Iraq Oil, Freedom, Rosary Crusade & Parliament Square – 2008

Iraq Oil, Freedom, Rosary Crusade & Parliament Square: Saturday 11 October 2008 was another varied day, beginning with protests against the US grab of Iraq’s oil and tthe increasing control over our lives by governments and corporations. I then photographed a walk of public witness by Catholics in London before going to Parliament Square were I found a number of smaller protests.


100 Days to stop Bush & Cheney’s Iraq Oil Grab!

Shell Centre

Iraq Oil, Freedom, Rosary Crusade & Parliament Square - 2008
A giant Dick Cheney looms over Iraqi Oil outside the Shell Centre

In 1972 the Iraqi government took over Iraqi oil, nationalising the Iraq Petroleum Company which was jointly owned by the world’s largest oil companies, and it provided 95% of government revenue.

Iraq Oil, Freedom, Rosary Crusade & Parliament Square - 2008

Many of us thought that the main reason behind the 2003 invasion of Iraq was to get the country to hand over most of the oil reserves to foreign companies, particularly Shell and BP.

In 2007 the US-backed Iraqi cabinet had approved a new oil law, strongly opposed by Iraqi trade unions and oil experts, but driven by expert consultants supplied by the UK and US who previously worked at a high level for companies like Shell and BP which would give the foreign oil companies control over oil production and in 2008 the Iraqi Oil Ministry began to announce contracts with former partners in the IPC, ExxonMobil, Shell, Total and BP as with Chevron and others.

Iraq Oil, Freedom, Rosary Crusade & Parliament Square - 2008

The protest came at the start of the final 100 days of President Bush’s administration in the US and was organised by ‘Hands of Iraqi Oil’, a coalition whose members include Corporate Watch, Iraq Occupation Focus, Jubilee Iraq, PLATFORM, Voices UK, and War on Want and supported by the Stop the War Coalition and others.

Iraq Oil, Freedom, Rosary Crusade & Parliament Square - 2008

The samba band, brass band, ‘oil workers’ and others came to protest at the Shell Centre with a giant figure of US Vice-President Dick Cheney and a mock oil well as well as some with Iraqi flags.

I left them shortly after they set off to march first to protest outside BP’s headquarters in St James’s Square and then on to the US Embassy to go to New Scotland Yard.

Bush & Cheney’s Iraq Oil Grab


Freedom not Fear 2008

New Scotland Yard

Freedom not fear 2008 was an international protest in over 20 countries against excessive surveillance by governments and businesses, organised by a broad movement of campaigners and organisations.

A camera behind this person dressed in a sinister black suit and hood

The main UK event was a protest outside the Metropolitan Police headquarters, New Scotland Yard, then still in Victoria Street, Westminster. The protest was against the restriction of the right to demonstrate under SOCPA, the intimidatory use of photography by police FIT squads, the proposed introduction of ID cards, the increasing centralisation of personal data held by government, including the DNA database held by police, the incredible growth in surveillance cameras, ‘terrorist’ legislation and other measures which have affected our individual freedom and human rights.

The protest was within the area where restrictions on protests were introduced by the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (SOCPA) which required the protesters to have given written notice to the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police six days in advance for the event. But of course they had not as a part of the protest.

Police tried hard to give protesters SOCPA notices telling them that the protest was illegal but few took them or any interest in them. Some of the officers joked with the protesters who included People in Common and FitWatch, but sensibly they did not attempt to break up the protest or make any arrests, or at least not in the three-quarters of an hour or so I was present.

Freedom not Fear 2008


Rosary Crusade of Reparation

Westminster Cathedral

Young girls in white communion dress walked beside the statue of Our Lady of Fatima

I walked the short distance along Victoria Street to Westminster Cathedral where people were gathering for the Rosary Crusade of Reparation. This began in Austria in 1947 as a campaign by a Franciscan priest to free the country from communist control, and is said to have played a part in the Russian decision to allow Austria its independence in 1955.

THe first annual procession with the statue of Our Lady of Fatima took place in 1948 in Vienna on the feast of the Name of Mary, Sept 12th. This feast was set up by Pope Innocent XI in 1683 after Turkish invaders surrounding Vienna were defeated by Christian armies who had prayed to the Blessed Virgin.

Families at the front of the large crowd in the procession

The procession in London takes place on the nearest Saturday to the final appearance of Our Lady at Fatima in October 1917, close to the end of the First World War, when those present saw the sun dancing around in the sky, and she promised peace and an end to war if men showed contrition for their sins and changed their lives.

This was the 25 annual procession in London and had as its special theme atonement for the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill then passing through Parliament.

I photographed the start of the procession which was making its way slowly to Brompton Oratory.

More at Rosary Crusade of Reparation.


Parliament Square

I’d gone to Parliament Square to look for a two-man protest by the two Bens from the ‘Still Human Still Here‘ campaign dedicated to highlighting the plight of tens of thousands of refused asylum seekers who are being forced into abject poverty in an attempt to drive them out of the country. The two men had spent two weeks in a tent in the square living on the emergency rations that the Red Cross will supply to these inhumanely treated asylum seekers.

In the square I found a number of other protests taking place. Of course Brian Haw was there – as he had been for over 7 years – and I saw him being insulted by a man who smelled strongly of alcohol. There was a small group of Tamils who told me that they were part of a campaign giving out leaflets all over the centre of London about the ethnic cleansing taking place in Sri Lanka. Another small group, ‘London Against Detention’, was campaigning to close down Asylum detention centres.

In the corner close to the statue of Churchill was a man who told me he had been on hunger strike for two weeks in a protest to get his case properly investigated. He claimed to have been abused by police and social services following an incident in which as a seven year old child in Llanelli he was implicated in the death of a baby brother.

Finally I saw another group of people hurrying along the street opposite towards Whitehall carrying posters. I chased after them and found that they were Obama supporters hoping to persuade Americans they met to register and vote in the US election.

More at Parliament Square.


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Uganda, Green Belt, Olympic Site – 2008

Uganda, Green Belt, Olympic Site: Thursday 9th October 2008 was Uganda Independence Day and I began work at a protest at the Ugandan Embassy in Trafalgar Square against the persecution of gays in that country. In Parliament Square I met protesters who had come from Dorset to bring a petition against a proposed new town on Green Belt land on the outskirts of Bournemouth and Poole. Then as I had a few hours before a meeting it was an opportunity to take another walk to see what I could by then of the fenced off Olympic site.


Demonstration Against Ugandan Human Rights Abuse

Ugandan Embassy, Trafalgar Square

Peter Tatchell of Outrage! and Davis Makyala of Changing Attitudes in the demo outside Uganda House

As I wrote in 2008, “October 9 is Uganda Independence Day, but for gay Ugandans in particular there is little to celebrate… “Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda and the penalty can be imprisonment for life, and gay rights campaigners have been imprisoned and subjected to torture. The Ugandan Anglican church is a leading force in anti-gay campaigns.”

The Ugandan government intimidates and tortures gay people and excludes them from healthcare. British arms exports have been used against protests there, killing at least three demonstrators by 2008.

Kizza Musinguzi who was jailed and tortured in Uganda receives the 2008 Sappho in Paradise book prize

Ugandans fleeing the country because of persecution and seeking asylum in the UK were among those forcibly sent back to the country without proper consideration of their cases under our “fast-track” process which was later declared unlawful.

Emma Ginn of https://medicaljustice.org.uk/ Medical Justice

The LGBTQ rights situation in Uganda is now even worse following the passage of ‘the Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023, which prescribes up to twenty years in prison for “promotion of homosexuality”, life imprisonment for “homosexual acts”, and the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality“.’

More on My London Diary at Ugandan Human Rights Abuse.


Green Belt Protest Rally

Westminster

People from villages on the outskirts of Bournemouth and Poole had come to protest against the proposed Lychett New Town on Green Belt land in Dorset.

Apparently Hazel Blears, Secretary of State, had told Dorset County Council it must build a New Town at Lytchett Minster with over 7,250 houses in the Green Belt around Poole & Bournemouth, and local residents had set up a campaign about it.

Octavia Hill had first proposed the idea of green belts in 1875 but it was the 1947 Town and Country Planning Act which allowed local authorities to set them up and they were further encouraged to do so by Tory Housing Minister Duncan Sandys in 1955. The idea was to put an end to the unplanned sprawl of ribbon development along major roads leading out from all our cities and provide areas for local food growing, forestry and outdoor leisure.

As I commented, “it has made a valuable contribution to improving the quality of life in our towns and villages and to conserving the countryside.” But as I also wrote, “Many of us feel that the whole of the current planning structure works against sensible and ecological development, but the answer to this is not to relax planning controls but to bring in improved – and in some respects tighter – controls.”

Unfortunately the changes announced by Labour in 2024 which include some Green Belt being re-classified as ‘Grey Belt’ seem largely intended to make things easier and more profitable for developers.

Consultations took place in 2025 over proposals for Lytchett Minster & Upton in the Dorset local plan which lists opportunity sites for over 5000 new homes – and a new petition was set up opposing them.

Green Belt Protest Rally


Stratford Marsh (Olympic Site) & Hackney Wick

Looking towards the main stadium in left half of picture, along what was once Marshgate Lane.

It has always been an interesting walk through Stratford marsh on top of the Northern Outfall sewer, although rather more so in the past when there were so many places one could leave it to explore further rather than coming up against the big blue fence.”

Bridge over City Mill River from the Greenway

I commented back then of my annoyance at the statements made by the Olympic authorities that after the Olympics they would be opening up the previously inaccessible area to the public. In fact they were destroying the area where it had always been interesting to wander along the various largely riverside footpaths – many of which had been cleared to make them easier to walk in the 1990s.

Work by Hackney Wick’s most prolific artist

You can see many pictures that I took in the area on my Lea Valley website And as a replacement we now have a park which seems rather arid. Perhaps by 2112 it might look better.

Foarmer Permanite Works

In 2008 most of the Olympic area was fenced off, but I enjoyed the walk along the ‘Greenway’ on top of the Northern Outfall Sewer to Hackney Wick where I dound much to interest me and “taking the train back from Hackney Wick to Stratford there were many signs of fairly frenzied activity visible.”

Wanted – Laura Norder – $5oo Reward – advertising an art fair at Decima Gallery in Hackney Wick

Many more pictures, particularly around Hackney Wick at Stratford Marsh (Olympic Site) & Hackney Wick.


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Stop Starving Palestine Pan Protest

Whitehall, London. 25th July 2025

Stop Starving Palestine Pan Protest

Stop Starving Palestine Pan Protest: Last Friday evening thousands of us came to Whitehall shocked by the news and photographs coming out of Gaza, where much of the population is now suffering from malnutrition and over a thousand have already died of starvation.

The famine there is entirely due to the actions of the Israeli government and their army, the IDF. Over the past months they have denied access to the normal humanitarian supplies of foods and essential items to Gaza.

Stop Starving Palestine Pan Protest

Israel has also disrupted the well-established channels through which food was distributed in Gaza through the UN and humanitarian agencies. Together with the USA they have set up an alternative way to supply food which has operated at only four centres; the amount of food supplied has been vastly inadequate and over a thousand of those queueing for it have been killed by the IDF.

Stop Starving Palestine Pan Protest
A holocaust survivor speaks outside the Foreign & Commonwealth Office.

The world has been shocked by the pictures coming out from Gaza, and by well-documented stories from medical staff that snipers and not only target those queueing for food but ‘gaming’ by targeting different parts of the anatomy on different days. One day hospitals treated many who had been shot in their testicles.

For months we have been appalled by the accounts of the shelling and bombing of hospitals, medical facilities and the arrests and interrogation of medical staff, some of whom have clearly been tortured.

Stop Starving Palestine Pan Protest
L

Large areas of Gaza are now covered with the rubble of people’s homes and people forced to flee and living in makeshift tents, often in so-called ‘safe areas’ have been killed by the military.

The attack began after an attack by Hamas across the border into Israel in which over a thousand died – including some by Israeli military fire and hundreds were kidnapped as hostages. But it has continued for over 600 days, with the killing of many, many thousands of innocent Palestinians, men, women and children in what has clearly become a series of war crimes.

Stop Starving Palestine Pan Protest

Some Israeli ministers have clearly stated their intention to entirely rid Gaza of Palestinians, and Donald Trump has supported them, with plans to turn the area into a holiday resort. Israel clearly wants to settle the area with Israelis.

From the rest of the world we have seen words of condemnation, but little or no real action, with the USA using its veto in the UN. The UK has banned some of its arms exports and is nowmaking plans for air drops of food – but these will only be a small – and dangerous – drop in the ocean of desperate need.

On Friday evening I travelled up to London with my wife – carrying a large pan and a wooden spoon to bang it with in a protest calling on our government to take effective action.

I began by photographing a rally outside the Foreign & Commonwealth office by the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network UK who began weekly protests in October 2023 against the Israeli Ambassador to the UK who had called for the illegal annexation of the West Bank and for “every school, every mosque, every second house” in Gaza to be destroyed. Their protests have been hounded by police, banned first from being outside her residence and then from Swiss Cottage.

Among the speakers I photographed there was a woman holocaust survivor who received tremendous support with people banging their pans and was unable to continue for several minutes. This was also one of the few parts of the evening of protest where many people had also come with placards.

A few yards up Whitehall there were crowds of protesters banging pans on both sides of Whitehall. Police tried to keep them on the pavement but when they appeared to be trying to arrest one of those who refused to move, crowds surged around them and occupied the whole of the highway.

There were a couple of speeches from in front of the gates to Downing Street, but many of those present were too far away to hear them and people kept up the banging of pans.

Eventually the organisers asked people to come and leave their pans in front of Downing Street and start moving towards Trafalgar Square. Some did, but many others still needed them to cook with. A thin police line held up the movement towards the square for around ten minutes – though the protesters could easily have broken through they waited patiently and then marched on to the square where I left them.

More pictures on Facebook at Stop Starving Gaza Protest at Downing St and as usual available for publication on Alamy.


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Vedanta AGM Protest – 2010

Vedanta AGM Protest: Westminster, Wednesday 28 July 2010

Vedanta AGM Protest

The protest outside Vedanta’s AGM held in Westminster on Wednesday 28th July 2010 was the first time I really became aware of the company and its mining activities. This protest concentrated on its plans to displace and wipe out an ancient civilisation in the Niyamgiri Hills of Orissa, India by bauxite mining.

Vedanta AGM Protest

The hills which would have been destroyed by their mining are sacred to the region’s Adivasis, primarily the Dongria Kondh tribes. By 2010 Foil Vedanta who organised the protest were saying that Vedanta had caused more than 100 deaths in the area though accidents, police shooting, forced displacement, injury and illness.

Vedanta AGM Protest

More than a thousand people have already been displaced, with 8000 under threat, moved away from their traditional sources of income and dumped into shanty towns where there is no work. Thousands of acres of fertile agricultural land have been destroyed, rivers and streams disrupted and drinking water contaminated by fly ash and toxic red mud.

Vedanta AGM Protest
Anil Agarwal is CEO of Vedanta

Vedanta Resouces is an Indian company founded and still run by the Agarwal family, but in 2003 was listed on the London Stock Exchange following a two year ban by the Securities Exchange Board of India from accessing capital markets after they were found guilty of cornering shares and rigging share prices.

Vedanta AGM Protest
Police push back security who assaulted activists who tried to enter the building

A damning report, Vedanta’s Billions: Regulatory failure, environment and human rights‘, issued by Foil Vedanta in 2018 accuses “the City of London and the Financial Conduct Authority” of minimising the risks associated with Vedanta’s legal violations and human rights and environmental abuses’ and failing to investigate or penalise any London listed mining company on these grounds.”

Among other crimes, the report names Vedanta as “the latest in a string of London listed mining companies linked to the murder or ‘massacre’ of protesters, including Lonmin, Glencore, Kazakhmys, ENRC, Essar, GCM Resources, Anglo Gold Ashanti, African Barrick Gold and Monterrico Metals.”

As well as Foil Vedanta the campaign against them was supported by Amnesty International, Survival International and Action Aid, and a number of campaigners had become shareholders so they could attend the meeting and attempt to question the company’s activities – and these included Bianca Jagger. Her presence and that of two bright blue aliens from the tribe destroyed in the James Cameron film ‘Avatar’ ensured that the protest for once got some press coverage. Also supporting the protest were the South Asia Solidarity Group, South Asian Alliance, Brent Refugee and Migrant Forum and London Development Education Centre.

The campaign against Vedanta had already been successful in getting various shareholders to end their investment, including the Church of England, the Joseph Rowntree Trust and the Dutch pensions company in ending their investments due to concerns about its approach to human rights and the environment. And continued protests by Foil Vedanta undoubtedly played a part in the company’s decision to de-list from the London Stock Exchange in 2018.

The company was helped to list in London by the British Government’s Department of Trade and Industry and the Department for International Development (DfID), and was getting continued support from the DfID Building Partnerships for Development programme and the Orissa ‘Drivers for Change’ research project, and former British Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and High Commissioner of India David Gore-Booth had been a directory.

Its billionaire CEO Anil Agarwal was said to have close links with the extremist umbrella group for Indian Hindu right-wing organistions, Sangh Parivar, said to be responsible for many attacks on Muslim and Christian communities in Orissa, Gujurat and other parts of India.

The Foil Vedanta report has a “special focus on illegal mining in Goa, pollution and tax evasion in Zambia, as well as illegal expansion and pollution in Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu, industrial disaster at Korba in Chhattisgarh, land settlement and pollution issues in Punjab, displacement and harassment of activists in Lanjigarh, Odisha, and a mineral allocation scam in Rajasthan.

You can see and read more about the 2010 protest on My London Diary at Vedanta AGM Protest.


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End the Genocide, Stop Arming Israel – 19 July 2025

End the Genocide, Stop Arming Israel: Last Saturday, 19th July 2025, the weather forecast for London was dire. Thunderstorms and heavy rain until clearing a little later in the afternoon, with up to several inches of rain leading to some localised flooding. In the event it was a bit under two inches, with small rivers running along the side of some streets.

End the Genocide, Stop Arming Israel - 19 July 2025
London, UK. 19 July 2025. Many thousands march in pouring rain in London

In this account I intend to write about my personal experiences and working as a photographer on the day rather than my views on the terrible situation in Palestine and the reprehensible actions of the Israeli government and army – and Hamas. I’ve often written about the need for peace and justice, for an end to occupation and destruction and for the release of hostages and prisoners.

End the Genocide, Stop Arming Israel - 19 July 2025
London, UK. 19 July 2025.

Linda and I were determined to go out and join the national demonstration, to show our support for the people of Gaza, to demand our government stop selling arms to Israel and to call on the Israeli government to end its terrible destruction and genocidal attacks and to allow humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza, many now starving. A little rain was not going to stop us.

As usual I checked online for our trains, only to find that our services into London were subject to delay and cancellation due to signalling problems. We dropped everything and hurried to get an earlier train than we had intended – and which actually was more punctual than usual – only two or three minutes late into Waterloo.

End the Genocide, Stop Arming Israel - 19 July 2025

It was raining fairly heavily as we walked out of the station and by the time we’d crossed the Jubilee bridge to the Embankment where the march was gathering we were already quite wet.

As the forecast was for afternoon temperatures in the low to mid twenties I’d grabbed a lightweight waterproof jacket on my way out, which was a mistake. It did keep the water off to start with but was soon getting soaked through in places. I realised too late that I should have worn my poncho – or a heavier jacket that although too warm would have kept me dry. At least I’d had the sense to put on my truly waterproof walking boots rather than my usual trainers.

End the Genocide, Stop Arming Israel - 19 July 2025

We joined the large crowd that was sheltering under the bridge carrying the rail lines into Charing Cross and I started to take photographs. It was dry – so long as you avoided the areas where water was leaking down from above – but rather dark.

End the Genocide, Stop Arming Israel - 19 July 2025

I was working with my Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III (what a crazy mouthful of a name) a camera that came out over 5 years ago. It’s a Micro 43 camera with a sensor only around half the size of full-frame, but that does mean it can be significantly smaller and lighter – something increasingly important to me as I get less able to carry heavy camera bags. And, vitally important today, it is a camera that has good weather protection.

I also had my Fuji X-T30 in my camera bag, with a 10-24 zoom fitted. Had I not rushed out I might have chosen a more suitable body and wide angle for use in wet weather. Neither that camera or lens are weather sealed (the more recent 10-24mm is) and for most of the day they stayed in my bag. I did take them out a couple of times when the rain had eased off, but hardly any of the pictures I took with them were usable.

Under the bridge light was low, but the Olympus has good image stablisation and the main problem was subject movement, as people shouted slogans, jumped up and down, banged drums and more. Being very crowded also meant people were often banging into me as I was working.

I also use small and light lenses – in the case the Olympus 14-150mm F4-5.6 – equivalent to 28-300mm on full frame, going from a decent but not extreme wide-angle to a long telephoto. Its a small, light and incredibly versatile lens, but not one at its best in low light with its rather small aperture.

I started off working with the lens on the P setting, the programme choosing suitable shutter speed and aperture – with the lens wide open and shutter speeds of around 1/15 to 1/25 second. But I soon realised to stop action I would need a faster speed and switched to manual, deliberating underexposing at 1/100th second, f5.0 and at ISO 3200. The RAW images were dark but I knew that I could get Lightroom to make them look fine – if sometimes lacking in shadow detail.

Eventually people began to move out into the rain and march and I went with them, holding my camera under my jacket and only taking it out quickly to take pictures. I looked in my bag for the chamois leather I usually hold to dry and hold in front of the lens filter and it wasn’t there – I’d left it back home in the pocket of the jacket I was wearing when it last rained while I was taking pictures. I had to make do with a handkerchief instead, giving the protective filter a quick wipe before each exposure.

Outside it was a little brighter and I was able to increase the shutter speed to something more sensible, and was using manual settings of 1/160 f5.6 with auto-ISO giving me correct exposure. I was mainly working at the wider focal lengths of the lens and f5.6 gave me enough depth of field.

I hadn’t got out my umbrella, but of course many others were carrying them to keep dry. I find it hard to work with one hand while holding an umbrella in the other. But other people’s umbrellas were a little of a nuisance, with water often pouring from them onto me as I took pictures, adding to the effect of the rain.

So I was getting increasing wet – and soon retreated to the sheltered area under the bridge where different groups were now coming through. Keeping close to the end of the sheltered area I was able to keep working at the same settings, with the ISO now 3200.

London, UK. 19 July 2025. Stephen Kapos and another holocaust survivor on the march.

After a while I went out into the wet again – the rain had eased off slightly, and took more pictures. Then I noticed the banner for the Jewish holocaust survivors and their descendants and went over to greet Stephen Kapos, photograph him and another survivor as they set off on the march.

Shortly after I decided I would move to Westminster Bridge to take pictures of the marchers with the Houses of Parliament in the background, and walked as quickly as I could to there. Crowds of marchers and tourists watching the march slowed my progress somewhat.

The bridge is open to light and I was now using 1/250 second, but still with the Olympus lens at its wide-angle lens there was no need to stop down and I was working at around ISO 640.

I think around half of the march had gone over the bridge before I got there and I stayed taking pictures around halfway across the bridge for around half an hour, only leaving when I could see the end of the march coming on to the bridge. Fortunately the rain had eased off, but I was still getting wet.

End the Genocide, Stop Arming Israel - 19 July 2025

I then hurried taking a short cut to get to Waterloo Bridge, taking just a few pictures where hurried past the march again on York Road. I took more photographs as people came onto Waterloo Bridge and then saw that a large group had stopped in the shelter underneath the railyway bridge and were having a spirited protest there – so I went to photograph them. When they marched off I went with them to Waterloo Bridge.

I looked at my watch. I had thought about taking the tube to Westminster and then going to photograph the rally in Whitehall, but decided it was perhaps too late to bother. I’d taken a lot of photographs and was rather wet and also hungry and decided it was time to go home.

I went to Waterloo and got on a train. Eventually, 15 minutes late, it decided to leave, and with a few stoppages at signals got me home around 25 minutes later than it should. Fortunately I’d packed some sandwiches and was able to eat them sitting at Waterloo, though the view wasn’t interesting. I’d edited and filed my pictures by the time Linda arrived home.

More pictures on Alamy and Facebook.


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Against Clerical Fascism, & Women For Choice – 2011

Against Clerical Fascism & Women For Choice: On Saturday 9th July 2011 I photographed a protest against the imposition of religious laws outside a Hizb ut-Tahrir conference in East London and then a larger protest at Westminster against amendments to the Health and Social Care Bill which would severely damage the provisions of the 1967 Abortion Act.


Protest At Hizb ut-Tahrir Conference – Whitechapel

Against Clerical Fascism, & Women For Choice - 2011

Hizb ut-Tahrir were proscribed in the UK as a terrorist organisation in January 2024 after a protest following the Hamas attack on Israel at which they called on Muslim armies to attack Israel. I had photographed various protests by them for around 20 years and had found them to be a deeply worrying organisation both in their views and in the way their events were run and was surprised that they had been allowed to continue their activities so long. They appeared to many to have some kind of special secret licence from our security organisations for their extremism.

Against Clerical Fascism, & Women For Choice - 2011

Hizb ut-Tahrir were holding their International Khilafah conference at the former Wickham’s department store in Whitechapel and a small group of protesters including Peter Tatchell had come to protest outside.

On My London Diary I quoted Tatchell’s statement about the group:

“Hizb ut Tahrir opposes democracy and wants to establish a religious dictatorship where non-Muslims and women are denied equal human rights. The group has a long history of anti-Semitism, homophobia and bigotry towards Hindu people. It is also guilty of extreme intolerance towards Muslims who do not share its harsh, fundamentalist interpretation of Islam.”

Against Clerical Fascism, & Women For Choice - 2011

There were separate entrances to the venue for men and women and photographers who attempted to photograph the women in front of their entrance were approached by security and told they must not photograph the women – and shortly after “a group of around a dozen Hizb ut-Tahrir security men and male stewards came and stood around the women to make further photography difficult.”

Against Clerical Fascism, & Women For Choice - 2011

I’d earlier photographed a poster advertising the event on a cabinet in the pavement outside, and was photographing Peter Tatchell holding a placard reading ‘Hizb ut-Tahrir = clerical fascism No to Hizb / EDL /BNP‘ when one of the security men came and ripped the poster from the cabinet.

Against Clerical Fascism, & Women For Choice - 2011

The protest was multi-racial and multi-ethnic and one Muslim woman held a poster stating ‘Hizb-ut-Tahrir does not represent Muslims.’ And, as I reported, ‘A Muslim man in his thirties walking past asked me what was happening and when I told him, described Hizb ut-Tahrir as “absolute nutters.“‘

Protest At Hizb ut-Tahrir Conference


Pro-Choice Rally at Parliament – Old Palace Yard, Westminster

The crowd, mainly women, applaud one of the speakers at the rally

Many different groups had come to the rally to oppose the “attempts by right-wing Christians and some Conservatives to turn back the clock towards the position before the 1967 Act, where many women had dangerous illegal back-street abortions, often with disastrous effects on their health.

That Act, legalising abortion, had “led to one of the greatest single improvements in health for women of the last century.” But the amendments proposed by Nadine Dorries and others to the Health and Social Care Bill being debated in parliament in 2011 would have imposed “a further delay on abortions and would open the door to counselling provided by unregulated and unlicensed organisations including those opposed to abortions on religious grounds, and would remove the current obligations to provide medically sound and unbiased information.”

Under the coalition government a new advisory group on abortion had been set up which excluded ‘the Pregnancy Advisory Service but includes Life, an anti-abortion group which preaches abstinence and, according to its web site, “is opposed to abortion on principle in all circumstances.’

The government was also under strong “pressure from anti-abortion groups to lower the time limit for abortions from the current 24th week of gestation” despite clear medical advice against this from The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

On My London Diary you can also see many of the speakers at the event, including “including those wanting an extension of abortion rights to women in Northern Ireland, along with Labour MP and women’s rights campaigner Diane Abbott, columnist Penny Laurie (Penny Red), Green Party London Assembly member Jenny Jones, and doctor and former Liberal Democrat science spokesman and MP Evan Harris” – who was the only man who spoke while I was at the rally.

More at Pro-Choice Rally at Parliament.


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Ahwazi Crash Secret UK-Iran Business Meeting – 2015

Ahwazi Crash Secret UK-Iran Business Meeting: On Friday 3rd July 2015 I went into the offices of the British Iranian Chambers of Commerce (BICC) with a group of British-Iranian Ahwazi Arabs and human rights activist Peter Tatchell to gatecrash a secret meeting promoting UK-Iran trade and investment in NIOC (National Iranian Oil Company) House in Westminster.

Ahwazi Crash Secret UK-Iran Business Meeting
Peter Tatchell and the Hashem Shabani Action Group discuss their plans

Iran of course is very much back in the news now, following the attacks on its nuclear installions by Israel and the USA, concerned that Iran might be developing nuclear weapons. At the moment Israel is the only state in the Middle East with nuclear weapons and they and their US partners are very much concerned to keep it that way. But this protest was against the continuing savage oppression of the Awazi in Iran.

Ahwazi Crash Secret UK-Iran Business Meeting
There were a few security men who tried to stop the protesters – with no success

Iran is of course a state with a highly oppresive authoritarian religious regime – as Amnesty International report they surpress “the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly” with “Women and girls, LGBTI people, and ethnic and religious minorities” experiencing “systemic discrimination and violence.”

Ahwazi Crash Secret UK-Iran Business Meeting
We ran up the stairs to the sixth floor where the meeting was taking place

The Awazi Arabs are Iran’s largest Arab speaking community and their largely autonomous state of Al-Ahwaz was forcibly taken over by Persia in 1925. And they suffer more than any other ethnic group from Iranian oppression.

Ahwazi Crash Secret UK-Iran Business Meeting
People try to stop the protesters who rush past,

Oil was first discovered in Al-Ahwaz in 1908, and the Anglo-Persian Oil Company formed to exploit it (in was renamed the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company in 1935) was directly controlled by the British government from 1914 to 1951 when oil was nationalised under the the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC.) Almost all of Iran’s oil is in the Ahwazi regions. Anglo-Iranian is now rather better known as BP.

Ahwazi Crash Secret UK-Iran Business Meeting
They protest inside the room where the conference delegates were taking refreshments

Iranian violent persecution, forced displacement and the suppression of Ahwazi Arabs and their culture has continued since 1925, turning their homeland, thought to have been the inspiration of the Biblical ‘Garden of Eden’ into a a desolate wasteland, the poorest area of the Middle East.

Peter Tatchell talks with some of those taking part in the secret meeting

A recent Facebook post gives a short clear summary of Iran’s history – here’s the text:

“IRAN ONCE HAD DEMOCRACY – THE WEST DESTROYED IT.
Every time Western leaders talk about “freedom and democracy” in Iran – they either don’t know history – or they’re hoping you don’t.

IRAN HAD DEMOCRACY – Until the CIA and MI6 overthrew it. Why? Because Iran dared to nationalize its own oil. That was 1953. The elected Prime Minister, Mohammad Mossadegh, was toppled by Operation Ajax. Why? Because British Petroleum (yes, that BP) didn’t want to lose control.

So let’s stop pretending the West ever cared about the Iranian people.
It was always about oil and imperial control. And those parroting “freedom” today – without this context – are sadly, useful idiots for empire.”

The post goes on to promote the book “The Devil’s Chessboard” by David Talbot, founding editor of Salon, which apparently “tells the full story” of how the “Dulles brothers weaponized the CIA to crush democracy abroad – from Iran to Congo to Guatemala” though I’ve not read it.

‘We demand Dignity and Justice for Ahwazis’

You can read more about what happened inside NIOC House on My London Diary, though I think the pictures and captions give a good idea there are many more there. I had some difficult in working in the low lighting in the corridor and from some trying to stop me taking pictures, but was not seriously harrassed, though I was stopped and wasn’t able to get a picture of Lord Lamont as he was confronted by some of the protesters, although the other photographers did.

The protest continues in the corridor

One man – recognised by the protesters as an Iranian Embassy official – began to assault one of the photographers but was restrained by others from the meeting. After ten minutes the protesters decided they had make their point and we all made our way down to the foyer. Here we were met by police who stopped us leaving.

While we were not arrested we were prevented from leaving for over 45 minutes, although I and the other journalists all showed our press cards. It was hot and I was pleased to drink some of the cold fruit juice the building manager hospitably offered. The photographer who had been assaulted complained to the police before went up to the sixth floor – when they came down he was told his assailant might have diplomatic immunity and the photographer decided not to press charges.

Eventually all of us were released, presumably as the BICC wished to avoid publicity about their meeting. The protesters including some who had stayed outside the building then posed on the steps for photographs.

More on My London Diary at Ahwazi crash secret UK-Iran business meeting.


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Hizb ut-Tahrir, Spain and Copyright – 2009

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

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

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

I wrote in 2009:

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

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

Hizb ut-Tahrir, Spain and Copyright - 2009

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


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

Hizb ut-Tahrir, Spain and Copyright - 2009

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

Hizb ut-Tahrir, Spain and Copyright - 2009

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

Hizb ut-Tahrir, Spain and Copyright - 2009

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

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


Spanish Practices in Regent St

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

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

More pictures at Spanish Practices in Regent St.


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

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


Filipino Nurses tell Daily Mail to apologise – Kensington

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

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

More pictures at Filipino Nurses tell Daily Mail apologise.


Walking the Coal Line – Peckham

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

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

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

Derek Jarman memorial garden

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

Copeland Park

I wrote in 2015:

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

Cossall Walk

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

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


UK Uncut Art Protest – Westminster Bridge

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

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

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

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

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

More pictures at UK Uncut Art Protest.


Biafrans demand independence – Trafalgar Square

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

Death follows Tony Blair of Britain

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

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

More pictures at Biafrans demand independence.


Mass rally Supports National Gallery Strikers – Trafalgar Square

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

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

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

Many more pictures at Mass rally Supports National Gallery strikers.


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Circle The City – 2014

Circle The City: On Sunday 18th May 2014 I accompanied my wife who was taking part in a sponsored walk around churches in the City of London to raise money for Christian Aid, part of the activities in Christian Aid Week. The 2025 Christian Aid Week ended yesterday (17 May 2025) but it isn’t too late to donate towards their work with local partners and communities in countries around the world “to fight injustice, respond to humanitarian emergencies, campaign for change, and help people claim the services and rights they are entitled to.”

Circle The City - 2014
Hawksmoor’s St Mary Woolnuth

Christian Aid is one of the better aid charities, currently working through local grass roots organisations in some of most vulnerable communities in 29 countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean. They don’t give money to governments and the projects they support are organised and managed by local people – with robust procedures to ensure the money is spent effectively. Some of those they support are Christian but many are not – something which has led to some churches failing to support their work.

Circle The City - 2014
The crypt of All Hallows by the Tower
Circle The City - 2014
Minster Court, Mark Lane

Other churches have decided against supporting Christian Aid because of their political campaigning, “pressing for policies that can best help the poor…. All we care about is eradicating poverty and injustice and the causes of these.” Compared to some other large charities they are more efficient, with 84p in every pound donated “working for long-term change, responding to humanitarian emergencies and using our voice to call for global change“.

Circle The City - 2014
Gateway to “the churchyard of Saint Ghastly Grim”, St Olave Hart St.
St Olave Hart St
The Ship, Hart St

The event was extremely well organised, with those taking part getting maps and directions at St Mary-le-Bow on Cheapside where there was a service before the walk. People also collected red helium-filled balloons to carry on the walk, and some of these were tied to mark the route and the various points – mainly churches where marchers could get their sponsorship forms signed as they walked around which also had Christian Aid bunting.

A double Gherkin
Bevis Marks Synagogue is the oldest synagogue in Great Britain, built in 1701

Most of the churches were open for people to walk around and some had refreshments and toilets. It would have been hard to get lost, but some people have zero sense of direction and find it difficult to hold a map the right way up and my presence was helpful. But I had really gone along to keep my wife company – and of course to take some pictures, some of which appeared in her church magazine.

A yurt at the rear of St Ethelburga-the-Virgin within Bishopsgate

I’d visited most of the City churches before and photographed inside them, but there are a few that are seldom open to the public but opened up for the occasion, and I also took other pictures as we walked around. Most of them, even those of other buildings include other marchers and some of the churches were crowded with them. Those red balloons didn’t always improve my pictures, but I also ate more cake than on my other city walks.

Saint Sepulchre-Without-Newgate

There are many more pictures in the post on My London Diary at Christian Aid Circle the City.


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