Israel | >Re-PHOTO

End Child Detention, Gaza Flotilla Atrocity – 2010

End Child Detention, Gaza Flotilla Atrocity: I covered two protests on Saturday 5th June 2010, a carnival against the holding of children in immigration detention centres, and rallies and a march following the killing by Israel of on 31st May of peace protesters who were on a flotilla attempting to break the illegal blockade of Gaza, carrying humanitarian aid and construction materials. As last month, the ships were illegally intercepted in international waters, A UNHRC report on the incident concluded Israel acted with “an unacceptable level of brutality“. Nine protesters were killed and 30 seriously injured, with another dying later from his wounds.

Gaza Flotilla Atrocity Protest

Whitehall – Israeli Embassy

End Child Detention, Gaza Flotilla Atrocity - 2010

Around 20,000 people flooded Whitehall for a rally at Downing Street before marching to protest close to the Israeli Embassy following the murder days earlier of peace protesters by Israeli forces. They called for international action against Israel and an end to the illegal blockade.

The protest called by Stop the War Coalition, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, British Muslim Initiative, CND, Friends of Al-Aqsa, Viva Palestina and Palestinian Forum of Britain had the official support of the trade union movement.

There were speeches from politicians, activists and flotilla survivors both in Whitehall and after the march on Kensington High Street – and I name many and posted their pictures on My London Diary.

Although independent media reports had made clear that some of those killed had been shot multiple times in the head at close range in what appeared to be more or less random executions, the BBC had been broadcasting again and again the same lies from the same Israeli apologist defending their killings.

On the evening news they did mention this protest but reported that only 2,000 people took part, when clearly the actual number was at least five or ten times as many. As I commented “This is not an isolated error – there is a consistent policy by the BBC to play down the scale of protest.”

We have seen this playing down of pro-Palestine protests in particular in recent years, as well as a continuing and academically well-documented pro-Israel bias in their overall reporting. At least now there are now some interviewers who do try to question the Israeli spokespeople despite the overall editorial imbalance – but also allow them to keep repeating their lies.

More at Gaza Flotilla Atrocity Protest.

Release Carnival – End Child Detention

Torrington Square

*Albanian children wait their turn to perform*

SOAS Detainee Support Group had organised the ‘Release Carnival’ which called for an end to the practice of holding families and children in immigration detention centres.

The Children’s Commissioner for England, Sir Al Aynsley-Green had stated “Detention is harmful to children and therefore never likely to be in their best interests” and he argued “that detention of children for immigration control should cease“.

Although the UK Border’s Agency claimed “treating children with care and compassion is a priority for the UK Border Agency. Whenever we take decisions involving children their welfare comes first” the reality was very different, as you can read in many publications including the highly detailed report ‘State Sponsored Cruelty‘.

Detention centres are run by private contractors such as Serco and G4 whose main concern is profit, with little or no proper monitoring. Official inspections as well as many media investigations have made clear the real lack of proper care and maltreatment of detainees.

More at Release Carnival – End Child Detention.

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Kings Cross, Israel and Anti-Zionists – 2002

Kings Cross, Israel and Anti-Zionists: Like the rest of the country I was appalled by the stabbing in Golders Green a week ago, clearly by a very disturbed individual, who had earlier in the day carried out another attempted murder in Great Dover Street in Southwark. But I was also shocked at the reactions of some politicians; clearly Wes Streeting’s interview that day on Radio 4 can only be described as ‘hate speech‘.

At least in part the increase in tension has been caused by political tirades against supporters of the Palestinian cause and the many peaceful protests they have carried out, with the repeated condemnation of them as ‘hate marches’ for calling for a just peace in Palestine.

Something politicians and the media should reflect on is that all of these marches have been attended by large number of Jewish protesters, present in a much greater proportion than their overall presence in the country.

Some of them have marched in a Jewish bloc to make their presence obvious on the marches – though the media generally and the BBC in particular have apparently decided to fail to notice this. But many others are there with other groups or as individuals – always an important part of the British left. And of course there always is a small group of highly visible ultra-orthodox anti-Zionists.

We need to defend free speech and the right to protest – including those by those whose views we find abhorrent, although there are limits which most of us support against clear incitement to violence and illegal acts. But our government seems bent on moving the goalposts on these limits – for example in its proscription of Palestine Action.

Back on the Early May Bank Holiday Monday in 2002 I came to London to cover a large pro-Israel rally, taking the opportunity also for a short walk before the protest, as well as covering an anti-Zionist counter-demonstration. I was working mainly with film cameras – black and white and colour – and there are still quite a few pictures I have yet to digitise.

I hadn’t by May 2002 made the plunge to buy a professional digital camera. The colour pictures here were taken on a small consumer digital camera, a 2.2Mp Fuji MX-2700. The quality wasn’t bad, certainly fine for web images, and I had some pictures to post immediately. I think I also took some pictures on colour negative film that I’ve yet to digitise 24 years later.

“6 May was Bank Holiday Monday and I started with a walk round Kings Cross to see how the redevelopment there is going. The site which used to have the famous gas holders was just an empty hole in the ground.

“Then to Trafalgar Square for a large pro-israel rally on . It was quite crowded and I was pleased to see evidence that some of those attending were trying to take a balanced view.

“There were a few arguments and scuffles, but the largest surprise for me was the almost total lack of black coated Orthodox Jews in the crowds.

“Then I went to photograph the counter demonstration at the south-west corner of the square, only to find a group of Orthodox Jews arm in arm with the Palestinians and others demonstrating against Zionism.”

More pictures from both protests on My London Diary for May 2002.

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Margaretta D’Arcy, Education & African Refugees – 2014

Margaretta D’Arcy, Education & African Refugees: On Wednesday 22nd January I photographed a protest at the Irish Embassy demanding the release of anti-war activist Margaretta D’Arcy before going to a peaceful march by London Universitry students for democratic, public education free from exploitation and police violence. Finally I went to a protest close to the Israeli Embassy in Kensington in solidarity with African asylum seekers in Israel who are protesting their against arbitrary arrests, imprisonment and inhumane treatment.

Release Margaretta D’Arcy Now!

Irish Embassy

Margaretta D'Arcy, Education & African Refugees - 2014 — *Selma James calls for the release of Margaretta D’Arcy*

Margaretta D’Arcy (1934 – 2025) was an prominent Irish actress, writer, playwright and anti-war activist and a veteran of the Women’s Peace Camp at the US airbase on Greenham Common, where she had been a powerful member of the group at the ‘Yellow Gate’; protests by the Peace Camp eventually led to a legal challenge and the closure of the US Base with its cruise missiles.

Earlier in 1961 D’Arcy had joined the anti-nuclear Committee of 100 and in 1981 had been imprisoned for the first time after defacing a display at the Ulster Museum. Active in many campaigns in Ireland including the Shell to Sea campaign against the Corrib gas project and the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, she was arrested in October 2012 for lying down on the runway at Shannon in a peaceful direct action by members of Galway Alliance Against War against the use since 2001 of Shannon by Galway Alliance Against War in violation of Irish neutrality.

D’Arcy received a suspended sentence but after she had been arrested again on the runway at Shannon in September 2013 and she refused to sign a bond to keep out of restricted areas at Shannon the suspended 12-week sentence was reactivated. After serving nine and a half weeks of this she was released from Dublin prison in March 2014. She continued her activism until a few days before her death in 2025.

The protest at the Irish Embassy in London took place a week after D’Arcy was arrested to serve her suspended sentence, and around 50 people had come with banners and posters for a protest outside the Irish Embassy in London and to deliver a petition calling for her immediate release.

On My London Diary I list some of the many groups who supported the protest and most of those who spoke.

Release Margaretta D’Arcy Now!

Students March to Protect Education

London University & Holborn

The protest by London University students took place following a number of incidents in London and elsewhere the previous term when university management had called police onto the campus or gone to the courts to prevent or oppose student protests or to harass students. This had led in December 2013 to a Cops Off Campus National Student Protest.

*A student speaks about police violence, and in particular violence directed at the black community including the killing of Mark Duggan*

The protest began outside the University of London Union which the university is closing down with a speech by ULU President Michael Chessum and also by representatives of the lecturers who were taking action that week and the cleaners, maintenance and security staff who were about to hold a 3-day strike in their ‘3 Cosas’ campaign for sick pay, holidays and pensions, as well as for recognition for their union, the ndependent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB). Another student spoke about police violence, in particular against the black community.

*A few from the black bloc enter Woburn House, home to theUniversity & Colleges Employers Association but it was only a token gesture*

The marchers then went on a tour of key university sites including Senate House and the University & Colleges Employers Association in Tavistock Square where there was a brief token occupation of the lobby before going on to protest outside Holborn Police Station. Here as well as protesting against police violence they also protested the police execution of Mark Duggan.

They continued down Kingsway to Aldwych and the Strand, ending the march with a short rally outside the Royal Courts of Justice. The police had kept at a discreet distance while the students were in the university area but both the police station and the law courts were guarded by a line of police.

At the end of the rally Alfie Meadows suggested people might like to go on to a protest at the Royal Opera House, where the cleaners are also going on strike the next month for a living wage and proper conditions of work. About half the students then marched off with him, but I needed to leave for another event.

Students march to protect Education

Solidarity with African Refugees in Israel

Israeli Embassy, Kensington

Tens of thousands of African asylum seekers had been protesting in Israel since the start of the year holding mass rallies against their treatment by the Israeli authorities.

*Protesters stand on the pavement in front of the private road in which the Israeli embassy is located*

In December new laws in Israel had meant entering the country without proper papers could be held for up to a year without trial, and those already in the country could be held in indefinite detention. The detention facility in the Negev desert, like many other Israeli prisons, is run by the private security company G4S.

There were around 50,000 refugees currently living in Israel, most who had fled brutal conflicts in Sudan and Eritrea, with only a few hundred of their applications had been processed. Most keep alive by working illegally, exploited and in fear of arrest.

Recently a strike by those working as cleaners, cooks, dishwashers and other low paid workers had brought many restaurants, hotels and businesses to a standstill. They held a rally with over 20,000 in Rabin Square in the centre of Tel Aviv with banners saying ‘We are refugees, not criminals’ and demanding their rights.

The London protest was one of many around the world following a call by the African Asylum Seekers Community in Israel for international solidarity. It isn’t possible to protest outside the Israeli Embassy in London which is down a well-guarded private street, but the protesters gathered on the pavement in front of the entrance to this street, refusing police attempts to move them further away.

More pictures at Solidarity with African Refugees in Israel

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Gaza, Freedom, Syria & Gay Tourism – 2014

Gaza, Freedom, Syria & Gay Tourism: Saturday 18th January 2014 was the fifth anniversary of the end of the 2008/9 Israeli massacre in Gaza, Operation Cast Lead in which around 1,400 people, many unarmed civilians were killed. I also photographed a rather unorganised protest by Anonymous against privatisation, cuts, environmental and other issues, a peace vigil by Syria Peace & Justice and finally Queer Strike and ‘No Pinkwashing’ picketing a beach-themed LGBT tourism event promoting Israel as a tourist destination.

Gaza Massacre 5th Anniversary

Israeli Embassy, Kensington

Gaza, Freedom, Syria & Gay Tourism - 2014

Around 500 people had come to a protest on Kensington High Street opposite the private road leading to the Israeli embassy. The attacks on Gaza in 2008-9, Operation Cast Lead, had shocked the civilised world, though the 1400 largely civilian deaths were on a small scale compared to the current ongoing genocide when over 70,000 have died, with deaths continuing daily since the so-called ceasefire.

As well as continuing Israeli attacks children and old people are now dying in Gaza due to the freezing conditions and inadequate shelter because of the destruction of buildings and the continuing Israeli restrictions preventing much of the humanitarian aid and critical supplies needed to keep people safe, alive and well.

The hundreds who came to the protest in 2014 kept up a noisy barrage of chanting calling for justice for the victims of Israel’s massacre and against the ongoing siege on Gaza for around an hour before a series of speeches.

Among those at the protest were many Palestinians as well as Jews some of whom had been leading the call for a boycott of Israeli goods. It was supported by a wide range of groups and on My London Diary I gave the following list : “Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Palestinian Forum in Britain, British Muslim Initiative, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Stop the War Coalition, Jews for Justice for Palestinians, Friends of Al-Aqsa UK, Liberal Democrats Friends of Palestine, War on Want, Unite the Union, Public and Commercial Services Union, Amos Trust and ICAHD UK.”

More at Gaza Massacre 5th Anniversary.

Anonymous March For Freedom UK

Trafalgar Square to Parliament Square

This protest had been called by Anonymous supporters following their large protest on Novemeber 5th, but fewer than a couple of hundred had arrived. Some had instead gone to the Gaza protest, and like me will have arrived rather late for this event.

They were in one corner of Trafalgar Square and people took turns to speak at an open microphone. As well as those in ‘Anonymous’ masks I recognised many who had taken part in Occupy London.

Eventually someone suggested that they march to Parliament. For once the police facilitated this, suggesting they could walk along the southbound carriageway of Whitehall, and shepherding them across the traffic lights to do so. It “had been organised as a peaceful and family-friendly event, and this was the case, as they marched past Downing St with nothing more than a few shouts and rude gestures and on to Parliament Square.”

When they arrived outside Parliament “it became obvious that this was a protest without leaders, and with no real idea where they were going or what to do.” People – including some police made a number of suggestions but eventually they decided to stop in Parliament Square for a rally.

They were still on the roadway, but after a couple of minutes agreed to police suggestions that they move onto the pavement so that traffic could flow again.

There were then a few speeches followed by some discussion about what they should do next.

One suggestion was that they should stay where they were and party in Parliament Square and it seemed likely that they would do so.

I decided it was time to leave and walked back up Whitehall past a small crowd of police vans. The police were obviously taking no chances and I think probably outnumbered the protesters, although most simply sat in their vans.

Anonymous March For Freedom UK

Peace vigil for Syria

Trafalgar Square

Back in Trafalgar Square I found a small group from Syria Peace & Justice holding a peace vigil “calling for immediate humanitarian ceasefires and the release of all political prisoners and an inclusive Syrian-led peace process.”

The Geneva 2 peace talks were to start the following week and they said that the agenda was being “being set by major foreign powers like the US and Russia” and that only the Syrian government and a Turkey based Syrian group had been invited.

They demanded “an inclusive Syrian-led peace process that includes strong representation from Syrian women, Syrian civil society organisations and various moderate Syrian opposition groups.”

Peace vigil for Syria

Israeli Gay Tourism Pinkwashing

Villiers Street

Queer Strike, Women of Colour, the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, and people from the ‘No Pinkwashing’ campaign had come to picket an event promoting Israel as a tourist destination for LGBT people.

*A security man objects as the protesters block the arcade entrance briefly for photographs*

The Gay Star Beach Party LGBT tourism event claimed Tel Aviv to be “one of the best gay cities in the world” and together with the Israeli Tourism Board they were trying to persuade gay people to holiday there.

The protesters say that this is “pinkwashing”, an attempt to divert attention from human rights crimes against Palestinians, using opposition to homophobia to legitimise Israel and undermine support for Palestine. They called on those going to the event to boycott it and not go to Israel until it ends human rights abuses, recognises the Palestinians’ right to self-determination and complies with international law.

They handed out a card with five reasons for LGBT tourists to boycott Israel:

 - the military occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza since 1967, with over 100 illegal Israeli settlements on land stolen from Palestinians;
  - the violence against Palestinian children, hundreds of whom are arrested each year and held in military detention without access to lawyers, mainly for alleged stone-throwing;
  - the inhuman siege of Gaza, blocking import of food, fuel and medical supplies and preventing the repair of many homes destroyed in the 2008-9 invasion by Israel;
  - the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their homes and land which began in 19438 and still continues, creating millions of refugees;
 the apartheid system of roads reserved for Jewish Israelis, the apartheid wall and the many check points involving long waits and searches for Palestinians.

The protesters also highlighted Israel’s racist treatment of African people, There had been protests the previous week in Tel Aviv by 30,000 African asylum seekers and refugees demanding that all African refugees imprisoned in Israeli prisons and detention centres be freed and for recognition of their rights as asylum seekers and refugees.

Israeli Gay Tourism Pinkwashing

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Another Don’t Bomb Syria Protest – 2015

Another Don’t Bomb Syria Protest: On the evening of Tuesday 1st December 2015 a protest by Stop The War again called on MPs not to back David Cameron’s motion to bomb Syria.

There was a large crowd in Parliament Square who listened to speeches by a wide range from the British left including Andrew Murray, Lindsay German, Salma Yaqoob of Stop the War, Kate Hudson of CND, SNP MPs Philippa Whitford and Tommy Sheppard, Former Green Party leader Caroline Lucas, Labour’s Richard Burgon and Imran Hussain, Weyman Bennett of Unite Against Fascism, Momentum organiser Adam Klug, George Galloway.

I photographed all of these speakers and you can see several pictures of most of them on My London Diary.

But as in the previous Stop The War protest, there were “no speeches by Syrians or Kurds, and no real attempt to take their views into account. And while the speakers all condemned the UK plans to bomb in Syria, there was no condemnation of the Russian bombing of the Syrian opposition, perhaps a greater threat to the Syrian people than Daesh, and certainly than the handful of UK planes.“

Present in the crowd were a number of supporters of President Assad, with flags of his regime, though most of those present were opposed to the Assad regime and Daesh as well as to bombing by the UK.

As I commented, “It’s rather unfortunate that the only organisation promoting large-scale protests against the bombing is Stop the War rather than one clearly supporting the aspirations of the Syrian people for freedom.”

Hours after this protest, Stop the War issued an article ‘For the avoidance of doubt‘ by John Rees which began by stating “The STWC has never supported the Assad regime.” I commented: “Well, it’s good to make that clear, because there have been many protests by Stop the War which Assad supporters have attended and appeared to be welcome, and by refusing to let Syrians opposed to the regime speak at this and other protests STW have certainly given that impression.”

It had become clear by 2015 “that while our government has fulminated against ISIS/Daesh it has also been complicit in support for them through its support of Saudi Arabia which provides support for their Wahabi ideology and more materially, for Turkey which is deeply involved in their oil exports, refining much of their output as well as providing pipelines and ports, and Israel which is the major customer for the smuggled oil.”

The bombing which later took place was largely ineffectual, hypocritical and immoral. While inflicting “little damage on Assad’s military inflicting real damage on the economic and military capability of Daesh” it was as predicted “catastrophic in effect on the civilians” that were bombed either deliberately or by accident.

After the speeches, the protesters marched first to the Tory HQ and then to Labour to deliver letters before returning to Parliament Square where the official protest ended.

*A police officer tells Jasmin Stone that megaphones are not allowed to be used in Parliament Square*

Many stayed on in the square and there were minor incidents with police making a few who had climbed onto the plinth of Churchill’s statue come down and stopping some from using a megaphone. But after a few minutes I decided it was time to go home.

More about the protest and many more pictures at Don’t Bomb Syria.

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Al-Quds Day 2007

Al-Quds Day 2007: On October 7th, the second anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel I find myself thinking about the long fight by Palestinians since so many were displaced and dispossessed in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war and the many thousands who since then have been killed by Israeli attacks.

And of course for those Israelis who have been killed – though in much smaller numbers – by suicide bombers, by rockets and during the October 2023 incursion or among the hostages, and including those Israelis killed by Israeli forces.

What we have seen since however is not a war, not self-defence but genocide, the bombing and deliberate starvation of the entire population of Gaza. It comes on top of years of siege with restrictions on essential supplies and of the bulldozing of people’s homes as well as the establishment of more and more illegal settlements across occupied Palestine.

And our country remains complicit, still supplying arms to enable the genocide despite government statements to the contrary, still labelling protests calling for peace as ‘hate marches‘ and still making false allegations about antisemitism while failing to deal with the real anti-Semites who plan and carry out attacks such at that we all condemn in Manchester.

Thinking about what to post here for today, I came across the Al Quds Day march which took place in London on Sunday October 7, 2007. It was I think only the second time I’d photographed the annual event and I didn’t write a great deal about it then.

I did mention that this event was begun in 1979 when Ayatollah Khomeni declared the last Friday in Ramadan as Al Quds Day, (al-Quds being the Arabic name of Jerusalem), an annual anti-Zionist day of protest. In the UK the march has generally taken place on the following Sunday and is a demonstration in solidarity with the Palestinian people, largely by Muslims though also by anti-Zionist Jews and some of the UK left (many of whom are also Jewish.)

In 2007 a mixture of groups came to demonstrate against the march, largely because of its links with Iran both from its founding and also as it was organised by the Iranian Human Rights Commision (Inminds) which is alleged to receive funding from the Iranian government. Unlike later years I saw no counter-protests by Zionist groups or individuals.

Back then many of the march carried flags of the Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group Hezbollah which emerged there after the Israeli invasion in 1982 and has strong ties with Iran. As well as running schools and hospitals and other social services it has also taken part militarily in opposing the various attacks by Israel on Lebanon.

Many Hezbollah leaders have been assassinated by Israel, some in what many describe as terrorist attacks. Until 2019 when its political wing was also proscribed the showing of the Hezbollah flag remained legal though contested in the UK.

As in earlier years the march ended with a rally in Trafalgar Square, though after 2008 the GLA refused to allow them to use the square, citing insurance problems.

Many more photographs of both the marchers and the rally and those who came to protest against the march on My London Diary at Al Qud’s Day March And Protest

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Defend Our Juries Protest Palestine Action Ban – 6th Sept 2025

Defend Our Juries Protest Palestine Action Ban: Last Saturday, 6th September, 2025 around a thousand people came to sit calmly and peacefully in Parliament Square holding signs with the message ‘I OPPOSE GENOCIDE – I SUPPORT PALESTINE ACTION’.

The protest was against the ban on Palestine Action imposed in July by then Home Secretary Yvette Cooper who designated the direct action group as a ‘terrorist organisation’ following extensive and dishonest lobbying from arms manufacturers and the Israeli government. Yvette Cooper is said to have received £215,000 from the Israel lobby last year.

The protest was the second mass protest in Parliament Square organised by Defend Our Jories, (DOJ) an organisation set up to defend the jury system against attempts by the government to “violate the most basic principles of natural justice and the right to a fair trial.“

The jury system is designed to “put the moral intuitions of ordinary people at the heart of the criminal justice system“. As DOJ says, “when juries have heard evidence of why people have taken direct action to advance climate or racial justice, or to stop genocide in Gaza, they have repeatedly reached not guilty verdicts.”

“These verdicts are deeply embarrassing to the government and the arms and oil industries, contradicting the narrative that the public supports the ‘crackdown on protest’. Lobbyists for the arms and oil industries, such as Policy Exchange, embedded within government, have been working to put a stop to them.”

As they say “extraordinary measures have been taken that violate the most basic principles of natural justice and the right to a fair trial“, with judges telling juries that they cannot acquit a defendant as a matter of conscience, and in at least one case threating the jury with criminal proceedings if they did so.

Defendants have been banned from mentioning climate change in court and two Insulate Britain members were jailed for 7 weeks for doing so. Giovanna Lewis, a town councillor from Dorset told judge Silas Reid why she had defied his ruling, “I continue to be astonished that today in a British court of law, a judge can or would even want to ban and criminalise the mention of the words ‘fuel poverty’ and ‘climate crisis’. I wanted to bring public attention to the scandal of thousands of deaths in the UK due to fuel poverty and thousands of deaths around the world due to climate change. There is no choice but to give voice to the truth.”

The UN have declared that this violates international law, and carried out a mass protest after Trudy Warner was prosecuted for holding a sign “Jurors you have an absolute right to acquit a defendant according to your conscience” outside the trial of Insulate Britain activists, re-stating the principle of ‘jury equity’. This had been enshrined in a English law since 1670 as a memorial at the Old Bailey states. Eventually the High Court rejected the government’s application to send her to prison.

The protests by DOJ against the ban on Palestine Action in August and last Saturday were both entirely peaceful. Those taking part had come to be arrested and sat waiting for the police to do so. But a crowd of supporters in the square were appalled at the way in which the police did so, with snatch squads going into the protest and picking on individuals seemingly at random.

The squads were soon surrounded by crowds, many intent on recording the arrests on cameras and mobile phones, many shouting ‘Shame on You‘ at the police for their actions. While other police simply stood around the perimeter of the square and watched in silence, some clearly uneasy about what was happening, those making the arrests sometimes reacted violently to the crowds around them. I saw one officer lashing out with his baton, though his colleagues soon stopped him.

London, UK. 6 Sep2025. A man is arrested.

It was difficult to understand the police tactics. Rather than go about making arrests in an organised and systematic manner by using the very large forces present to surround an area of the protest and carry out the arrests within that cordon, they appeared to have decided to do their job in the most provocative manner possible. Perhaps it was to put on a display for their political masters – and our now Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood was impressed as she watched the screens in the police control room.

I think they had decided to arrest first some particular individuals in the crowd – perhaps those who were in breach of bail conditions from the previous month’s protest. But nobody present was trying to evade arrest – the 1500 (according to DOJ) had all come to be arrested, although I think almost half got fed up with waiting and left. Others were still being arrested seven hours after the protest began.

*London, UK. 6 Sep 2025. Neil Goodwin as Charlie X was later arrested*

I left after watching for almost an hour to photograph the Palestine march, with around 200,000 people slowly marching towards the rally in Whitehall. Later that afternoon I uploaded around thirty images of this protest to Alamy and these together with a few more to a Facebook album.

One of the founders of Palestine Action has been granted an appeal against the ban – although the government is appealing against her right to appeal – almost certainly because they fear it will succeed. I hope for the future of our legal system and country it does.

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Disarm DSEI – City of London 2009

Disarm DSEI – City of London: on Tuesday 8th September 2009, the day that year’s DSEI Arms Fair opened at the Excel centre in East London, campaigners came to protest outside the city offices of companies heavily involved in the arms trade.

There were also protests outside the Excel Centre, but the protest in the City would be seen by many more people and was more likely to receive coverage in the media. Later in the day protesters from CAAT (Campaign Against the Arms Trade) also came into central London for a protest outside the government offices of UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) in Westminster. Their Defence and Security Organisation provides financial, political and logistical support for the arms fair, channelling our taxes to help private companies to profit from making the arms used to kill people.

The protest in the City of London was by Disarm DSEI, who had provided an excellently produced and well-researched ‘infopack’, 4 A4 pages with a map listing over 25 companies – including arms traders, law firms, institutional investors and banks with heavy involvement in the arms trade and which I quoted from extensively in my post on My London Diary. But Disarm DSEI stressed that the protest had no organisers but that those present would together decide on what it would do.

There were also people who had come prepared to speak at the stops the protest made about the activities of the companies, and after meeting outside the RBS in Aldgate (“the world’s leading creditor to the arms industry … over £44.6 billion in the last ten years including loans to producers of cluster bombs and depleted uranium munitions” we went on to Barclays “the largest investor in the global arms trade with £7.3 billion in shares.”

From there the protest moved on to Schroders and Lloyds TSB, the “principal banker to BAE Systems and QinetiQ” and who have made loans “to produces of of cluster bombs and depleted uranium munitions.”

When we reached the BT offices, some protesters made a rush for the door and managed to push their way into the atrium, with others following them for a short protest inside – with staff and visitors to the building gathering on the balconies to watch.

Apart from a little possible damage to the door and from jumping over the security gates I saw little if any deliberate vandalism and no attempt to attack any of the people inside. “BT hold £59 million worth of shares in the international arms trade.” And after making their point, the protesters simply walked out.

Things got a little rougher at AXA Investments (“£2,259 million worth of shares in the UK arms trade and &6,207 million investment in the international arms industry”) where some smashed the glass with a reinforced banner, but the protest then moved away to the Stock Exchange (“where all the dirty dealing gets done“) – where after a short protest the banners were put away and the protest ended.

Police had not tried to stop the march and seemed to just stand back and watch, though there was a FIT team taking photographs. The ‘infopack’ had advised protesters to ‘mask up’ and many did as you can see in my photographs.

From there I took the tube to Westminster, where CAAT had brought a white elephant with doves on it along with a petition calling for an end to the support of the arms trade by the UKTI Defence and Security Organisation. Another banner had the message “Civil Servant … Or Arms Dealer” and accused the government of handing out arms export licences to repressive regimes – some of whom also sell arms as well as buy them at DSEI.

This year, 2025, the government made a highly publicised statement about not inviting the Israeli government delegation to the DSEI arms fair – but failed to mention that Israeli arms manufacturers will still be selling their weapons there, selling them as being “battle-tested” after their use in the long series of attacks on Gaza, killing Palestinians in the ongoing genocide.

Among those at protest outside the UKTI was peace activist Dan Viesnik on his 100 hour Famine for Victims of the Arms Trade at various government offices and other locations around the city.

More about these protests and many more pictures on My London Diary at Disarm DSEi and CAAT: Close UKTI DSO.

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Al Quds & Roma Holocaust Memorial Day – 2013

Al Quds & Roma Holocaust Memorial Day: On Friday 2nd August 2013 I photographed the annual al-Quds Day march in London, leaving before it reached a rally at the US Embassy to attend a ceremony at the Holocaust Memorial in Hyde Park for Roma Holocaust Memorial Day.

Al Quds Day March – Portland Place to US Embassy

Al Quds & Roma Holocaust Memorial Day - 2013

Thousands marched peacefully for outside Broadcasting House to the US Embassy calling for the liberation of Palestine, with a few carrying banners and chanting in support of Hezbollah.

The starting point was chosen because of the continuing pro-Israel bias of the BBC and their failure to adequately cover the Israeli apartheid, the continuing occupation of Palestine and the oppression of the Palestinian people, as well as the siege of Gaza, which already 12 years ago was denying sufficient essential medical supplies and restricting food and other materials.

The celebration of Al Quds day on the last Friday of Ramadan was introduced by Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran in 1979 and its observance has spread, mainly in Arab and Muslim countries, and for many years there has been an annual march in London in support of Palestine as a show of solidarity with the people of Palestine and oppressed people everywhere.

Often the march has been met with opposition from various Zionist and Iranian freedom, communist and royalist movements as well as fringe UK right wing groups including the EDL and March for England, but there was no sign of protests against it this year, though I imagine there will have been a counter-protest to the rally at the US Embassy, but I had to leave for another event before the march reached this.

There were also Jews taking part in the march calling for freedom for Palestine, both from the obvious and small group of ultra-orthodox Neturei Karta Jews and others from the British left.

The march, attended by many Muslim families from mosques across England, was heavily policed but was as always an entirely peaceful and closely stewarded event that requires no policing other than traffic control unless others come to try and disrupt it.

Many more pictures at Al Quds Day March.

Roma Genocide Commemorated – Hyde Park

*Grattan Puxon speaking in front of the Holocaust Memorial which was draped with a Roma flag*

A ceremony at the Holocaust Memorial in Hyde Park on Roma Holocaust Memorial Day remembered the mass killing of 3,000 Romas at Auschwitz on 2nd August 1944 and protested against the rise of neo-Nazi attacks against the Romas in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

*A few of the 3000 who died on the night of the ‘Porajmos’ on 2nd August 1944*

Around a quarter of a million Sinti and Roma were killed by the Nazis in Germany, and many others in Romania and Croatia. A Jewish socialist, who spoke at the event regretted the fact that the memorial only refers to the Jewish victims of the holocaust, which also included many others.

After a short introduction there was a two minute silence followed by speeches in Czech and in English including by Professor Rainer Schulze who spoke in some detail about the way Sinti and Roma were treated by the Nazis and of the fight they put up even as they were being forced into the gas chambers.

As well as speakers from various Roma and Sinti communities others included a Japanese peace activist who brought a statement of support from Hiroshima. Some of those present had earlier protested against the rise of Neo-Nazi attacks against the Roma in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and were going on to protest at the French Embassy against deportation of Roma from France.

Recent years have seen increasing discrimination against Roma across Europe and here in the UK, including harassment of those sleeping rough on the streets of London.

More pictures at Roma Genocide Commemorated.

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Stop Starving Palestine Pan Protest

Whitehall, London. 25th July 2025

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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