The Jewish East End & Al-Quds Day: On Sunday 22 October 2006 I went on a morning guided walk around parts of the formerly Jewish East End, one of the activities of the now long gone (and still missed) London Arts Café. The name was rather misleading as it never achieved its aim to open a cafe dedicated to London and the arts in the city, but did organise some interesting talks as well as exhibitions at various venues showing painting and photography of London and walks and visits such as this. Some record of these is still on-line although the organisation closed down in 2007, though was continued as a short-lived Meetup group.
After lunch I went to Marble Arch for the start of the annual Al-Quds Day march. I didn’t stay long as it began to rain heavily.
Here (with minor corrections) is all I wrote in 2006 and a few of the pictures. You can still see more at the links to My London Diary.
The (formerly) Jewish East End
Fieldgate Street Great Synagogue, built in 1899 and one of the very few synagogues still open then in the East End.The synagogue was sold in 2015, and is now a mosque
On Sunday morning I took a walk with members of London Arts Cafe through the once Jewish areas of London’s East End. We were fortunate to be able to go in both the Fieldgate Street Great Synagogue, as well as the Bevis Marks Synagogue, Britain’s oldest standing Jewish place of worship, built in 1698, where unfortunately, photography is not allowed, but you can see some other pictures from our walk.
The famous Jewish portrait photographer ‘Boris’ (Boris Bennett)worked from this building.An emblem by Arthur Szyk in Arts and Crafts Style marks the former offices of the Jewish Daily News.
The External Security Organisation of Hizbullah was proscribed in the UK in 2001, but it was only in 2008 that the whole of its military wing was proscribed. But Hizbullah is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party with around 12% of the seats in the Lebanese Parliament, and operates a vast social services network in the country including schools and hospitals, as well as a satellite TV station. The party flag covers both the civil and the military wings of the party, and so its display was not an offence after the 2008 proscription. There were probably more Hisbullah flags on display than usual in 2006 because the march took place just a couple of months after the Israeli invasion and occupation of parts of Lebanon in July-August 2006.
Following years of lobbying the proscription was extended to cover the whole organisation in 2019 and it is now an offence to carry the flag. My pictures are a historical record and do not imply any support for the organisation.
I like to bring back to life many of the posts I wrote in the first six or seven years of My London Diary not just because of their interest and that many of the issues are still very relevant 20 or more years later, but also because as the site developed it became harder and harder to locate things and to find both images and particularly the text I had written about them.
These problems with My London Diary were largely resolved with a redesign of the site for new posts in 2008 which kept pictures and text together and a search facility. I also moved away from the lower case only text which had seemed appropriate when the site began around 2000. Revisiting posts from back then on >Re:PHOTO allows me to reunite text and some of the pictures (with links to the rest) and also to correct the many typos and misspellings from them. So here with these minor corrections is what I wrote back in 2006.
The White Rabbit, Alice and her friends were playing snakes and ladders
In Mary Harmsworth Park, waiting for the Christian Aid organised March On The Treasury to start I bumped – literally – into the Archbishop Of Canterbury. He looked even more distracted than usual. A couple of minutes later I returned to take his picture. Moving in his direction I took my eye off him for a second, and he vanished, leaving not even a cloud of smoke. Later we were told he had another appointment and so couldn’t stay.
And the Mad Hatter was having his tea party
However there were plenty of other people to photograph, perhaps a couple of thousand in all. We were there to march on the Treasury, to demand that the government withhold funding from the International Monetary Fund, because of the unfair economic conditions they impose on countries that want loans. When the IMF insists on free trade in agricultural produce for example, cheap EU subsidised tomatoes from Italy can flood local markets and put the local tomato farmers out of business.
Daleep Mukarjee, Christian Aid’s Director was able to tell us (as most had heard on the radio earlier in the day), that Development minister Hilary Benn had announced that we were holding back £50 million for that reason. It would stretch belief to think that this announcement, coming on the day of this major demo, had no connection with the six-month campaign leading up to it. Of course it is only a first small step in what needs to be done.
Among the other speakers was former Boyzoner Ronan Keating, (since going solo he has an impressive list of top ten singles and albums, though I’ve never knowingly heard any of them.) He gave a decent speech and spoke movingly about his trip to Ghana for Christian Aid.
A police woman poses to have her picture taken with Ronan Keating
Then we were on the march, across Lambeth Bridge and up past the Houses Of Parliament to Whitehall, where the two thousand or so of us paused outside Downing Street while a small group went in to deliver an African drum and the Christian Aid petition to Gordon Brown’s door.
People in the Treasury were listening – But will more action follow?
The parade came to a halt outside the Treasury Offices in Whitehall Place, with more drumming and speeches. At least some of those inside took a little interest in what was going on, breaking off from their tea break to listen to the speeches.
Kingston Carnival, Regent St Festival: I went to Kingston upon Thames on Sunday September 3 2006 to photograph Kingston Carnival because I hoped to take at least one picture in the town to include in a show, Another London, I was preparing with two friends to take place in Kingston Museum in January 2007, and I made two pictures which ended up in that show.
But both were of Beeraahaar Sweet Combination, a prize-winning Carnival Mas Band based in Stamford Hill, Hackney, miles away in North London and with no real connection to Kingston. Kingston, formerly in Surrey, since 1965 has been a London borough on the edge of London, but until 2020 still home to the central offices of Surrey County Council.
Kingston Carnival began in 2001, celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2025, although this year it was postponed, but is planned to return in 2027.
Later I went to the Regent Street Festival in central London which had a Spanish theme. Below I’ll post with minor corrections what I wrote in 2006 and links to more pictures.
Kingston Carnival
Kingston, Surrey
The Carnival came from HackneyWith just a handful of people from Kingston.
A little bit of Hackney came to Kingston on Sunday morning to provide the Kingston Carnival. Hard to see why Kingston can’t put up its own carnival, but Beeraahaar Sweet Combination are a fine group that I’ve photographed at Notting Hill and Mardi Gras in Hackney, and even a small group of them gave the event a little atmosphere. Just a pity there weren’t more groups and people from Kingston in the parade to match them.
The stalls around the Guildhall showed there are a diverse range of communities in the area, but the parade didn’t really reflect this. Shipping in a carnival procession provides a little diversion, but surely the whole point of a borough paying for a carnival is to encourage community activities within its own boundaries?
From Kingston I caught the train up to town and to Spain, which was happening in Regent Street, closed to traffic for the day. Of course not closed to shopping, which perhaps rather limits what the organisers could do. I didn’t find the event too exciting, and the large crowds around anything that was going on reflected that too little was happening.
The police, mainly down a side street, were putting on a good show, one of the funniest I’ve seen for a long time, demonstrating how the police are supposed to restrain people, and use weapons such as pepper spray. The gulf between theory and practice is amazing.
I tried out a free sample of a revolting sherry-based drink, watched more Spanish folk dancers than was good for anyone’s sanity, avoided the sand on the ‘beaches’ and decided it was time to go home.
Diana & Mass Lone Demo: On Thursday 31 August I went with a friend to the gates of Kensington Palace on the ninth anniversary of the killing of Princess Diana (I think I deliberately misspelt her name twice as Diane to show my lack of interest in the royals) before going to a pub in Kensington.
Later in the day I went to Parliament Square for the Mass Lone Demonstration suggested by Mark Thomas in response to the ludicrous and dangerous restrictions on protests in a large area around Parliament and other designated sites imposed in the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005.
Princess Diana, 9th Anniversary commemoration
Kensington Palace
The last day of the month was the ninth anniversary of Diana’s death, and her fans, including members of the Diana Circle, were at Kensington Palace to mark the event, taping flowers and tributes to the gates and fence. I’d gone to meet a friend, who had extensively photographed the scenes there in the days immediately following her death.
The fans had come from all over the country, and from Germany and elsewhere. Father Frank Gelli, who was curate of St Mary Abbots just down the road at the time of her death, led prayers at a short memorial service. Throughout the day more people arrived with tributes and flowers. Next year on the 10th anniversary there are hopes for a bigger event. [And I went again then.]
Kensington Palace has had a bit of a face lift, doubtless benefiting from the Diana effect on visitor numbers. However, rather than taking a visit there, we went to visit the Elephant And Castle, and old press pub, taking a short detour through St Mary Abbots on our way.
Later in Parliament Square I got a small badge ‘Mass Lone Demonstration 31/8 Parliament Square‘. This was an idea from Mark Thomas, who had suggested that as many people as possible should give the required one weeks notice to the police that they planned a solo demonstration in parliament square from 6-7pm.
I’m not sure how many did so, though there were perhaps around 50 with different placards while I was there. If I’d heard about it in time, I would perhaps have applied and arrived with a poster “End Police Harassment Of Photographers“.
One of the stupidest things that the Labour government have done was to try to pass a law to get rid of Brian Haw, whose continuing protest opposite the Houses of Parliament was causing minor embarrassment to Labour ministers, particularly Mr Blair. They managed to tag it on to something called SOCPA, the Serious Organised Crime And Police Act 2005.
The blunt weapon they wielded banned all demonstrations without a weeks notice within a kilometre or so of parliament, and much to their disappointment it has so far failed to get rid of Brian. Actually he’s a reasonable man, and if they had instead done something serious to stop children being killed in Iraq he would have been out of the square immediately.
Instead they choose to strike at free speech for all of us. It’s a law that has so far resulted in some farcical prosecutions (though with serious consequences for those taken to court.) Many of the police I’ve talked to obviously feel the law is an ass, and resent having to try and enforce it. Often they’ve turned their backs and walked away from illegal events (or even escorted the people carrying them out when they were company directors), but it has also wasted huge amounts of public money when they have been pushed into action.
One of the provisions of the law is that a lone demonstration – one person with a placard – is automatically to be granted permission provided a week’s notice is given, although conditions may be attached either when the permission is granted or by a police officer on the spot. It was Mark Thomas who had the idea that there could be a large number of such demonstrations at the same time and place, and it was made public on several blogs and web sites.
Those taking part were encouraged to pick their own subject of protest – serious or silly – and you can see some of these in my pictures. Brian Haw, who has received limited permission to use a megaphone, was able to do so.
Lebanon: Ceasefire Now!: In July 2006 there were protests in London over Israeli attacks on Lebanon and Palestine. There had been a large march on 22nd July and the pictures here are from a second protest on the following Friday, July 28th.
I posted about the first of these events here last week and you can read further details about what was happening around the world including in Lebanon and Palestine on July 28th on Wikipedia. UK Prime Minister Tony Blair was on that day in Washington holding talks with President George W. Bush on the crisis in the Middle East.
Police officer remonstrates with a child using megaphone in the prohibited areaAndrew Murray of ‘Stop the War’ who organised the demo was allowed to make a brief address
I didn’t write much about this protest at Downing St: “Several hundred demonstrators lined up on the pavement in Whitehall opposite Downing Street. They included a number of Jewish protesters who also felt that the Israeli bombing and invasion was an entirely disproportionate action, as well as supporters of Hezbollah.”
A delegation prepares to take a letter to Downing St demanding that Blair calls for an immediate ceasefire (he didn’t)
The presence of many Jewish protesters has been a continuing feature of all the protests against the Israeli attacks on Palestine and Gaza, something which is seldom mentioned or given any prominence in media coverage or the comments by politicians on these events.
Jew and Arab in solidarity opposing the Israeli action
Accurate reporting on these events and an end to government ministers and leading politicians describing them as hate marches and respecting those Jews who feel compelled to protest against the Israeli government actions – rather than promoting the views of pro-Zionists would I am sure have lessened both the rising anti-Semitism and Islamophobia we now see.
Tin Pan Alley & Our Lady of Mount Carmel: Sunday 16th July 2006 I went to the Tin Pan Alley Festival in Denmark Street, a short street off the Charing Cross Road, for many years the centre of the UK popular music industry, but now sadly declined. There are still some shops selling instruments, but the music publishers, newspapers and most recording studios have disappeared, and much redevelopment has taken place, including behind some of the seventeenth century and later facades.
It was a crowded and very noisy event and I found little to photograph, soon leaving for Clerkenwell to photograph the annual Italian festival there.
The 2026 Procession in Honour of Our Lady of Mount Carmel takes place this Sunday, July 19, 2026 at 3:30 but the street festival there begins around noon and continues long after the procession. It’s an event I’ve photographed many years since I first knew about it in the 1990s, but this year I think it will be far to hot for me to travel and work there.
Here as usual is what I wrote back in 2006 with normal capitalisation and spelling corrections, along with a few of my favourite images and links to the many others still on My London Diary.
Tin Pan Alley Festival
Denmark Street
Crowding around the stage in ‘Tin Pan Alley’
Not a lot to say about the Tin Pan Alley Festival in Denmark Street. It was noisy, fun if you like that kind of thing (but 15 minutes was long enough for me) and for a good cause.
A game of football around the corner
Denmark Street is perhaps more interesting on other days, I must take my “famous” (allegedly ex-beatle) guitar in for repair sometime.
Ladies on one of the stalls at the Sagra in Warner StAnd men. More on My London Diary
The Italian Church festival is one of the great events of the London calendar, which fortunately hasn’t yet been noticed by too many non-Italians.
First communicant poses with her motherStatues and banners are carried in the processionA group of women leave the church to take part in the procession
The Procession In Honour Of Our Lady Of Mount Carmel Attracts several thousands. Good food, good wine and Italian beer along with other things for sale, colourful statues, and a cast list that included Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus, the Four Evangelists and many more, all parading through the streets around St Peter’s Church in Clerkenwell.
First communicantsPadre Carmelo di Giovanni, parish priest from 1991 to 2014Jesus carries a heavy wooden crossThere were three baskets each with a pair of doves who were reluctant to flyAnother Jesus led the first communicants
At the end of the procession is Our Lady Of Mount Carmel and the priests; as they join it, doves are released and the crowd of parishioners joins in a solemn procession of witness around the streets.
The clergy with a visiting dignitary
There are very many pictures from the event beginning here on My London Diary and spread over around a dozen pages, beginning with a number from the Sagra, the street festival in the street below the church. This continues with music and dancing ofter the procession (as well as eating and drinking) but in 2006 I needed to leave rather than continue photographing.
Rathayatra, Roller Skates & the World Cup: I began Sunday 18 June 2006 by photographing the annual Rathayatra chariot festival in Hyde Park and on its way to Trafalgar Square, before going to Parsons Green where I found the West London Green Fair rather disappointing but did briefly meet a large crowd on roller skates on a ride around London.
Later I went to New Malden to meet a friend and photograph Koreans who had gathered at a local pub to watch South Korea playing France in Leipzig in Group G of the 2006 World Cup. South Korea had earlier beaten Togo, and drew with France but a few days later lost to Switzerland and so failed to progress to the knockout phase of the cup. Below is what I wrote in 2006 (with the usual corrections) and links to more pictures from the day.
Hare Krishna: Rathayatra Festival
Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square
One of London’s more colourful annual events is the Rathayatra or Chariot Festival organised by the Hare Krishna movement. The three chariots carry representations of three deities, Lord Jagannatha (Krishna, the Lord of the Universe), Lady Subhadra and Lord Balarama, and pulling the ropes grants eternal service at the end of life in the spiritual world.
The ceremony dates back around 5000 years in the ancient holy city of Jagannath Puri in Orissa, India, but was only established in London rather more recently in 1969.
The chariots are accompanied by musicians and dancers, and there is free food for all at Trafalgar Square where the procession ends.
This year’s festival also celebrated the 108th anniversary of the birth of A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896-1977), who in 1966 founded the Hare Krishna movement.
I called in briefly at the West London Green Festival at Parson’s Green on my way to New Malden, but there didn’t seem to be much happening there.
The Skate Rollerstroll called in briefly, but didn’t stop for long.
Korea v France
The Fountain Pub, New Malden
Korean Face painting in New MaldenI’m about to have two stripes painted on my cheeks by this young woman
I was on my way to New Malden, where I met up with Paul Baldesare to go and photograph Korean supporters watching the Korea v France match at one of the local pubs.
Both inside the pub and in the garden were a whole lot of large screens, with Koreans coming to watch the game.
We got there quite a while before the start when everyone was just starting to get into the mood. Soon we both had red and blue stripes painted on our faces.
It was very much a community event, with everyone enjoying themselves, and emotions obviously ran high once the game had started.
Along with the hundreds of Koreans there were a few non-Korean locals, and one French woman with a France t-shirt. I talked to her briefly before the game began, but couldn’t find her later when I went to take some photographs in the crowd. So everyone in my pictures is a Korea supporter.
When I left, a few minutes into the second half, Korea were trailing 1-0. I missed the equaliser, and the after-match celebrations when the High Street was full of Koreans celebrating the draw.
Old Comrades, Women for Life & Sikhs: Sunday 4th June 2006 was a day for marching and running on the streets of London. In the City, the London Regiments were remembering their fallen comrades, and several thousand women were raising funds for cancer research. In Hyde Park I joined several thousand Sikhs at a rally before they marched in memory of the martyrdom of the Fifth Guru and the Indian genocide of Sikhs, calling for the release of political prisoners and the formation of an independent Sikh state.
I wrote a rather longer piece than usual, ending with a complaint about the police harassment of photographers during the Sikh march. There do seem to be some officers who really have a very negative attitude towards photographers, and at times in particular towards those with UK Press Cards. Though formally these are recognised by all police forces in the UK, that recognition too often means nothing on the street. Below is what I wrote in 2006 – with the usual minor corrections.
London Old Comrades
Bank of England
Early Sunday the centre of the real City, around the Bank Of England is generally pretty empty, but today things were going on. Immediately north of the bank a small group of ‘old comrades’ from the London Regiments were preparing to march and lay poppy wreaths at the monument to their fallen comrades in front of the Royal Exchange. Some of those I spoke to had fought in the second world war, though there were also some younger people there. It’s a remembrance that has taken place twice a year since 1919.
It was a solemn and ceremonial occasion, impressive and colourful, with a well-disciplined smoothness. The monumental architecture of the Bank made a good setting, although the area on top of Bank Station itself is too fussy and cluttered.
Towards the end of the event, when the numbers had thinned out a bit, London Wall was still fairly full.
As they marched off, I peeled left in search of 750,000 women, or rather that fraction who were taking part in the Central London event. ‘Race For Life’ for Cancer Research UK, is the UK’s largest women-only nationwide fund-raising day. There certainly were a lot of them, [around 10,000], at times packing even the wider streets full from side to side, making it hard to walk along Cornhill.
Women of all ages, shapes, sizes, races and speeds running, walking or limping or wheel-chairing around the 5km course. There were fewer serious runners than I’d expected and less fancy-dress, but the sheer numbers were impressive.
The Sikh Remembrance March and Freedom Rally commemorated the martyrdom of the fifth guru, Sri Guru Arjan Dev Ji 400 years ago, as well as the events of 1984.
Guru Arjan Dev Ji compiled the first version of the Sikh holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib, in 1604, writing many of the hymns within it. He was arrested in Lahore in 1606 on the orders of Mogul Emperor Jehangir, tortured for 5 days and martyred on the banks of the River Riva.
Punjabi speakers at the rally in Hyde Park described the events of 1984. The marchers demanded an acknowledgement of the Indian genocide of Sikhs, the release of Sikh political prisoners held in Indian jails, and for the establishment of an independent secular state of Khalistan in the Punjab.
During the annual celebration of the death of Sri Guru Arjan Dev Ji in 1984, Indira Ghandi sent her troops to attack Sikh militants in the Golden Temple at Amritsar. Many innocent pilgrims – men, women and children – were killed in the brutal assault. Thousands more died around the Punjab, particularly in the riots incited by government TV and radio stations after the October assassination of Indira Ghandi by her Sikh bodyguards.
After the speeches came prayers, and then the march set off for Trafalgar Square and another rally. This was a serious event, with strongly felt grievances, and an impressive display of Sikh tradition and feelings.
The marchers were pleased to find photographers taking an interest in their cause, with many of them encouraging me and thanking me for my presence. Some had heard of this web site [My London Diary] too.
The march sets off in Hyde Park, with five men representing the original Panj Piare (Five Beloved Ones.)
Until we were close to Hyde Park Corner, the police were helpful and in good humour too, but then along came one of the rotten apples, someone who just wanted to push photographers around. He came and told me to get off the road, as I was stopping the demonstration. This was clearly absolute nonsense, and I tried to tell him, but reason held no interest for him.
Police harass a photographer trying to do his job. I and other photographers got the same treatment
Other photographers got harassed too. You can see one of them in my picture. We are accused of holding up the march, generally nonsense as most of us want to capture action in our images, and if people even slow down, will wave them on.
Of course it’s those at the actual front of the march who would have any effect on its progress. Further back where we were working, small gaps develop and are closed up all the time without affecting the overall progress.
I have respect for the police – some at least of their work is essential, but this kind of petty and stupid behaviour simply makes their job harder for no reason.
It also makes the work of photographers impossible. I can’t work unless I can stand in the right place to take pictures, and that is seldom on the sidelines. At the highest level, the police realise this; it’s about time they got some of the little dictators in the middle to put it into practice.
The message of love & peace SILENCED BY TANKS
Of course the policing of many marches is over the top. There were probably ten times the number needed for this event, which was predictably well ordered, good natured and essentially self-policing. Traffic control was really all that was required. Perhaps harassing photographers makes these surplus guys on overtime think they have a purpose.
Twenty minutes later, along with several of the other photographers, I was on my third warning from this guy and he was getting redder and more and more tense. I was interested in how the situation might develop, but I was also tired and it was time for me to go elsewhere.
Brian, Bears, Morris and May Queens: On Saturday 13th May 2006 I went to Parliament Square where I photographed resident peace protester Brian Haw and Morris Dancers, going on to more dancers performing in Trafalgar Square as a part of a Westminster Day of Dance. From there the Underground took me out to Hanger Lane from where I walked to Brentham to photograph the 100th anniversary of the first Brentham May Queen crowning.
Brian Haw at Parliament Square
Brian and the Bears
Brian Haw lost the appeal by the government over his protest in Parliament Square, the court deciding that the Serious Organised Crimes And Police Act did apply to his protest after all, despite it having started around 4 years before the act came into force. It seems to be a decision that reflects more on the ability of the government to apply pressure rather than one that suggests an independent judiciary.
At the moment, Brian is still there, his protest now regulated by the police, but it seems rather likely that at some moment the feel convenient they will decide to terminate it. On Saturday morning I went to have a short word with him and take some more pictures, particularly of some of the bears who are with him.
His protest from the start has been about the killing of children, at first by the effects of sanctions, then by the war, and the teddy bear symbolises this (I think of one of the most poignant images from the Second World War, by Cecil Beaton, of a child in a hospital bed with a teddy bear.) I hope to be back to see Brian tomorrow, with a few friends, if he is still there. [He was, and depite constant harassment remained there until ill-health forced him to leave in 2011, dying in a German hospital six mohnths later.]
For several years there has been a dance festival in Westminster in May, with teams of Morris Dancers from around the country. I caught up with them briefly dancing in front of St Margaret’s Church next to Westminster Abbey, then a little later in Trafalgar Square.
Although i’ve never had a great desire to take up Morris myself, it certainly is one of our English traditions, going back at least 500 years – the first written record of it is in 1448.
It was still alive in many villages in the nineteenth century and a revival started in the early twentieth century particularly through the work of Cecil Sharp, who collected over 170 different dances around the country and started the English Folk Dance Society in 1911. Sharp and Mary Neal published books of dances, and in the 1920s and 30s, country dancing became a part of most young school children’s week. How I hated it in the 1950s!
It is perhaps that enforced participation that led to Morris Dancing being thought of as something false and lacking in credibility. In a curious anomaly, our Arts Councils refuse to support English ethnic dances while (quite rightly) giving aid to foster dance and related activities among minority ethnic groups. Despite this, Morris Dancing has continued to grow both in the UK and now increasingly abroad, particularly in Canada and the USA.
All the teams in Trafalgar Square were men, although there are also many women dancers. One of the things that comes out in my pictures is that the dance is at times a very athletic event. Many of the traditional dances use swords or staves and have a link to martial arts. Morris also has a strong link to another English tradition, the ale house.
May continued for me with another May Queen. Last year (2005) I had photographed the oldest continuing May Queen event at least in the London area, the Merrie England and London May Queen Fayre at Hayes, Kent, held continuously since 1913. This year I went instead to Brentham, where a May Fayre with maypole dancing was held in 1906, and its centenary was held this year.
For this event, the organisers had managed to find and invite along many former May Queens, including some from the 1950s. Some had come long distances to be there, including one now living in America.
Brentham was one of the earliest “garden village” estates, built by ‘Ealing Tenants’ a co-partnership housing scheme started in 1901 and largely completed by 1915. The road layout was designed by Raymond Unwin and Barry Parker, and it was in many ways a model for other and better known garden villages.
The Brentham May Queen is less formalised that the south London events, with little or no long speeches and ceremonies (unlike Hayes it was not set up by a Dulwich schoolmaster.)
As well as the May Queen Elect and previous May Queens, each with a small group of attendants, there is also a herald who leads the parade (aided today by a brass band) Brittania, Sailor and Soldier, and, leading the large group of around 150 young girls dressed in white with flowers, a Jack In The Green, covered with leaves, with just bare legs and sandals visible.
The crowning of the 2006 Brentham May Queen
After the parade around the area, there was a short ceremony in one of the fields by the River Brent in which last year’s May Queen crowned the new queen, and a very short speech. Following this were country dances and dancing round the maypole, but I left before this began.
Muslims, Iran, Canary Wharf & Queer is Here: Saturday February 4th was a busy day for me with a couple of protests, a trip to Canary Wharf and then the opening of a show in the Foyer of the Museum of London which included some of my work from ten years of London’s Pride marches.
The first of the protests was by Hizb Ut-Tahrir Britain, a radical Muslim organisagion which was proscribed in the UK in January 2024 following a protest outside the Egyptian Embassy which called on ‘Muslim Armies’ to take action against Israel. I’d first photographed a group which had been formed by its former leader for ten years, Omar BakrI Muhammad at a protest in Trafalgar Square in 1998 and later had photographed a number of the Hizb Ut-Tahrir protests, including the one for which they were banned.
The ban was part of a government attempt to stigmatise all protests against the Israeli attacks taking place on Gaza as ‘hate protests‘ and the BBC and other media outlets aided them by failing to properly distinguish the protest by a few hundred radical Muslims from the hundreds of thousands who marched peacefully at the same time through London calling for peace and justice in Palestine. Had they thought if they could get away with proscribing Stop the War, CND and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign they would surely have done so.
Here I’ll re-post a normally capitalised and slightly corrected version of what I wrote back in 2006 on My London Diary about that and other events of the day, along with links to more pictures including the full set of my pictures used in the museum show.
Defend the Honour of the Prophet
Danish Embassy
Speaker addressing crowd penned in on the pavement at the official demonstration opposite the embassy.
Several thousand British Muslims turned up outside the Danish Embassy around midday on Saturday 4 February 2006 to protest peacefully about the publication of cartoons by a Danish newspaper some months ago, following their re-publication in a number of other newspapers around Europe and on the Internet. Although I understand their outrage, and support their right to protest, the world-wide reactions have seemed excessive, with violence and injuries as well as lurid threats of death and atrocities presenting a very negative image of Islam.
Some demonstrators wanted to continue after the official end of the demonstration, but were urged to go home.
To the credit of British Muslims, this demonstration was peaceful and restrained, with official placards provided by organisers Hizb Ut-Tahrir, Britain saying things such as ‘we do not fear debate or criticism – but no one likes abuse‘, ‘Islam says – don’t insult other peoples religions‘ and ‘Europe lacks respect for others’, or simply praising the prophet, although some of the speeches sounded rather more inflammatory.
Stewards (and of course the police) generally kept everyone well under order, as well as making sensible photography virtually impossible during the rally. After the event was officially over it was possible to take more pictures
The problem is I think not that “Europe lacks respect” but that our tradition is a secular liberal one which respects and upholds freedom of speech and opinion (our blasphemy laws, which should have been repealed long ago, are seldom invoked.)
There are many things said and written that I find offensive (including several of the cartoons at issue) and you and I have the right to state our objections, to debate or criticise and even to stop eating Danish butter – but not to stir up hatred or issue death threats. Despite some press reports, this demonstration was generally well-ordered, and I saw none of the placards which have led to calls for people to be prosecuted.
Protestors hold posters about public executions, torture and imprisonment of workers opposite Iran’s London Embassy in Kensington.
Meanwhile, a short distance away, a demonstration that perhaps should have attracted rather more support from the Muslim community was taking place opposite the Iranian embassy. Perhaps 50 people had gathered there to protest against human rights abuses in the Islamic Republic of Iran, and to support workers there who have no right to strike or organise under Iran’s draconian labour law.
The demonstration is a show of solidarity with Iranian trade unionists and the GMB London Region banner added colour.
In January 2004 workers staging a sit-in at the Khatoon Abad copper plant were attacked by riot police, with four killed and many more injured. Recently, bus workers in Tehran have been arrested for planning and carrying out strike action. According to Amnesty International, around 500 are still in jail, without charges being made or access to lawyers. Some of them have been beaten in prison, and their wives and children also beaten in raids on their homes.
A letter of protest was taken to the door of the embassy but nobody came to accept it
There are many more abuses of human rights being committed under the name of law in Iran including torture, murder and public executions (even of minors) for offences including ‘un-Islamic behaviour‘. Given the amount of news coverage on Iran at the moment over uranium enrichment, it is perhaps surprising that other stories from Iran – such as these – have not attracted more attention. And since most of those who are suffering are Muslim, I’m suprised at the apparent lack of solidarity from the community in Britain.
I left for a late lunch, then went on to Canary Wharf, where I had things to do. Although it was a very dull day I took a few pictures before catching the Docklands Light Railway to Bank and walking through the empty City to the Museum Of London on London Wall.
London Gay Mens Chorus at the opening of ‘Queer is Here’ at the Museum of London.
At the Museum Of London was an event I had a personal interest in, the opening of a foyer display ‘Queer Is Here‘. I’d provided the dozen images used on the front of the large display panel beside the general text on the show, and there was also a screen beside it showing more of my images taken at London Gay Pride Parades from 1993-2002. In those ten years of Pride I took perhaps 5,000 images, and the display shows around 40 of the best of them.
Gay Pride parade in Piccadilly, June 1994. Picture by Peter Marshall from ‘Ten Years of Pride’ , part of the ‘Queer is Here’ exhibition at the Museum of London.
There were a few of these on My London Diary already (along with many from later Prides) but I posted the full set of pictures used in the show.
Peter Tatchell
The exhibition was opened by Peter Tatchell, who I’ve photographed many times over the years, and was enlivened by a spirited performance from the London Gay Mens Chorus. After the month at the Museum Of London the display was to tour to libraries and other venues in London and possibly elsewhere around the country
