Stand Up to Racism & Kites Not Drones: On Saturday 22 March 2014, the day following UN Anti-Racism Day (chosen to remember the 69 people killed by police in the Sharpeville massacre in South Africa on 21 March 1960), the TUC and Unite Against Fascism organised a march and rally as a part of a European day of action against racism.
Thousands – perhaps as many as 20,000 – turned up to march the short distance from Old Palace Yard opposite parliament to a long rally in Trafalgar Square – on My London Diary I list 19 speakers, though I think there were a few more on the day, but I didn’t stop to listen to all of them, going instead to Hyde Park where a smaller protest by peace activists tried without much success to fly kites in in solidarity with the people of Afghanistan.
Stand Up to Racism – Westminster
No Human is Illegal’ – protesters from the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns
This protest stood out for the wide range of people and organisations who had come to join it, “many of whom are sickened by the anti-immigrant policies of successive governments and opposition parties who have long been engaged in trying to outdo each other in the ‘toughness’ of their immigration policies, and have recently moved even further to the right in an effort to neutralise the political threat of UKIP and Nigel Farage.”
And since 2014 the main parties have kept moving to the right. We continue to see this scapegoating of immigrants in the policies both of the current government and its recent Tory predecessors, particularly in the campaigns and legislation against those who cross the channel in small boats, but also in restrictions on those who claim asylum here and the harassment being suffered by many who have made their lives here and contributed to our society but are now threatened by deportation, dragging them away from families and friends. Still we have not set up safe routes for asylum seekers to come to Britain, still we have not offered amnesties to those who have worked here and made useful and essential contribution here for years.
I photographed many of the marchers in Parliament Square, where the march had been planned to start close to the statue of Nelson Mandela who had celebrated “the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and equal opportunities” as the aim of the fight for freedom and equality in South Africa.
A man taking part in unusual dress for a protest
Some posed in front on the grass with ‘Big Ben’ in the background, a name I like to use as it annoys pedants, but is what everyone except them still calls the clock tower which Wikipedia describes as “one of the most prominent symbols of the United Kingdom and parliamentary democracy.”
Among those taking part were people from our Roma and Muslim communities who bear no responsibilities for our country’s current problems and suffer more than most from them while at the same time being blamed by the racist right for them.
“In particular we have seen many promoting fear and hate of Muslims associating the whole community with the acts of a tiny few. Islamophobia is rife and has led to more attacks on the Muslim population, including murder and violent attacks on mosques. “
Kites Not Drones Solidarity with Afghanistan – Hyde Park
This protest by peace activists was part of a weekend of solidarity with the Afghan people who traditionally celebrate their New Year (Now Ruz) on the Spring Equinox by flying kites. (Until 1752 the New Year began at around the same time in Britain and its colonies on Lady Day March 25th.)
Peace activist Maya Evans ties up the Drones on Trial banner ‘EVERY AFGHAN HAS A NAME, WAR IS NOT A VIDEO GAME’
In 2014 I quoted the organisers statement:
‘Kite flying has become synonymous with Afghanistan as a well loved pursuit which was banned under the Taliban, now Afghans are more used to the presence of UK armed and surveillance drones flying overhead.’
‘We are encouraging peace groups, Afghans in the UK and the Muslim community to fly kites in solidarity with Afghans who now have to live under the mental pressure and physical destruction which British drones (currently operated from RAF Waddington, Lincoln) now reap upon Afghanistan.’
None of those taking part appeared to have had any previous experience in actually flying kites, and although the photographers present helped, the gusty conditions only allowed some short and erratic flights, with one kite getting stuck up a tree. For once a police officer was sympathetic, and having come across to tell the protesters that flying kites was not allowed in this or the other Royal Parks told them that so long as they stayed in this empty area of the park and were not a nuisance to others he would not stop them.
Palestine & Syria: On Saturday 13th January 2018 I photographed a protest at the London US Embassy in Grosvenor Square against the continuing imprisonment of children in Palestine and another opposite the Russian Consulate over their continuing support for the Assad regime in Syria including the bombing of civilians.
Free Ahed Tamimi & All Child Prisoners
Teenager Ahed Tamimi was in prison in Israel for slapping an Israeli soldier who came into her family’s garden shortly after she had learnt that a relative had been shot by Israeli forces.
Her detention made the news and prompted this protest, but she was only one of the thousands of Palestinian children have been detained by Israel since 2000 in a systematic policy which the UN has said includes abuse and ill-treatment. Many Palestinian children have been kept for many days in solitary confinement in small underground cells in Israeli jails.
Israel is an apartheid state, with very different laws and police treatment for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank who are subject to Israeli military law and dealt with in military courts which offer little or no chance of justice. Many are held without any real trials in ‘administrative detention‘ which can be essentially indefinite, with prisoners being released at the end of one sentence and immediately re-arrested for another period of detention.
A number of those taking part were relatives or friends of Tamimi’s family, including her father’s cousin Nana Hourriyah, or of other prisoners in Israeli jails. One man who spoke had recently spent 3 months in Palestine and had stayed with the family of another child prisoner. He had then been deported for taking part in a peaceful protest.
During the hour I stayed at the protest a single Zionist protester in a pen at the end of the street waved an Israeli flag, shouting insults at the protesters and accusing them of supporting Hamas, which they firmly denied.
Protesters lined the street opposite the Russian Consulate calling for an end to the massacres taking place in Syria. Protests are not allowed in the private road a few yards away outside the Embassy.
Russia and Assad’s forces were bombing civilians in Idlib, Hama and Eastern Ghouta, specifically targeting medical workers and facilities, with 8 hospitals in Idlib bombed since the start of December.
Many of those still living in Idlib had fled there from other towns and cities previously bombed by Assad and his Russian allies who were attempting to complete the destruction of all groups opposed to the Assad regime and bomb or starve to death the civilian population in areas held by opposition forces.
Only now after the fall of the Assad regime has the full scale of their human rights abuses become widely known with over 150,000 people thought to have been tortured and killed in his infamous prisons. As many as 620,000 were killed in the 14 years of civil war – around 1 in 35 of its prewar population, with around half these being civilians.
More than 14 million – almost two thirds of the Syrian population – were forced to leave their homes in the civil war. Half remained elsewhere in Syria, around 5.5 million in surrounding countries. Around a fifth of the countries pre-war population made their way to Europe, with the majority of these going to Germany. The UK set up a scheme to take Syrians but the numbers here remain relatively small at around 40,000.
Shut Down Yarl’s Wood 10 – Yarl’s Wood, near Bedford
Shut Down Yarl’s Wood: On Saturday 3rd December almost 2000 protesters came to the isolated site on a former RAF base around 5 miles north of Bedford to take part in the 10th protest there organised by Movement for Justice calling for the closure of Yarl’s Wood and all immigration detention centres.
I’d taken three trains to get to Bedford Station where MfJ had arranged a coach for the journey on to the industrial estate on which the detention centre is hidden away. When we arrived the country back road was lined with coaches which had brought others from London and cities around the country.
But after a short rally there while we waited for others to arrive there was still over a mile along a public footpath to reach the field where the protest took place. This slopes up steeply a few feet from the 20 foot high metal prison fence, enabling protesters at the top of the slope th see the two upper floors of the detention centre – and for women at the windows in this to see them. Fortunately it had been relatively dry in the weeks before the event and for once the ground was not muddy and slippery.
Many other groups had come to join MfJ in the protest, including large numbers of students. MfJ had come mainly with migrants, many of whom had spent time in this and other immigration prisons, where this country locks up asylum seekers while slowly and inefficiently the Home Office deals with their cases.
Yarl’s Wood was mainly used for women, though there were a few families also locked up there. Many had fled violence, often sexual violence in their home countries and were then locked away here after arrival.
And they have no way to know when they might be released and are always under threat of being forcibly deported at short notice. One woman had then been held for over two years and was only released a day under three years. Most serve long indeterminate sentences in this and other immigration jails. They feel they are locked away, forgotten – and protests like this remind them that there are those outside who know and care about them.
The isolation means it is difficult for them to pursue their cases and to get the often ridiculous amounts of evidence the Home Office demands. But as they cannot leave the prisons they are allowed to have mobile phones and these enabled a few of the women inside to communicate with the protesters – and for their voices to be heard over the public address system brought by the campaigners.
All the women “speaking from inside thanked the protesters for coming and showing they had not been forgotten. They told of assaults and abuse by Serco security guards who today had locked many in other wings to stop them seeing the protest and threatened those who greeted the protesters and revealed there were cases of TB in the prison.”
Many of the protesters “who spoke at the protest had previously been held inside this and other immigration prisons, and encouraged those inside to keep fighting for justice.”
“As well as standing on the hill so that those on the upper floors allowed near the windows could see them and the banners and placards they held, others kicked and banged on the fence to make a noise that could be heard all over the jail – and indeed from the main raid half a mile away as I walked back to board my coach.“
Immigration detention continues to be used on an industrial scale in the UK, with 19,335 people entering detention in the year ending September 2024. Numbers decreased during Covid but have gone up to previous levels since. The UK is the only European country with no time limit on how long refugees can be held, and numbers held will be increased by the Illegal Immigration Act passed by the Tories in 2023 and the amendments made by Labour rapidly after they came to power in 2024.
The whole system of UK immigration is immoral and expensive, the result of successive governments shifting further to the right and appeasing the racist elements in the UK press. It has a corrosive effect on the mental health of those detained, in part because they are denied adequate health care.
March Against Far Right Hate: Last Saturday, 26th October 2024 I joined thousands of others marching ine London in response to a far-right march called by ‘Tommy Robinson’ under the title ‘Unite the Kingdom’.
Police had imposed conditions on both marches, ensuring that they kept a long way apart and there was very little trouble, with only four arrests at the Robinson march and two at the Stand Up to Racism event.
Organisers of the counter-protest say that 20,000 came to march and the Robinson march was reported to be a little smaller. But certainly the large turnout for the Stand Up to Racism event showed that the kingdom was not united behind the far-right racists.
One person significantly not present at the racist march was the anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, generally known as ‘Tommy Robinson’, who was remanded in custody the previous day to attend Woolwich crown court on Monday for his alleged breach of a 2021 high court order barring him from repeating libellous allegations against a Syrian refugee. He was also separately charged for a mobile phone offence under schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
Police restricted Stand Up to Racism for meeting on Regent Street and Piccadilly Circus, while Robinson’s protest had to muster at Victoria around a mile and a quarter to the south though rather more on the ground.
The far right were marching to a rally in Parliament Square, while Stand Up to Racism’s rally was at the north end of Whitehall, with around 400 metres of blocked off road between the two.
I spent around 45 minutes photographing at Piccadilly Circus before walking down to Trafalgar Square for another event, catching up with the march later on Cockspur Street roughly halfway on its short march to the rally.
As the band of logos along the bottom of the main banner indicate the the Stand Up to Racism protest was supported by a huge range of organisation is including almost every trade union as well as groups who work with refugees and asylum seekers and there were many trade union banners carried on the march.
As well as the mass-produced placards from the organisers, many on the march had come with their own, and my photographs include some of those I fondud more interesting.
Some of the banners including those from the Latin-American and Jewish Bloc also indicated their support for Palestine, and there were quite a few others on the march with Palestinian flags. Tommy Robinson has also made clear his support for the genocidal actions of the Israeli State as a part of his anti-Muslim stance.
I stayed in Trafalgar Square as the march went by, mainly to see all of the marchers, or at least a good proportion of them in the crowds going past so I could pick out those who seemed more interesting to photograph, either from the side or by rushing into the crowd. But also because this seemed the most likely place where some might try to divert from the approved route and try to reach the racist rally.
And at the very end of the march a large group behind a black banner ‘NO TO TOMMY ROBINSON – NO TO FASCISM’ paused and then made what seemed to be a rather half-hearted attempt to do just that, but were easily held by a thin line of police at the entrance to The Mall. Only a small group at the centre of the banner seemed to be making any real effort to push through the police and those at the end where I was standing just stood holding the banner – and the crowd behind was standing watching and not joining in.
A stand-off ensued, but after some minutes a small police snatch squad came and pushed one of the protesters past or rather through where I was standing, pushing me forcefully to the side. I managed to recover and take a few pictures as he was thrown to the ground and handcuffed. But I don’t know why they had decided to arrest this man.
I took a few pictures after this, but decided not to go through the packed crowds towards the stage and photograph the rally now taking place but took the tube from Charing Cross to begin my journey home.
Against Austerity, Cleaners Flash Mob, EDL & Falun Dafa: The main event on Saturday 16th July 2016 was a well-attended march and rally against austerity and racism following the Brexit referendum, but on the way there I came across a Falun Dafa march, and while people were marching manged to cover a ‘Flash Mob’ by cleaners and a small protest by the far-right EDL.
End Austerity, No to Racism, Tories Out!
The People’s Assembly and Stand Up To Racism had organised an emergency demonstration following the Brexit referendum against austerity and racism and calling for the Tories to be defeated at a General Election.
The protest assembled outside the BBC in the hope that they might for once notice and report on a large protest in London, but as usual they ignored it. It also showed huge popular support for then Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn – who only failed to defeat Theresa May the following year because of sabotage by Labour party officials and the right wing of the party.
Immigration had been a major issue in the Brexit referendum, exploited by the Leave campaign and this had resulted in an upsurge in racism and hate attacks. Brexit did result in lowering migration from the EU and since 2017 the number of those born in the EU living in Britain has slowly but slightly declined. But this has been more than matched by an increase of around a million in those born in non-EU countries.
Of course we need these people who fill many useful jobs here and pay taxes. We also need those who work in the shadow economy, estimated in total to be around 10% of the total economy. Although this is often said to be important in attracting undocumented migrants to the UK, our shadow economy is significantly smaller than the average for developed nations, and at a level around half that of Italy, Greece and Spain and a little below Germany and France according to free-market ‘think tank’ the Institute for Economic Affairs.
The UK had been one of the leaders in the establishment of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted in 1948, and in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) adopted by the Council of Europe, signed in 1950 which came into force in 1953, with a court to enforce it. Many felt that the Tory government’s proposal in 2022 to repeal the Human Rights Act 1998 and replace it by a Bill of Rights was reprehensible. Liz Truss’s one good thing was to stop its progress and in June 2023 Rishi Sunak’s Justice Secretary Alex Chalk confirmed it had been dropped.
As the end of the march left down Regent Street I rushed off to photograph a breakaway group from the march who had left to take part in a flash mob. Following that I trotted along Oxford Street to Park Lane where I photographed a short march by a few EDL supporters before rushing to the tube to make my way to the People’s Assembly and Stand Up To Racist rally in Parliament Square.
The Fire Brigades Union had brought their fire engine to the square to provide a platform for the speakers at the rally chaired by rally chaired by Romayne Phoenix of the People’s Assembly and Sabby Dhalu from Stand Up to Racism.
Islington councillor Michelline Safi Ngongo brought a message of support from Jeremy Corbyn. Other speakers included Green Party London Assembly member Caroline Russell, Weyman Bennett from Stand Up to Racism, Lindsey German of Stop the War, Sam Fairbairn the National Secretary of the People’s Assembly, Zita Holbourne of BARAC and PCS, Rob Williams of the NSSN, NUS Vice President (Further Education) Shakira Martin and Antonia Bright from Movement for Justice who brought an asylum seeker with her to speak.
Falun Dafa march against Chinese repression – Regent St
Practitioners of Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong), an advanced Buddhist practice of moral rectitude, meditation and exercise founded by Mr Li Hongzhi in 1992, marched through London to protest the continuing torture and repression they have experience in China since 1999.
When the People’s Assembly / Stand Up To Racism march set off, a small group of striking cleaners from 100 Wood St and supporters left to stage a flash mob protest at the nearby HQ Offices of CBRE in Henrietta Place. The United Voices of the World strike at Wood St for the living wage and reinstatement of sacked workers was then in its 38th day.
Less than a hundred EDL supporters had turned up at Marble Arch to march a few yards down Park Lane and then into Hyde Park for a rally. A few anti-fascists who had turned up to oppose them had mainly left to join the People’s Assembly-Stand Up to Racism march by the time I arrived.
Stratford, Shoreditch & Racist Immigration Laws: On Saturdy 27th June 2009 I took a few pictures from a high viewpoint arooss Stratford , then photographed graffiti in the streets of Shoreditch before going to a protest against the UK’s racist immigration laws a Communications House, close to the Old Street roundabout.
Olympic Update II – Stratford, London.
There is a little of a mystery for me over these pictures as I don’t state the location I took them from, simply state I was in Stratford for a meeting on Saturday and took the opportunity to take a few pictures of the Olympic site from a high viewpoint.
I no longer have my 2009 diaries and cannot remember any such meeting which from the views I think must have been on one of the upper floors on top of the shopping centre. I possibly made my way onto the roof area after the meeting.
The lighting and weather were not at their best but they do show some of the buildings on the Olympic site as well as Westfield under construction and Stratford Station.
My train to Liverpool Street arrived in time to allow me to make a leisurely and rather indirect walk to Old Street for the protest there.
Back in the early 1980a, Shoreditch was a run-down area of warehouses and small workshops which were closing down and being taken over by artists for cheap studios, including some who were forced to move out of Butler’s Wharf which in the 70’s had become the largest artists’ colony in England. Over half moved out following the firein late 1979, but the 60 remaining were all given notice to quit in January 1980. Some formed a new community in the Chisenhale centre in Tower Hamlets, but quite a few found cheap premises in Shoreditch.
The artists preserved much of the area’s properties and made it a much more attractive place to live. For most of them this meant the rents grew rapidly to far more than they could afford and they had to move to more outlying areas. But Shoreditch had become a trendy place with clubs and nightlife and the new graffiti – much inspired by New York street art began to cover almost every available wall.
Support Migrants – Fight Racist Immigration Laws – Old St
The Campaign Against Immigration Controls had organised the protest outside the Immigration Reporting Centre Communications House where many refugees are processed before they were taken to detention centres and deportation.
After the SOAS management and employers ISS had colluded with the Home Office over a dawn raid on their cleaning workers on 12 June 2009 in reprisal for their successful campaign for a living wage and trade union recognition, it was here that the SOAS 9 were brought before their deportation.
The first speaker at the protest was Laureine Tcuapo who had fled to Britain to escape repeated rape and abuse from a relative in the Cameroon police force. On Friday 12 June at 7am, immigration police kicked down the door of her Newcastle house and took her and her two young children forcibly to Yarl’s Wood Immigration Prison, intending to deport here to Cameroon. Action by Tyneside Community Action for Refugees and No Borders North East managed to prevent her deportation and get her release from Yarls Wood on 25th June but she is still under threat of deportation.
The protest also supported the continuing hunger strikers in Yarls Wood over the inhumane conditions there. In a press release from TCAR Tcuapo stated “Families were separated; people were being beaten up by guards. It just felt to all the asylum seekers that we were less than animals… I still think about my time in Yarlswood. It was very traumatising. I can’t even imagine how things are at the moment for people inside. They’re counting on us because inside, they have no rights.“
We also heard directly from some women in Yarls Wood who were able to use mobile phones to speak at the protest. Much of what is still happening at places such as Yarls Wood has been condemned by official inspections and is clearly against the laws of this country as well as EU Human Rights legislation and attention needs to be drawn to it. Our treatment of migrants, especially asylum seekers offends against justice and humanity.
Strangers Into Citizens – Strangers into Citizens held a march and rally on Monday 4th May 2009 calling for long term irregular migrants living in the UK to be provided with a way to earn indefinite leave to remain here.
There are thought now around 800,000 people living in the UK without a legal permit to do so. Accurate figures are impossible to find as these people obviously do not want to be recorded by the authorities.
Many are working and carrying out work that others do not want to so but are essential to keep our economy running. One of the reasons why the UK is attractive to migrants is the size of our hidden economy, economic activities entirely hidden from HMRC.
Almost one in ten UK citizens takes some part in this hidden economy, though for many their activities are on a small scale and often transitory. But almost half of those gain an income that if declared would put the above the current tax threshold. Some of these are people without legal residence, while there are others who have permission to be here but not to work. And of course others are just tax evaders.
It would benefit the economy and those concerned to regularise their position so they could both work here legally and pay tax. There are also a significant number with qualifications which could take them out of the largely unskilled manual work that makes up much of the hidden economy and put their skills to work, profiting both themselves and the country. Having people with Maths or Engineering degrees making a poor living as cleaners (and I’ve met them) makes no sense when they could make a much greater contribution.
The UK has an ageing population and increasingly fewer of us are likely to be economically active – the ONS model suggests there will be an additional 317,000 people economically inactive in the UK by 2026 compared to 2023, and this trend seems likely to continue. We need migration to make up the gap and regularising the position for those already here would certainly help.
There are no legal routes to enter the UK to claim asylum and those who want to do so must either enter irregularly or come on tourist or other visas. The majority of migrants enter the country legally but overstay the terms of their visas, some claiming asylum, others just melting into the community. Another large group of migrants are the children born here to irregular migrants – until 1st January 1983 this automatically made you a British citizen but now this is only the case if one of your parents is British.
Over many years now we have seen an increasing ratcheting up of racist rhetoric and policies by the two major parties, each determined to outflank the other in appeasing the extreme right and playing on fear. The Tory government has increasingly introduced criminal sanctions against those who enter the country in ways it calls illegal, with all those arriving by them now being threatened with deportation to Rwanda, whether or not that country is actually a safe destination.
But the number Rwanda expects to take over a five years is only 1000, just 200 per year. In the year ending June 2023, official statistics show 52,530 irregular migrants were detected on, or shortly after, arrival to the UK on various routes, 85% of them on small boats. There are of course no figures for how many came and were not detected.
The UK currently does have a very limited partial amnesty scheme. Those who have managed to stay – legally or illegally – continuously for 20 years can apply for a visa which grants another 30 months of residence, while those with 10 continuous years of legal residence can also apply for an extension.
Many of those who I marched with on Monday 4th May 2009 from Lambeth were from London’s large Latin American community. Some were probably irregular but most will have entered the country legally as EU citizens and some have been given asylum here or be waiting for the Home Office to process their claim. The Home Office states the average time is six months, but the actual average is estimated to be somewhere between one and three years.
Others had marched from other areas of London, many starting from seven religious services in various parts of the city. The marches joined in Parliament Square to march together to Trafalgar Square where there were a large number of speeches in support of an amnesty from religious, political and trade union groups as well as representatives of various ethnic groups and migrants from a number of countries, followed by music and dancing.
Asylum and Vauxhall to Battersea: I don’t often look back at posts from the early years of My London Diary for several reasons. Before I redesigned the site some time in 2008 there were no links to individual stories which makes linking to them trickier, and the stories and pictures come at different positions down the monthly page. Also in the early years I wrote entirely in lower case, something I now find an annoying affection. And back them the software for converting raw digital images wasn’t quite as good and the images are sometimes a little lacking in colour quality.
So here I re-present my post for Monday 10th April 2006 in a more convenient fashion. I’ve updated the text to conventional capitalisation, corrected a few spellings (back then I wrote in software without a spell-checker) and made a few minor changes to make the text easier to follow. The pictures – both those in this post and the larger number I link to on My London Diary are exactly as posted in 2006. Communications House was demolished in 2013-4 and new offices erected on the site which is now home to a number of businesses but no longer used by the Home Office.
Against Detention and Deportation – Communications House, Old Street
If you are an asylum seeker in Britain you have to sign on regularly at one of the Home Office locations. When you enter the doors of Communications House next to Old Street station (or any of the other locations) you cannot be sure that you will ever come out. Despite the regulations, some asylum seekers have been bundled onto planes and flown back to the country from which they have fled, others have found themselves banged up in detention centres such as Harmondsworth for years with no trial or appeal.
On Monday 10th April 2006, various groups including the All African Women’s Group, African Liberation Support Campaign Network, Payday Men’s Network and Women Of Colour formed a line along the front of the building over the lunch hour to protest and hand out flyers about the unfair treatment of refugees and asylum seekers.
This was a part of a global action demanding justice and proper legal rights for asylum seekers and others without proper legal documentation, calling for an end to racist discrimination and inhumane policies.
New Flats Along the Thames – Vauxhall to Battersea
I had to leave for a little business elsewhere, then took advantage of the decent weather to take a walk along the Thames from Vauxhall to Battersea on my way home. As you can see I walked a little along the south bank, then back to Vauxhall Bridge to go along the north bank. Later I went on both banks between Chelsea Bridge and Battersea Bridge.
What was not long ago a totally industrial reach of the river is now largely lined by expensive riverside blocks of flats. St Georges Wharf is on the site of the Nine Elms Cold Store, and is now largely finished except for a tower whose slim 181 metre cylinder will soar far above the 72 m of the existing flats.
Along Grosvenor Road on the north bank are Rivermill House, the Panoramic, Crown Reach, and a survivor from the past, Tyburn House, followed by Eagle Wharf, with Eagle House and 138.
One minor gain for the public from this is increased access to the riverside, with new developments having a public footpath on the bank. But when soon all you will be able to see is the flats on the other bank, this perhaps isn’t a great gain.
In Pimlico there are often great contrasts between council or Peabody estates and millionaire apartments across the road on the river side, and some pricey stuff in some of the squares. A few yards makes a huge difference in price – and the newer buildings have often blocked the views some council tenants used to have of the river.
William Huskisson, Statesman 1770-1830. The main claim to fame of this MP for Liverpool was the he was the first to be killed in a railway accident, when knocked down by ‘Rocket’ during the opening ceremony of the Liverpool & Manchester railway on 15th September, 1830. Pimlico Gardens
Across the river are views of Battersea Power Station, gutted and largely left to decay by various developers over the years, roofless. Despite their efforts it still stands, its brickwork and four tall chimneys dominating the area.
The waterworks building on the north bank is also still there, and next to it around the canal a new Grosvenor Waterside is nearing completion.
Across Chelsea Bridge, between it and the power station is Chelsea Bridge Wharf, another huge development. Its a relief to be able to walk across the new bridge under Chelsea Bridge into the peace of Battersea Park with its Peace Pagoda. Next to Albert Bridge is a small wild area that looked very spring-like in some dramatic light under grey clouds.
There are more new flats and offices past Albert Bridge, including Foster and Partners building. It’s stunning close to, but seen from across the river is rather disappointing. Their Albion Riverside next door is a futuristic structure, like some vast mothership landed on the riverside, a fungus from which spores are doubtless emerging to colonise the country.
Badgers, Yarls Wood & Ukraine – Three protests in Westminster on Thursday 13 March 2014.
Badger Army Says End Culls – Old Palace Yard
Bovine TB is a great problem for dairy farmers and the great majority of them are convinced that badgers play an important role in spreading it, although scientists estimate that around 94% of all infections are spread from cow to cow. A major part of the problem is that the test used for the disease in cows fails to detect a large proportion – perhaps a third – of infected cows.
Bill Oddie
Around 20,000 cows are slaughtered each year because they are found to be infected and compensating the farmers costs us over £100 million a year. The Badger Trust argues in a report based on scientific evidence that a more effective approach than culling would be to focus on “cattle, cattle testing and vaccination and enhanced cattle biosecurity (including cattle movement).”
There is no scientific consensus that the killing of 260,000 badgers since 2013 has had any effect on the spread of the disease. DEFRA continues to support badger culling but Labour in 2023 pledged to end it if elected – though they have already drawn back from most of their pledges.
The cull has provoked strong emotions on both sides and this protest on a day when MPs were discussing the cull reflected that. You can read more about it and see more pictures on My London Diary at Badger Army Says End Culls.
End Persecution & Sexual Abuse at Yarl’s Wood – Home Office, Marsham St
A short walk away outside our “dysfunctional” and Home Office – then under Theresa May and her racist “hostile environment” policy – a protest called for an end to the psychological, sexual, physical and legal abuse of women asylum seekers and immigrants held at Yarl’s Wood and for the detention centre to be closed down.
Many women have made complaints of sexual abuse by male prison staff at the centre, and one who was awarded compensation was was horrified to learn that the man who abused her was still working there, free to commit further offences.
The protest took place following reports of the disappearance of a detainee called Saba from Pakistan, who women in Yarl’s Wood believe had committed suicide there. It was supported by the Movement for Justice, Southall Black Sisters and the All African Women’s Group, and protesters included women who had been held in the detention centre while their asylum claims were being considered.
In my account on My London Diary I give more details about her and also of the cases of a political refugee from Mali who had been illegally deported back there in the previous month, and a Kurdish trade union activist also illegally deported by the Home Office and then in hiding in Turkey where she had attempted suicide.
There had been many other reports of violence against women the centre, and the protest organisers stated:
“Yarl’s Wood women are fighting back against attempts to deport them or their sisters to persecution and death and exposing sexual abuse by male staff. The frightened response of the Home Office and its agents is to increase the repression in Yarl’s Wood, breaching even the present, inadequate legal rights of detainees and creating an environment that can drive women to suicide.”
The protest called for a public inquiry into abuses at Yarl’s Wood and for it to be shut down.
Finally I went to Downing Street where on the pavement opposite Ukrainians had set up a permanent vigil, hoping to get the UK Government to stand up against Russian invasion and annexation of Crimea.
There wasn’t a great deal happening during my brief visit, and I was correct to think that the UK government would take anything but half-hearted action. To do more might hurt the City’s financial interests – and those of some leading Tory MPs and their family businesses. The failure of the west to end its aggressive Cold War attitudes to Russia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 was bound to have highly poisonous repercussions. We should have welcomed the country into our sphere and dismissed the NATO hawks.
Goodbye and Good Riddance – March 2023: Continuing from yesterday’s post some more pictures from 2013, from my albums on Facebook from March 2003.
Croydon Residents Protest 15% Council Tax Hike. London, UK. 1 Mar 2023. People from the London Borough of Croydon protest outside the Council offices against the council raising Council Tax by 15%. The huge rise is needed because of of swingeing cuts in support from central government and years of mismanagement by both Labour and Tories, particularly in the council’s housing company. The proposed rise comes on top of years of cuts to essential services in the borough. Peter MarshallA Tree Is Planted In Memory of Bruce Kent. London, UK. 4 Mar 2023. Jeremy Corbyn and Valerie, Bruce Kent’s widow, come to plant the tree. Several hundred came to the planting of a tree in Finsbury Park in memory of Bruce Kent who died last June. A prominent Catholic priest he became a political activist and one of the great peace campaigners of our times. Speakers included Jeremy Corbyn and Kent’s wife Valerie who together planted the tree. Peter MarshallMillion Women Rise 2023. London, UK. 3 Mar 2023. Women, including many from migrant groups, met just off Oxford Street for a march organised by Million Women Rise, a collective led by Black women, which welcomes all women to attend. They called for an end to male violence against women and girls in all its forms. They want an end to everyday and structural racism at the heart of policing and our immigration system and society generally. Peter MarshallBank of England – Hand Back Venezuela’s Gold. London, UK. 4 Mar 2023. A protest at the Bank of England on the 10th anniversary of Hugo Chavez’s death demanded they return the 31 tonnes of Venezuela’s gold in their vaults. The UK government has refused to recognise the elected government of Venezuela and insists the gold belongs to the opposition led by Juan Guaido whose interim presidency has been dissolved by the democratically elected National Assembly. Peter MarshallSave The NHS, Support Strikers and Welcome Migrants. London, UK. 11 Mar 2023.Thousands marched in London from a short rally at Warren Street calling for decent pay for all NHS workers. They demand an end to NHS privatisation and a return to a publicly funded public service. Migrants Are Welcome with and have played a vital role in the NHS, with large numbers of nurses, doctors and other staff from abroad, and they supported Gary Lineker in his description of the substance and tone of Government policies. Peter MarshallIranians Continue Protests For Regime Change. London, UK. 11 Mar 2023. Iranians continue their protests in London in solidarity with protesters in Iran calling for the end of rule by Mullahs. In Parliament Square a group held placards against the gassing of schoolgirl protesters and Iran and calling for Twitter to ban the Taliban, as well as pictures of those killed and held Iranian flags and banners supporting the mourning mothers and fathers of Iran. Peter MarshallSave Our Schools Carnival, London, UK. 15 Mar 2023. Striking teachers, parents and supporters march to a carnival event in Trafalgar Square organised by the National Education Union as a huge Budget Day show of strength to demand the Chancellor and ministers deliver a fully-funded above inflation pay rise to #SaveOurSchools. They demand action to end poor pay, low funding, the SEND crisis and excessive workload, to support pupils in poverty and end inappropriate inspection and tests. Peter MarshallUN Anti-Racism Day March. London, UK. 18 Mar 2023. Women Life Freedom, Iran. Thousands march through London to make clear that refugees are welcome and oppose the government’s racist policies against immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers. They demand safe routes for migrants and an end to institutional racism in policing and an end to Islamophobia, anti-semitism, and prejudice against Black, Chinese, Asians, gypsies, Roma, travellers and other communities in the media and government. Peter MarshallUN Anti-Racism Day March. 18 Mar 2023. Thousands march through London to make clear that refugees are welcome and oppose the government’s racist policies against immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers. They demand safe routes for migrants and an end to institutional racism in policing and an end to Islamophobia, anti-semitism, and prejudice against Black, Chinese, Asians, gypsies, Roma, travellers and other communities in the media and government. Peter Marshall
