Annual Remembrance Procession

Custody Deaths, Vegans & Fracking – 2016

Custody Deaths, Vegans & Fracking: Saturday 29th October 2016 I photographed the annual United Family & Friends Procession and Rally against deaths in custody. My day had begun with a protest outside a Barclays Branch in Piccadilly Circus over their support for fracking, and the UFFC march was held up to allow a vegan march to go past to a rally in Parliament Square.

The 2026 United Family & Friends Procession is this Saturday, 31st October 2026, meeting at noon in Trafalgar Square.

Families United against Custody Deaths

*Janet Alder whose son Christopher was killed by police in Hull leads the procession from Trafalgar Square*

On My London Diary you can read a little more about some of the cases of those who have died while in police custody in suspicious circumstances, in some cases clearly murdered by police.

*The first page of the list of over 3000 who are known to have died in custody since 1969*

Very few of the cases of 3,180 people known to have died in suspicious circumstances in custody since 1969 have ever come to court. Mostly the official investigations by the so-called independent bodies which investigate the police (formerly the IPCC, now the Independent Office for Police Conduct – IOPC) have failed to carry out their work in a proper or timely fashion almost certainly deliberately to make any prosecutions impossible.

The DPP also appear to have colluded in this with the result that with there has been no justice done. In my post on My London Diary there are just a few of many examples.

*Raised fist salutes as the march goes down Whitehall*

*Kadisha Brown-Burrell, whose brother Kingsley died in police custody in 2011*

*There was a brief pause for remembrance at the monument to the Women of World War II*

*The mother of Amy El-Keria, who died aged 14 in a Kent hospital. An inquest found there had been gross negligence but no one has been prosecuted for her death.*

The procession moved at its usual funereal pace down Whitehall, stopping completely numerous times on the way, taking around half an hour to cover the few hundred yards. Families and banners lined the side of the road and speakers from the families spoke in the southbound lane.

*Marcia Rigg holds up the letter to Theresa May*

I had to leave before the speeches were finished shortly and before a small deputation went to take a letter for Theresa May to Downing St.

Many more pictures on My London Diary at Families United against Custody Deaths.

Bring Fracking Home to Barclays

Piccadilly Circus

*The ‘living room’ with a mother and daughter from Ryedal and the fracking rig in front of Barclays*

Before the United Families and Friends protest I had gone to Golden Square to meet protesters preparing for a protest outside the Piccadilly Circus branch of Barclays Bank, which is involved in fracking in communities across the country.

*Taking Fracking to Barclays Piccadilly*

*and setting up the living room in front of the branch after the doors were shut as they tried to enter*

They practised anti-fracking songs and chants around a mock fracking rig before picking this up and walking towards the branch. On their way they met others carrying a a sofa, table and other furnishing.

*Protesters inside hold up their banner in the window*

Others had gone ahead and entered the bank branch with hidden banners. As the main group came into view security at Barclays locked the door and those inside got out their banners, holding them against the windows.

The protesters outside set up a ‘living room’ on the pavement along with the fracking rig and its operators.

*Tea table, Living Room & Fracking Rig at Barclays*

“A mother and daughter from Ryedale where fracking has been approved around their home made themselves at home on the sofa with a picture of their house and a framed sampler embroidered with the Barclays eagle and the message ‘Home Fracked Home’.”

*Tea was served – and I had a cup as well as*

Tea was served and there was a plate of specially baked biscuits with the message ‘Stop Barclays Fracking’. Leaflets explained that this protest, organised by Frack Off London and Divest London with Frack Free Ryedale was part of a series of protests at branches of Barclays across the country against the bank which is hoping to make large profits from its investments in fracking.

A few police came to tell the protesters they were obstructing the pavement, and made sure that there was plenty of space for people to walk past without having to go on the road.

The protest was still continuing when I had to leave to go to the UFFC event.

Vegans march for Animal Rights

The start of the United Family & Friends Procession was delayed for some minutes by police to enable a march by hundreds of vegans to pass on its way to Trafalgar Square.

Organised by London Vegan Actions and Surge their protest called for an end to the exploitation and death of animals for food, fur and leather. They demanded an end to animal testing and for everyone to change to a vegan diet which would end horrific farming practices and cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Arguments developed as some of the marchers passing those meeting for the UFFC march shouted out ‘White Lives Matter!’ Others on the vegan march, including some Black vegans as well as some from the UFFC event argued with them for being racist, but the UFFC stewards moved to quieten things down and the vegan march passed on.

I’m opposed to farming practices involving animal cruelty but know that many farmers treat their animals well, and commented that although “a shift towards eating considerably less meat would make a welcome contribution to reducing global emissions, I think the world would be a much poorer place if we all took up a vegan diet.

Not only would many become less healthy, as a varied diet is good for us, but animal farming is a vital part of our way of life and has largely formed our landscape. An England without sheep, cows, chickens and pigs would be a very different place, and these animals only exist because we breed them for meat and diary products.”

More on My London Diary at Vegans march for Animal Rights.

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UFFC Annual Remembrance Procession – 2017

UFFC Annual Remembrance Procession: On the last Saturday of October each year The United Families and Friends Campaign (UFFC), a coalition of of people whose family members have been killed by police and in prisons, immigration detention and secure psychiatric hospitals make a procession of Remembrance from Trafalgar Square to a rally opposite Downing Street. In 2017 this was on Saturday 28th October. This year, 2026, will be the 27th Annual Memorial Remembrance Procession and it starts at noon in Trafalgar Square this Saturday, 31st October 2026.

The pictures in this post were all taken by me at the 2017 procession, and you can read more about it on My London Diary at UFFC annual remembrance procession. Here I’ll post the text of the release from the UFFC about this year’s event. I hope that Andy Burnham will respond more quickly than his predecessor to this year’s letter.

Memorial Procession announced for Oct 31st 2026

On Saturday 31st October 2026, UFFC will march to Downing Street for our 27th Annual Memorial Remembrance Procession. We assemble to remember our loved ones, demand accountability, and break the silence surrounding the alarming rise of deaths in state custody across the UK.

For nearly three decades, our coalition of bereaved families has led this solemn procession. Our collective pressure has historically forced major changes – from the rollout of body-worn video cameras to the enactment of Mental Health Units Use of Force Act (Seni’s Law). Yet, despite these hard-won reforms, state violence persists, and families continue to face a wall of silence.

27 Years of Tragic Delays: Slow Justice is No Justice

This year’s procession takes place against a backdrop of deep political frustration. It took Prime Minister Keir Starmer 21 weeks and 5 days to respond to a letter hand-delivered by our families. The response we finally received, penned by Minister of State for Justice Lord Timpson, offered mere platitudes. While Timpson praised our efforts to ensure bereaved voices are heard, the government entirely ignored our explicit call for a direct meeting.

While the state references the proposed Hillsborough Law Bill, reforms on ‘seriously improper acts’, and promises of legal aid funding for inquests, we are left asking: When will these laws actually be implemented? and What about our unresolved cases?

The Fight Continues

Many UFFC families, such as Celia Stubbs (partner of Blair Peach, killed by police in 1979), have been campaigning for nearly half a century with agonisingly little acknowledgment. These families have also been spied on by the state (See Spycops). Much like the survivors of the Hillsborough disaster and the Post Office scandal, our families are forced to expend years of energy, emotional trauma, and funds just to demand basic truth.

Justice delayed is justice denied. Join us on 31st October to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the families, break the cycle of state impunity, and demand immediate action from the government.

You can find pictures and accounts of most of the other UFFC processions from the first I attended in 2003 until 2019 and 2021 on My London Diary and from more recent years in my Facebook albums.

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Contact me to buy prints or licence to reproduce.

Ripper Selfies, Custody Deaths, Halloween Skate & Poor Yorick

A varied set of events from seven years ago on Saturday 31st October 2015

Ripper ‘Selfies with Dead Women’ – Cable St, Sat 31 Oct 2015

The Fourth Wave: London Feminist Activists (LFA) protested at the Jack the Ripper ‘museum’ against Halloween event publicity inviting visitors to take ‘selfies’ with the body of one of his dead victims. They were joined by comedian Kate Smurthwaite, Class War and the Sisters of Perpetual Resistance.

LFA came in cat masks and the Sisters of Perpetual Resistance came in their curious triangular black hoods with a banner ‘What a Bloody Ripp-Off’ and a bucket ‘Dead Women Can’t Protest‘. Comedian Kate Smurthwaite was there holding a poster ‘Corpses ain’t Tourism‘ and a little late Class War arrived with their ‘Women’s Death Brigade‘ banner.

The LFA also brought a decidely unsexy blowup doll with a mask of Ripper shop owner Mark Palmer-Edgecumbe with a Fawcett Society t-shirt ‘This is what a feminist looks like’, the word feminist crossed out and replaced in red by the word ‘CAPITALIST’.

Among those who spoke as well as the event organiser were Kate Smurthwaite and Becky Warnock whose petition against the s-called museum had got over 12,000 signatures.

Ripper ‘Selfies with Dead Women’

UFFC Annual Remembrance Procession – Whitehall, Sat 31 Oct 2015

Families and friends of people killed by police or in prisons made their annual march at a funereal pace from Trafalgar Square to Downing St, to a rally with speakers including those from the families of Mark Duggan, Sean Rigg, Sheku Bayoh and others.

This procession has taken place each year since1999 and you can see my pictures from this year when it took place on 29th October 2022.

In 2015 the march, led by family members holding banners, made its way in silence down Whitehall before erupting into a noisy protest at Downing St.

Here there were speeches from family members including including Cephus “Uncle Bobby” Johnson the uncle of Oscar Grant who was killed by a police officer in Los Angeles, Stephanie Lightfoot-Bennet whose twin brother Leon Patterson was killed by Manchester police in 1992, Kadisha Brown-Burrell, whose brother Kingsley Burrell died in police custody in 2011. Shaun Hall, the brother of Mark Duggan, shot by police in 2011 in Tottenham and Marcia Rigg whose brother Sean was killed in Brixton police station in 2008.

A small group of family members took a letter into Downing St while the rally continued. Although as t-shirts worn by many stated there have been ‘1518 deaths in police custody since 1990′ including many with clear evidence of beating and murder, not a single case has yet resulted in any justice. Police and authorities have prevented proper investigation of cases, committed perjury and obstructed the course of justice to protect the officers concerned.

More at UFFC Annual Remembrance Procession 2015.

Halloween Skate 2015 London – Hyde Park Corner, Sat 31 Oct 2015

On a very much lighter level I met with London Friday Night Skate at Hyde Park where they were to begin their annual Halloween skate in varied Halloween costumes.

I didn’t try to follow them after they left to skate their lengthy route through Mayfair, Soho, Covent Garden to an after-party at a pub near Kings Cross.

Halloween Skate 2015 London

UVW Hamlet-themed Barbican Flash-mob – Barbican Centre, Sat 31 Oct 2015

‘Alas Poor Yorick Got No Sick Pay‘ was the message on the skull held up by the Cleaners union United Voices of the World as they staged a protest on the last night of a season there of Hamlet.

The were protesting for full payment of the living wage and sick pay for the cleaners there and and an end to the use of workfare in the centre. The cleaners are not directly employed by the Barbican and get far worse conditions of service and treatment than directly employed workers from the outsourcing company which the Barbican has a contract with.

The Shakespearian theme was continued in posters such as ‘To Be or Not to Be… Paid a Living Wage‘ and ‘To Be or Not to Be… Paid Sick Pay‘ while those theatre-goers seeing the protest were urged to tweet photos and videos with hashtag #Hamlet.

Among the protesters were Green Party leader Natalie Bennett and Sandy Nicoll, currently suspended SOAS Branch Secretary, and there were banners ‘Boycott Workfare’ and from ‘Unite the Resistance’ as well the UVW banner. Several from Class War had also come to support the cleaners.

There had been a couple of police officers present when I arrived on time for the protest, but they had disappeared well before the UVW turned up around 20 minutes late. Barbican security staff made some attempts to move the protesters on, but I imagine they are also outsources on lousy terms and conditions and that their hearts were not really in it.

Eventually after a number of speeches and some noisy chanting the police returned and talked with the UVW General Secretary Petros Elia who was leading the protest. He told them that the protesters were about to leave before tonight’s Hamlet was due to start and continue the protest outside the main entrance, and they then did so.

Outside the Barbican we joined some of the cleaners who work in the Barbican who had stayed outside and the protest continued with a rally in the street.

UVW Hamlet-themed Barbican Flash-mob