Ayatollah Khomeini

Al Quds Day March in London – 2014

Al Quds Day March in London: International Quds Day is an annual event at the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan which expresses support for Palestinians and oppose Israel and Zionism. In particular it is a protest against the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem – al-Quds in Arabic.

A peaceful Al Quds march has taken place every year in London for over 40 years and the organisers describe it as having a “family atmosphere with demonstrators coming from all walks of life. Christians, Jews, Muslims, people of other faiths and none all march in common cause side by side.”

This is largely true, but the march in London attracts counter-protests from Zionists and others (including Iranian freedom, communist and royalist movements and UK right wing fringe groups), which have sometimes led to confrontations and delays and increased security with some marchers becoming mistrustful of photographers.

It has at times been a difficult event for me to cover in the close way I like work. Many of my pictures are made with wide angle or extreme wide angle lenses, 28mm or less focal length down to fisheye, working inside or on the edge of crowds. I want to be close to people, if not within touching distance, seldom more than a couple of metres away to give greater interaction and immediacy.

The Quds Day march and rally in 2025 was on Sunday 23rd March, but chaotic rail services that day prevented me from covering it, though I had photographed a pro-Palestine rally close to the Israeli Embassy the previous day. The organisers pointed out that it was taking place “amid an ongoing genocide in Gaza where Israeli forces have slaughtered 50,000 civilians in Gaza, most of them women and children. At the same time armed colonial settlers and troops are running rampage in the occupied West Bank, invading, looting and attacking Palestinian towns and villages with the international community turning a blind eye or actively complicit in the slaughter.”

Back in 2014, the situation in Gaza was dire. As UNRWA states, “During the 50 days of hostilities lasting from 8 July until 26 August 2014, 2,251 Palestinians were killed; 1,462 of them are believed to be civilians, including 551 children and 299 women. 66 Israeli soldiers and five civilians, including one child, were also killed. Overall, 11,231 Palestinians were injured during the conflict, including 3,540 women and 3,436 children.”

83 schools and 10 health centres were damaged, over 12,600 homes were totally destroyed and there was “a massive displacement crisis in Gaza, with almost 500,000 persons internally displaced at its peak.” The “scale of human loss, destruction, devastation and displacement caused by the 2014 conflict in Gaza – the third within seven years – was catastrophic, unprecedented and unparalleled in Gaza.”

But of course Gaza is now experiencing something far worse – and humanitarian agencies including UNWRA are being prevented by Israel from supporting the people and supplies of food and other necessities are largely being blocked. Inadequate amounts are brought in by the so-called “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation” and people desperate to get it are being shot by the Israeli Defence Forces.

Of course we all know this npw – even though the Israeli government has tried to hide it by preventing international journalists from entering Gaza – and also systematically targeting the Palestinians who are able to report. An article in Modern Times Review on July 15, 2025 quoted the Cost of War project as stating “more journalists have been killed in Gaza in the past 18 months than were killed in the U.S. Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam, and Afghanistan combined.” Early in July the number killed in Gaza had risen to 226.

On 24th July 2014, the march began close to the BBC and went to a rally outside the US Embassy, then still in Grosvenor Square. It was covered by several foreign media organisations but – as with most UK demonstrations – willfully ignored by the BBC.

Protesters called for a boycott of Israel and an end to the occupation of Palestine as well as an end to the attacks on Gaza.

On My London Diary I give a list of the organisations supporting the march – and there is a rather longer list of those supporting the 2025 march. One of the major organisations in both is the Innovative Minds Human Rights Group (InMinds). Founded in 1997 and alleged to have links to the Iranian Islamic Republic it has held regular protests in London against companies supporting the Israeli military, against the arbitrary detention of Palestinians, the torture and imprisonment of Palestinian children and calling for an end to apartheid in Israel.

In the pictures you will see many flags and posters from Inminds – and also a few images of Ayatollah Khomeini who started the celebration of Al Quds Day in Iran in 1979 as well as the current Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei.

Also standing out in my pictures are the ultra-orthodox anti-Zionist Neturei Karta Jews who state clearly their belief that Judaism is a religion and not a state, and “Judaism rejects the Zionist state And condemns its ATROCITIES”

One contentious issue in 2014 was over the carrying of flags of the Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group Hezbollah. In 2014 the political party, which was part of the government of Lebanon had not been proscribed and it was only illegal to carry it if there was other evidence to show support of the proscribed terrorist group. I was looking for these flags but only found a very few to photograph.

As the march made its way down Regent Street there were shouts against it from an upper floor window and vegetables were thrown down at the marchers who shouted back angrily. The march organisers asked police to investigate and urged to people to march on.

I left the march well before it reached the US Embassy and saw no other protests against the march. You can see more pictures from the march on My London Diary at Al Quds Day march for Jerusalem.

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Open House, Sewol, Iran, Sabah, Sarawak & Orange Order 2017

Open House, Sewol, Iran, Sabah, Sarawak & Orange Order: Saturday 16th September 2017 was another busy and varied day for me in London, beginning with two visits on Open House Day and continuing with four protests.

Open House – Banqueting House – Whitehall

Though I’d often walked past the Banqueting House in Whithall, usually on my way to protests at Downing Street or Parliament Square, I’d never before been inside the building. But when I came past on Open House Day there was only a short queue and entrance was free. I had time to spare as a protest I’d hoped to photograph had failed to materialise, so in I went.

Inigo Jones designed (or copied from Andrea Palladio) the Banqueting House for the Palace of Whitehall, built 1619-22, and it is the only remaining building from the palace. It was the first neo-Classical building in England.

More about it and more pictures on My London Diary at Open House – Banqueting House.

Open House & more – Peckham

I went to Peckham to see a few things in the Peckham Festival including the Open House showing of the Old Waiting Room at Peckham Rye station which was housing a photographic exhibition of old pictures of Peckham.

The building itself turned out to be more interesting than the exhibition which lacked any real examination of the more recent past of Peckham. But there were other things to see in Peckham, and a short walk around Rye Lane and the Bussey Building is always interesting.

More at Open House & more – Peckham.

41st monthly Sewol ‘Stay Put!’ vigil – Trafalgar Square

Back in Central London, my first protest was in Trafalgar Square where a small group mainly of SOuth Koreans was continuing their series of monthly vigils in memory of he Sewol victims, mainly school children who obeyed the order to ‘Stay Put’ on the lower decks as the ship went down.

They continue to demand the Korean government conduct a thorough inquiry into the disaster, recover all missing victims, punish those responsible and enact special anti-disaster regulations.

41st monthly Sewol ‘Stay Put!’ vigil

Overthrow the Islamic Regime of Iran – Trafalgar Square

Also in Trafalgar Square the 8 March Women’s Organisation (Iran-Afghanistan) were protesting on the 29th anniversary of the massacre of political prisoners in Iraq following a fatwa by Ayatollah Khomeini calling for the death of all Mojahedins and leftists as ‘fighters against God’ and ‘apostates from Islam.’

The fatwa led to over 30,000 political prisoners, mostly members of the main opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) being executed, largely hanged in groups of six and buried in mass graves.

The protesters call for the overthrow of the Islamic regime as necessary for the ‘litigation movement’ can achieve justice and build a society where such executions cannot occur and no one is suppressed, imprisoned or tortured for their ideas.

More pictures: Overthrow the Islamic Regime of Iran.

Black Day for Sabah & Sarawak – Downing St

A short distance down the road at Downing St, Sabahans and Sarawkians were protesting on Malaysia Day, which they say is a ‘Black Day for Sabah and Sarawak’, calling for a restoration of human rights and the repeal of the Sedition Act and and freedom for Sarawak and Sabah.

Among them was Doris Jones, the leader of the Sabah Sarawak Keluar Malaysia secessionist movement in London.

When Malaysia was founded on 16th September 1963 the two independent countries in North Borneo joined with the Federation of Malaya and Singapore and were given promises, assurances and undertakings for their future in the federation. These included ’20 points’ of an Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) Report, which the prrotesters say have been cast aside, and anyone raising them is being detained under a draconian Internal Security Act.

More at Black Day for Sabah & Sarawak.

Lord Carson Memorial Parade – Cenotaph, Whitehall

The annual Lord Carson Memorial Parade, one of several annual parades by lodges of the Orange Order came to the Cenotaph for wreaths to be laid. As well as various lodges dedicated to the Apprentice Boys of Derry there were others remembering the Ulster regiments that fought on the Somme. As well as members of lodges in the Home Counties and London, these parades also include some who come from Ulster and Scotland.

Lord Carson (1854-1935) was a leading judge and politician in the UK becoming Solicitor General and First Lord of the Admiralty. He had joined the Orange Order at the age of 19, and in 1911 became the leader of the Ulster Unionists, determined to fight against home rule for Ireland by “all means which may be found necessary“, becoming one of the founders of a unionist militia that became the Ulster Volunteer Force.

But in later years he warned Unionists not to alienate the Catholics in the north, something which parades such as this clearly do in some areas of Northern Ireland. In London they are much less controversial, although I have at times been threatened by those taking part for photographing them. But on this occasion I received just a few hard stares and even some faintly welcoming grins from some who recognised me.

More pictures on My London Diary at Lord Carson Memorial Parade.

South Kensington & Chelsea, 1988

Roland Gardens, South Kensington, Kensington & Chelsea, 1988 88-4p-65-positive_2400 — *Roland Gardens, South Kensington, Kensington & Chelsea, 1988 88-4p-65*

More pictures from my wandering walks around South Kensington.

Another of the houses in Roland Gardens, No 46, was built in 1883-5 for Peter Le Page Renouf, a former professor of ancient history and Oriental languages, an Inspector of schools who in 1886 became the Keeper of Oriental Antiquities in the British Museum, and was occupied after his death in 1897 by his wife and daughter. Since the late 1930s the house together with No40, 42 and 44, is now St Teresa’s Home, a care home run by Sisters Hospitallers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. According to the Survey of London, the architect of this Tudor Gothic house, which is “reminiscent of a Victorian country vicarage, and has a prominent corner tower capped by a small spire” was most probably T Chatfeild Clarke who designed the rather similar Parmiter’s School in Bethnal Green.

Poster, Queensgate, SOuth Kensington, Kensington & Chelsea, 1988 88-4q-03-positive_2400 — *Poster, Queensgate, South Kensington, Kensington & Chelsea, 198*8 88-4q-03

The Iranian Embassy in London is in Princes Gate overlooking Hyde Park and there is also a Consular section in Kensington Court in South Kensington, as well as a vacant site on the corner of Harrington Rd and Queens Gate, so it was perhaps not surprising to find this poster calling on Ayatollah Khomeini, Supreme Leader of Iran, to stop killing children and end his terrorism and mad war, though it was a called destined to fall on deaf ears.

Shop, Fulham Rd, Chelsea, Kensington & Chelsea, 1988 88-4q-12a-positive_2400 — *Shop, Fulham Rd, Chelsea, Kensington & Chelsea, 1988 88-4q-12*

I think my bus to South Kensington went along the Fulham Road, and I decided to alight here and take a few pictures. I’m not sure who would want to buy any of the things on display here or what they would do with them, other than the fireplaces which are around the edges, but I am sure they would all be very expensive.

Fulham Rd, Chelsea, Kensington & Chelsea, 1988 88-4q-22-positive_2400 — *Fulham Rd, Chelsea, Kensington & Chelsea, 1988 88-4q-22*

I suspect it will have been this shopfront which made me get off the bus, and take a few pictures on the corner of Sydney St on my way home from South Kensington. The shop window has the name of New Zealand born interior designer Anouska Hempel (Lady Weinberg) whose “vision of a utopian world encompasses luxury design from landscapes, gardens, hotels and residential to retail, yachts and couture” according to her website.

This location is now occupied by a Thai restaurant which a rather plain frontage, and the pub opposite, the Cranley, which can be glimpsed in a reflection in the window in one of the pictures closed bin 1990.

Onslow Square, South Kensington, Kensington & Chelsea, 1988 88-4q-33-positive_2400 — *Onslow Square, South Kensington, Kensington & Chelsea, 1988 88-4q-33*

Onslow Square is between Fulham Road and South Kensington station and is on land purchased by the trustees of the Henry Smith Charity in the 1620s from the Earl of Onslow. Henry Smith had made his fortune as a moneylender in the City. When the chrity trustees leased land to Charles Freake to build the square they insisted they were built to the specifications of their architect George Basevi. The first houses were completed in 1847 two years after Basevi’s death and the square was only completed in 1865, with later houses diverging from his designs with exposed stock bricks. The Smith Charity estate was sold to the Wellcome Trust in the late 1970’s.

French school, Queensberry Way, South Kensington, Kensington & Chelsea, 1988 88-4q-41-positive_2400 — *French school, Queensberry Way, South Kensington, Kensington & Chelsea, 1988 88-4q-41*

The Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle has a distinctly French look to its building along Harrington Road and Queensbury Way, known as Victor Hugo, which was built in the 1980s. The concrete structures at the entrance from Queensbury Way, (this was one of a pair) have been replaced.

Small Ads, Harrington Rd, South Kensington, Kensington & Chelsea, 1988 88-4q-42-positive_2400 — *Small Ads, Harrington Rd, South Kensington, Kensington & Chelsea, 1988 88-4q-42*

I was amused by the range of small adds, offering dance lessons, corrective training, Caribbean Beauty, health therapy, French massage, electrical repairs, a Morris Oxford, a flat for students and more.

Vacani, School of Dance, Harrington Rd, South Kensington, Kensington & Chelsea, 1988 88-4q-43-positive_2400 — *Vacani School of Dance, Harrington Rd, South Kensington, Kensington & Chelsea, 1988 88-4q-43*

The Vacani School of Dance was founded in 1915 by Marguerite Vacani and later taken over by her niece Betty Vacani, and the pair of them later gave private lessons to the young Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret Rose. Lady Diana Spencer later spent three months as an apprentice teacher at the school. Founded in Knightsbridge it moved to South Kensington under Elfrida Eden and Mary Stassinopoulos in the early 1980s. There are now Vacani schools in Clapham and Woking.

The doorway is still there on Harrington Rd, but now longer a school of dancing, but at the side of the South Kensington Club at 38-42.

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