This the third page of a selection of my work in 2024. Not my “best pictures” but some of my better images, all I think pictures that worked well and told the story I was trying to tell. Captions are those I wrote in haste on the day they were taken.
London, UK. 25 May.A large crowd marched slowly from the Greenwich Islamic Centre to a rally in central Woolwich in one of many local protests across the country calling for an end to the genocide in Gaza and UK arms sales to Israel and for Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions – BDS against Israeli apartheid. They demanded a huge increase in humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza to avoid famine, and called for an end to Israeli apartheid, and freedom and justice for Palestine.London, UK. 1 June 2024. Hundreds meet outside Redbridge Town Hall for a rally before marching to Barking Town Hall, demanding an immediate end to the genocide in Gaza and arms sales to Israel and for international sanctions against Israel and freedom for Palestine. Among speakers were Leanne Mohamad, standing against Wes Streeting in Ilford North and Fiona Lally who ‘destroyed’ Suella Braverman in a TV interview. London, UK. 8 June 2024. Jewish Bloc anti-Zionist Jews. 150,000 march through London to a rally in Parliament Square demanding an end to the genocide in Gaza and for UK political parties to pledge to end to arms sales to Israel. They call for the opening of crossings for urgent humanitarian aid to Gaza, and for the release of hostages and Palestinian prisoners in Israel and for negotiations to bring freedom to Palestine and peace to the area.London, UK. 15 June 2024. People met in Gillett Square, Dalston in heavy rain for speeches before marching to the Divest Camp outside Hackney Town Hall. They called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and international action to overcome problems in getting urgently needed humanitarian aid to the people and for divestment by corporations and financial institutions around the world. They demand Hackney end its twinning with Haifa which they say Israel uses for propaganda reasons. London, UK. 6 July 2024. A health worker holds a white smoke flare. Many thousands marched through London to call on the Labour Government to end its support for Israel’s continuing genocide in Gaza and the UK arms sales which support it and to call for an immediate ceasefire and a huge increase in humanitarian aid. They called for a political solution based on international law to with freedom for Palestine. A few counter protesters on Waterloo Bridge were met with angry shouts and derisive gestures. London, UK. 18 July 2024. John McDonnell was among those at the rally Disability rights campaigners came to Parliament Square for ‘Disabled People Demand’, presenting the new Labour government solutions to the many crises faced by disabled people across the UK caused by cuts in resources and services under previous administrations and celebrating the the music, art and poetry of disabled people. London, UK. 20 July 2024. Local protests around the country including this march from Edmonton Green to Silver Street call for the UK to halt arms supplies to Israel which are being used in the genocidal assault on Palestinians which have so far killed over 39,000 people. Yesterday the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel’s presence in the Palestinian occupied territories is “unlawful” and called on it to end as rapidly as possible. London, UK. 27 July 2024. People met at the Cuban Embassy before marching to Oxford Street to protest against collaboration by British banks with the attacks on the Palestinian and Cuban peoples. UK banks such as the HSBC have implemented the US blockade of Cuba for 62 years since the revolution and back the occupation of Palestine by investing in the arms trade and Israeli business deals with the UK. London, UK. 27 July 2024. Thousands met outside the BBC at Langham Place to march to Hyde Park Corner in the sixth Trans Pride March, taking place after a year of increasing anti-trans media campaigns, hate attacks and the Cass report which raised questions about the future of trans healthcare. They called for trans rights and proper healthcare including ending the ban on puberty blockers. London, UK, 3 Aug 2024. A Trans Strike Back rally and march in Parliament Square called for an end to the ban on prescribing puberty blockers to trans kids. Proven safe for kids over many years the ban only applies to trans kids and appears to be the result of an ill-informed transphobic campaign and it will endanger the lives of trans kids. They also call for the rejection of the Cass Report and demand a trans led structure of their healthcare.London, UK, 3 Aug 2024. A rally in Parliament Square by Extinction Rebellion, Defend Our Juries, Just Stop Oil and Fossil Free London called for an end to the jailing of non-violent protesters and an end to the gagging by judges of those who try to argue that the climate crisis is a “lawful excuse” in our courts. Jurors should hear the whole truth of the cases. Around 200 people have been jailed for peaceful protests since 2019 and widely criticised draconian sentences were given to the ‘Whole Truth Five’.London, UK. 3 Aug 2024. Thousands march through London to Downing St calling on Starmer to end arms sales to Israel and for a ceasefire to end the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Schools, hospitals and homes are continually being bombed and people are dying from starvation and a lack of clean water. A Lancet study suggests that by now 180,000 Palestinians may have died in Gaza, far more than the official figures. London, UK. 3 Aug 2024. Thousands march through London to Downing St calling on Starmer to end arms sales to Israel and for a ceasefire to end the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Schools, hospitals and homes are continually being bombed and people are dying from starvation and a lack of clean water. A Lancet study suggests that by now 180,000 Palestinians may have died in Gaza, far more than the official figures. London, UK. 10 Aug 2024. Several thousand crowded the area opposite the Reform Party address in Westminster for a lively rally against the extreme right following the thuggery encouraged and promoted by Nigel Farage and Tommy Robinson. Speakers included Weyman Bennett and Louise Raw. They called on everyone to take a stand against racism in workplaces and elsewhere and for politicians to end scapegoating immigrants and their racist anti-migrant speeches and policies which have emboldened the extreme right.
Part 4 follows tomorrow. You can see many more pictures from these and other events in my albums on Facebook.
What you see here is just the second page of a selection of my work in 2024. Not particularly my “best pictures” but all I think pictures that worked well and told the story I was trying to tell. Despite getting out rather less often than in some previous years, particularly pre-Covid, I think it has been quite a good year for my photography even though I’m getting older, lacking stamina and generally taking things much easier.
Most of my pictures have been from protests over the genocide being carried out by Israel in Gaza but other campaigns have continued, and I’ve been able to photograph some of their action. You can see more pictures from all the events I’ve photographed in around 70 albums from 2024 on Facebook – together with a few from my summer holiday in Wales. They are here in roughly the order they were taken – those from January and February are in the previous post.
London, UK. 9 Mar 2024. A huge peaceful march to the US Embassy demands a full ceasefire in Gaza and an end to Israeli genocide. The IDF has now killed over 30,000 people, mainly women and children, continue to ignore the ICJ ruling to avoid genocide and preparing a brutal assault on Rafah. Israel continues to stop the humanitarian aid and medical supplies needed to avoid mass deaths from disease and starvation and spread lies about UNRWA whose funding is essential. Protesters demand a political solution.London, UK. 16 March 2024. Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell among those holding the main banner.. People march from the UN Anti-Racism Day rally at the Home Office to Downing St against the increasing far-right anti-immigrant, antisemitic, racist and xenophobic rhetoric and polices of the government. Jeremy Corbyn joined the march at Parliament Square as the march turned along the Embankment to march to the north end of Whitehall and down it to the House Against Hate rally at Downing St.London, UK. 16 March 2024. People danced to music from a lorry in the middle of Whitehall opposite Downing St where there were also speeches against the increasing tide of hate speech being stirred up by leading members of the Tory party including Sunak, Gove, Braverman and others. Their talk of “mob rule”, “hate speech” and “extremists” is attacking our right to protest and free speech and moving the country towards an extremist right-wing police state. London, UK. 16 March 2024. Syrians protest at Downing St on the 13th Anniversary of the Syrian Revolution. More than half of Syria’s population have been displaced with millions fleeing the country as the Asdsad regime has committed unspeakable atrocities against the people of Syria, who rose up peacefully for democracy, reforms, and accountability. They called on everyone to remember those many Syrians who have been killed and to continue to support the demands for democracy, reforms and accountability. London, UK. 13 April 2024. A man with a Netanyahu mask and red hands holds a bloody doll. Thousands march through London to a rally in Parliament Square in a day of action across the country to demand an immediate ceasefire, that Britain stops selling arms to Israel and calling for a free Palestine. Israel is using British weapons, surveillance technology and military equipment in the attacks which have killed over 32,000 in Gaza since October 7th. A small Zionist counter-protest shouted at them at Aldwych.London, UK. 20 April 2024. Witnesses call for the man to be released as they say the police officer was accidentally hit.A funeral procession in Ilford carries small coffins mourning the death of over 34,000 Palestinians, more than 13,000 children, with over 8,000 missing probably buried under rubble in Gaza. It ended with a rally outside Barclays Bank which campaigners say funds Israel’s genocidal assault on Palestinians. London, UK. 20 April 2024. Piers Corbyn hands out leaflets for his London Mayoral campaign. People march to a rally in the centre of Lewisham to demand an immediate ceasefire and an end to UK arms sales to Israel. This was one of many local actions around the country. London, UK. 27 April 2024. Latin Americans stand with Palestine. Many thousands march peacefully through London from Parliament Square to Hyde Park in another huge protest demanding an immediate permanent ceasefire and an end to British arms sales to Israel, calling for a free Palestine. Many carried posters identifying themselves as Jewish. Israel is using British weapons, surveillance technology and military equipment in the attacks which have devastated Gaza and killed over 34,000, including more than 14,500 children.London, UK. 27 April 2024. Many thousands march peacefully through London from Parliament Square to Hyde Park in another huge protest demanding an immediate permanent ceasefire and an end to British arms sales to Israel, calling for a free Palestine. Many carried posters identifying themselves as Jewish. Israel is using British weapons, surveillance technology and military equipment in the attacks which have devastated Gaza and killed over 34,000, including more than 14,500 children since October 7th. London, UK. 1 May 2024. Several thousands met at Clerkenwell Green on May Day for the International Workers Day March to Trafalgar Square. Those taking part included many from London’s various ethnic communities – Turkish, Kurdish, Latin American, Phillipine, West Indian, Indian, Sri Lankan, Tamil, Iraqi, Iranian and more as well as many from UK trade unions, communist and anarchist groups. Many showed their support for Palestine and other international issues. London, UK. 11 May 2024. London CND supporters protest at the US Embassy in Nine Elms as part of a national day of action against US nuclear weapons coming to Britain which would make us a target for nuclear attacks. Many sat well back under trees in the shade to listen to speakers and singers.London, UK. 18 May 2024. People pose with giant keys. Many thousands march through London on the 76th anniversary of the ethnic cleansing of 750,000 Palestinians by Israel. Marchers demanded an end to the current genocide, an end to arms sales to Israel and the apartheid regime and for the opening of crossings for urgent humanitarian aid to Gaza. Many carried large keys symbolising the right for Palestinians to return to their homes.London, UK. 25 May. Poppies labelled with the names of children killed. People meet in Peckham to march to a rally in Camberwell as part of a weekend of local protests across the country calling for an end to the genocide in Gaza and UK arms sales to Israel which make our government complicit in Israel’s war crimes. They demand a huge increase in humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza to avoid famine, and call for an end to Israeli apartheid, and freedom and justice for Palestine.
Part 3 follows tomorrow. You can see many more pictures from these and other events in my albums on Facebook.
Starving Palestine and a Mad Emitters Tea Party: London Saturday 20th May 2006
Stop Starving Palestine! – March for Palestine
After Hamas, a Sunni-Islamic militant nationalist political movement won a majority of seats in the 2006 Palestinian Legislative Council elections, Israel had imposed an economic blockade and both the US and EU withdrew their support.
This led to more than two-thirds of the people in the country being below the poverty line, lacking basic necessities such as sugar, oil, milk, and even bread is rationed. A ban on the import of vital medicines threatened many lives.
Around 20,000 people came to the Stop Starving Palestine! march organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and supported by many other organisations including peace groups, the Muslim Association Of Britain and leading trade unions.
Among the speakers were Green Party MEP Caroline Lucas, Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn, Baroness Jenny Tonge of the Lib Dems and Manuel Hassassian, the Palestine Liberation Organisation representative to the UK (appointed by the Palestinian President as Ambassador but not recognised by the UK.)
As usual there were many Jewish protesters among the marchers, most noticeable of whom were Neturei Karta orthodox Jews who had walked from Stamford Hill on the Sabbath to attest to their support for Palestinians and their opposition to Zionism.
I left the event as the rally in Trafalgar Square began to go to Grosvenor Square.
Bush in Wonderland, a Mad Emitters Tea Party – US Embassy
Campaign Against Climate Change had organised “bush in wonderland, a mad emitters tea party” held outside the heavily barricaded front of the US embassy in Grosvenor Square. The party was a part of an ongoing series of protests including a weekly climate vigil outside the embassy taking place since the breakdown of The Hague Climate Talks in November 2000.
“There was a picnic table with sandwiches, cakes and tea, music from the eco warriors and guests with some appropriate lyrics, as well as samba from rhythms of resistance, and fancy dress. balloons, banners and a short speech by a White Rabbit called Phil reminded us of the need for protests like these. “
“The USA continues not only to pollute on a massive scale, but increasingly acts to sabotage international efforts to take any effective action on climate change.”
Protests such as this, publications by groups of leading scientists and COP talks after COP talks have done a little to move things on, but the climate situation has worsened and actions taken by governments so far are woefully inadequate.
The USA improved its rhetoric under Obama but didn’t do much and it went backwards under Trump. Biden has also failed to make the real changes needed – and like most politicians is still living in Wonderland rather than the real world.
Politicans are still pursuinging economic polices based on infinite growth under capitalism and we need to move to a new economics which recognises that we live on a planet with finite resources both physical and in the natural world and we need to move to living within sustainable limits.
Nakba, South Africa, Fair Votes & Iran: Events I covered in London on 15th May 2023 and one I just missed.
Nakba Protest For Free Palestine – Downing St
May 15 is Nakba Day, remembering the 1948 disaster when Palestinians were expelled from their land and calling for an end to Israeli occupation and breaches of international law.
Over 400 Palestinian villages were destroyed and the 1948 partition of Palestine to create the state of Israel created around 700,000 Palestinian refugees, many of whom or their descendants are still in refugee camps. Protests take place on or around May 15 every year around the world calling for justice for Palestine.
The biggest in London is on the nearest weekend to the 15th, and the 2023 London march organised by Palestine Solidarity Campaign together with Stop the War Coalition, Palestinian Forum in Britain, Friends of Al-Aqsa, Muslim Association of Britain and Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament was last Saturday, May 13th, marching from the BBC.
Organisations supporting this rally included Artists’ Union England, BFAWU, CWU, The MU, NEU, PCS, RMT, TSSA, UCU, UNISON and Unite the Union. In most recent years I’ve photographed these protests, but this year the rail strike meant I was unable to do so.
Back on 15th May 2010 the Nakba protest was a static one opposite Downing Street. Last Saturday the march to the rally began at the BBC, deliberately chosen to yet again expose the failure of our major broadcaster to report on protests in the UK, particularly those calling for freedom for Palestine.
It may not be written down anywhere in the BBC, but the broadcaster definitely has a policy of playing down or usually totally ignoring protests in the UK, at least unless it can condemn any acts of violence of criminal damage by protesters. Occasionally any involving major celebrities may also get a mention, though they may need to get arrested for the BBC to notice. You have more chance of your protest getting a mention if it occurs in another country, preferably one with a regime our government disapproves, than under their noses in London.
Other UK media tend to follow the example of the BBC and if you want to know about protests that are happening in the UK you need to follow foreign media such as Al Jazeera or RT, or read left wing publications in print or online. There you may even find out what the protests were about.
Among the protesters were many Jews opposed to the actions of the State of Israel who form a major part of most if not all left wing and anarchist groups. Most obvious were those from the ultra-orthodox ‘Neturei Karta’ who are totally opposed to Zionism and the idea of a Jewish political state. They say the Torah prohibits the use of human force to establish a Jewish state before the coming of the Messiah, and support the right of the Palestinians to their land, which should be returned to them. The say Jews should live in peace and harmony with their Muslim neighbours in Palestine as their ancestors did for many centuries.
South African Right March in London – Trafalgar Square
I arrived in Trafalgar Square too late to see a march by expatriate right-wingers, part of a campaign to persuade football supporters not to go to South Africa for the the World Cup. They say the country is too violent with around 18,000 murders a year.
Unfortunately that high rate is fairly typical among many countries in the global south and lower than in many of them. Perhaps the main difference between South Africa and the others is the large white population who also suffer from the violence and murders.
The march organisers had earlier regretted that police had prohibited any marchers carrying flags or banners of the extreme right Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) or other white nationalist groups. The extreme racist AWB protest at the ‘Boer Genocide’ and is committed to setting up an independent Volkstaat on parts of South Africa with extreme apartheid policies.
Although there were only a handful of people in red shirts who had taken part in the march I was able to photograph some of the crosses, posters and banners they had left behind in front of South Africa House before police removed them.
Purple Protest Demands Fair Votes – Old Palace Yard
More than a thousand people, mainly wearing purple, had come to Westminster to demand a fair voting system, feeling cheated by the recent election results which failed to produce a government reflecting how people voted.
The 2010 election had clearly failed to reflect the votes cast, particularly for the Lib-Dems who got almost a quarter of the votes but less than one tenth of the seats. Perhaps even more importantly it showed that over a third of the population had so little confidence in our political system that they didn’t bother to cast there vote.
These results had left to a movement springing up rapidly through the Internet, using Twitter, Facebook, You Tube and other social networking sites, and it also attracted the backing of existing electoral campaigning groups such as the Electoral Reform Society, Unlock Democracy (incorporating Charter 88), 38 Degrees and Power2010.
Most of us have experience of elections taking place using the single transferable vote system with give much greater fairness. The Lib-Dems had demanded a UK-wide referendum on the Parliamentary voting system for taking part in the coalition governement, but the proposals were dismissed as more an attempt to defuse the issue than to deal with it. The vague proposal was in any case decisively rejected, though only 42% of the electorate bothered to vote.
This year has seen another attack on the fairness of our elections with the introduction of the need for photo-ID to cast a vote. I don’t know how many were put off from trying to vote by this requirement, but apparently 1.2% of those who turned up to polling stations were not allowed to vote.
Around a hundred people demonstrated in Trafalgar Square and then marched for a rally opposite the Iran Embassy following the execution last Sunday of 5 political activists, the latest of many such death sentences.
In the previous year millions in Iran had protested for greater freedom in Iran, with the protests making headlines around the world after the fatal shooting of Neda Agha-Soltan in June 2009. Thousands have been arrested, tortured to make untrue confessions and then condemned in unfair trials and many have been executed.
The death of Jina Mahsa Amini after being arrested by the religious morality police for allegedly not wearing the hijab in accordance with government standards in September 2022 has led to a series of protests in Iran and around the world on an even more widespread scale than those in 2009-10, 2007 and 2019. Again the protests in Iran have been brutally repressed with at least 476 people killed by the end of 2022, and many arrested and tortured and a number of protesters hanged.
The protest on 15 May 2010 came after the executions of five political activists – four men and a woman – on Sunday 9 May; Farzad Kamangar, Ali Heydarian, Farhad Vakili, Mehdi Eslamian and Shirin Alam-Houli.
The protests in London around the world in 2022-3 have been on a larger scale than in 2010, with large and continuing protests with the slogan ‘Woman Life Freedom’.
London events I covered that day and some of what I wrote about them on My London Diary. More at the links below.
A protest in Trafalgar Square calls for an end of the violence by the Ortega-Murillo regime in Nicaragua, where since the 19th of April police have killed over 100 protesters and a injured over 600, and there have been many unjustly detained, tortured and raped.
Women wore purple, white and green head scarves to make up three strands of a huge procession in the suffragette colours through London marking 100 years since many British women gained the right to vote.
The 1918 act gave the vote to the first time to all men over 21 and to men like my father over 18 serving in the armed forces, but did not bring in universal suffrage for women. Women had to be over 30 and meet a property requirement. It was another ten years before all women over 21 – including my mother who was by then 23 – could vote.
A large crowd squashed into the street in front of the Saudi Arabian embassy for a rally in support of the oppressed people of Palestine and others around the world.
The event, organised by the Justice for Palestine Committee, is supported by the Islamic Human Rights Commission and a wide range of pro-Palestinian organisations, and was opposed by the Zionist Federation and some right wing hooligans, who were stopped from attacking the peaceful event by a large police presence in the area.
Celebrated in many countries, Al Quds Day, established by the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979, has been marked in London for over 30 years.
This year’s event was a gesture of defiance to the demonisation campaign and the ongoing murders by Israeli troops of innocent Palestinian protestors in the Gaza Strip commemorating 70 years since Israel was formed on expropriated Palestinian land.
Police had set up barriers to keep the official Zionist protest around a hundred yards down the road from the Al Quds day event, while others who were football thugs roamed the streets
All photographs on this and my other sites, unless otherwise stated, are taken by and copyright of Peter Marshall, and are available for reproduction or can be bought as prints.
