out of copyright because of their age – now because the artist died over 70 years ago – then any reproduction of them “intended to be a faithful 2D representation” lack “the the artistic intent necessary for copyright to exist and so is also in the public domain.“

Hizb ut-Tahrir, Spain and Copyright - 2009 — *Picasso died in 1973 so his work will remain copyright until 2043*

I wrote in 2009:

However copyright lawyers in the employ of many museums and photographic agencies who make money selling or licencing art reproductions take a rather different view of intellectual property law.

A judgement in the UK Court of Appeal in 2023 clarified the situation as far as the UK is concerned, confirming that photographs of two dimensional artworks which are out of copyright are indeed also in the public domain, and that museums and collections etc can no longer use copyright to restrict the circulation of images or make any charge for doing so.

We are now free to ignore any © symbols on images made by artists (including photographers) who died more than 70 years ago. Of course museums and others can still make a charge for supplying high resolution images, but if you can find large enough files on the web or by scanning reproductions in books they are yours to use, free of charge, thanks to THJ v Sheridan, 2023.

Hizb ut-Tahrir protest US War in Pakistan – US Embassy – Pakistan High Commission

Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain was proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the UK in January 2024 after it organised protests which supported Hamas following their October 7th attack on Israel. I had been concerned about their activities since I first photographed them over 20 years earlier.

They marched from the US Embassy to the Pakistan High Commission in protest against the attacks by the Pakistan army on Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan militants who had taken control of parts of the Swat Valley. They called this an “American War”, blaming them on American pressure on the Pakistan government and called for an immediate end to attacks by Muslims on Muslims.

I ended my report on the protest with a long criticism of Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain calling on them to “have a proper respect for human rights, including the rights of women, although an Islamic interpretation of this may well differ in some respects from a Western one. It’s very hard not to agree with Hizb ut-Tahrir when it talks about the corrupt regimes currently leading Muslim countries, but it would also be welcome to see them standing against repression – and in particular the repression of women – that is currently practised in places including Swat and states such as Iran.”

More on My London Diary at Hizb ut-Tahrir protest War in Pakistan.

Spanish Practices in Regent St

The most impressive part of the ‘Taste of Spain’ festival in Regent Street was the display of large photographs of pictures from the Prado in Madrid which largely attracted attention because of the female nudity in some of the works (and it’s a shame that Ruskin had apparently not studied this work in detail before his wedding night, which might then have been less of a shock to his system.)

Quite a few people posed in front of it to have their picture taken – but by their friends rather than by me, but I and other photographers took advantage of this.

More pictures at Spanish Practices in Regent St.

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

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

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

Filipino Nurses tell Daily Mail to apologise – Kensington

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

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

More pictures at Filipino Nurses tell Daily Mail apologise.

Walking the Coal Line – Peckham

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

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

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

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

I wrote in 2015:

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

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

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

UK Uncut Art Protest – Westminster Bridge

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

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

*Painting the banner on Westminster Bridge*

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

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

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

More pictures at UK Uncut Art Protest.

Biafrans demand independence – Trafalgar Square

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

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

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

More pictures at Biafrans demand independence.

Mass rally Supports National Gallery Strikers – Trafalgar Square

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

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

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

Many more pictures at Mass rally Supports National Gallery strikers.

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

Tag: march

Anti-Homeless Spikes & No More Austerity – 2014

Call for Nationwide Homeless Spikes Ban

No More Austerity – Demand The Alternative

Wimbledon, Pensions & Hammersmith – 2004

Wimbledon Village Fair

Pay Up For Pensions – Trade Union Congress March and Rally

Hammersmith

The Carnival of Dirt – 2012

The Carnival of Dirt: Friday 15th June 2012

Grenfell 8 Years On – 14th June 2025

Grenfell United

Nicaragua, Votes For Women, Al Quds Day – 2018

End government killings in Nicaragua – Trafalgar Square

100 years of Votes for Women

Zionists protest against Al Quds Day – Saudi embassy, Mayfair

Al Quds (Jerusalem) Day – Saudi embassy, Mayfair

Lord Maruga, Portugal Day & Khalistan – 2008

Lord Muruga in Thornton Heath

Portugal Day in Kennington Park

Sikh Remembrance March and Freedom Rally

Knife Crime & Sikh Genocide – 2018

Anti-Knife UK protest – Downing St

Sikhs remember the 1984 genocide

Turkish Spring, Badgers & BNP – 2013

London Supports Turkish Spring – Marble Arch

Cull Politicians, Not Badgers – Westminster

BNP Stopped From Exploiting Woolwich Killing – Old Palace Yard

Anti-Fascists Stop BNP Wreath Laying – Parliament Square,

Hizb ut-Tahrir, Spain and Copyright – 2009

Hizb ut-Tahrir protest US War in Pakistan – US Embassy – Pakistan High Commission

Spanish Practices in Regent St

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

Filipino Nurses tell Daily Mail to apologise – Kensington

Walking the Coal Line – Peckham

UK Uncut Art Protest – Westminster Bridge

Biafrans demand independence – Trafalgar Square

Mass rally Supports National Gallery Strikers – Trafalgar Square