The Wall Must Fall & Kyoto: There were two protests on May 15th 2004 over major issues still very relevant now. The first was against the separation wall being built by Israel which was breaking up many Palestinian urban settlements and dividing some farmers from their lands. Designed for the convenience of IsraelI Security forces it reconfigures many boundaries and paved the way for further IsralI settlements on Palestinian land, in complete disregard of the needs and civil rights of Palestinians.
Later I joined the march from Leatherhead to the US Embassy for the final few hundred yards of their march in protest against the failure of the US to ratify the Kyoto climate accord. US policies on climate change were and now are largely driven by the fossil fuel companies and have led to our current position with global temperatures continuing to rise towards levels the science tells us endangers human life on our planet. Though warming in the oceans may lead before long to a loss of the Gulf Stream which makes life in the UK tolerable and bring in a new Ice Age in the UK!
As with other events in the early years of My London Diary, the page design separated text and images, and the text was made less legible by eschewing capitals, a victory of style over sense which made no sense when I had begun to post more events on the pages with longer stories – but which it took me until 2008 to redesign. Below I’ll reunite some of the pictures with the text I wrote and links to the many more pictures still on their own pages on My London Diary.
The Wall Must Fall – Free Palestine Rally, Trafalgar Square
Peter Tatchell demonstrating against both the IsraelI persecution of Palestine, and also the persecution of gays by the Palestinians
The Wall Must Fall rally in Trafalgar Square on 15 May started with an an ugly scene, when stewards stopped Peter Tatchell and a group from Outrage from being photographed in front of the banners around Nelson’s Column. The rally organisers argued that raising the question of the persecution of gays in Palestine distracted attention from the Palestinian cause. Their childish attempts to distract the attention of photographers by jumping in front of the Outrage protesters, holding placards in front of theirs and shouting over them simply increased the force of Tatchell’s arguments and coverage they gained.
Jamal Jumaa
Fortunately the rally soon got under way. The main speaker was Jamal Jumaa – Director of the Stop The Wall Campaign In Palestine, although there were many others, including Sophie Hurndall, the mother of murdered peace activist Tom, Green MEP Caroline Lucas, Afif Safieh the Palestinian General Delegate to the UK, George Galloway and more. Too many more for most of us.
Zionism and Judaism are extreme opposites – Neturei Karta were there with placardsStreet Theatre in Trafalgar SquareThe wall at the start of Whitehall
War On Want activists came with a wall to dramatise the effect of the wall in Palestine. When the march moved off down Whitehall, the wall walked with them, and it was erected again opposite Downing Street. Here there was a short sit-down on the road before the event dissolved.
Bristol Radical Cheerleaders in the Kyoto march to the US embassy
I caught up with the Kyoto march, organised by the Campaign Against Climate Change, as it reached Berkeley Square on the last quarter-mile or so of its long trek [around 19 miles] from the Esso British HQ in Leatherhead. Esso are seen as being one of the main influences behind the refusal by President George Bush and the US administration to ratify the Kyoto Accord.
Pedal-powered Rinky Dink sound system supports the Campaign against Climate Change
The campaign had previously organised a number of marches in london, and this was an annual event.
Marchers ready for the ‘Dinosaur Party’ at the US EmbassyCodePink campaigners with a coffin carrying planet Earth: TAKE ACTION NOW TO STOP CLIMATE CHANGE
Among the marchers it was good to find a number dressed ready for the promised ‘Dinosaur Party’ at the US Embassy, as well as the fantastic Rinky Dink cycle-powered sound system. It was also good to meet a few of the Bristol Radical Cheerleaders again, bouncing with energy as ever. A little colour was also added by a small group of of Codepink activists forming a funeral cortège, carrying the globe on their coffin.
Even the Statue of Liberty implores Bush to sign KyotoE$$o campaigners in front of the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square
The police in Grosvenor Square were not helpful, but eventually the speeches got under way in a corner of the square.
Strangers into Citizens March and Rally: On Monday 7th May 2007 on the Bank Holiday, London Citizens, an organisatioin working for social change through ‘community organising‘ inspired by the US civil rights movement and earlier struggles in the UK by “the Levellers, the Abolitionists, the Chartists, early trade unionists like the match girls and dock strikers, and the Suffragettes” organised a march and rally to launch their ‘Strangers Into Citizens’ campaign, This called “for the mass regularisation of people without immigration status, who have put down roots in this country over years but are vulnerable to exploitation and hardship.”
I attended this, took photographs and published a post about it on My London Diary, which is a little hard to find and to connect with the pictures there. Here it is again with the usual corrections and a few of the pictures – with links to the rest.
Strangers into Citizens March and Rally
Westminster, London. Monday 7 May, 2007
Bishop Tom Butler of Southwark and Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor led the march
Over the past years, many people without British passports had come to live in our country. Some of course had the right to do so as EU nationals. Many have claimed asylum, often refused for trivial reasons of paperwork or formalities even when people were clearly endangered in their home countries. Some claims drag on for years before a decision is made. Others have simply stayed on after studies or holidays, or entered the country without any permission.
Almost all of these people have one thing in common; they want to work and earn a living. Their work – often for very low wages at or below the national minimum – has helped to keep our economy buoyant, although in many cases they do not have the correct papers to work legally. They are thus open to exploitation and often unable to access medical services or even open bank accounts. One in 100 of those living in Britain is currently in this kind of limbo.
Many have lived here for years, paid their taxes and contributed to society in various ways – helping to run the parent teacher associations at their children’s schools, supporting local churches and mosques, volunteering for charities – as well as their work. Most of them will remain here – as the government admits there are just too many for them to be removed in any remotely civilised manner.
Not that it is civilised for the unfortunate few picked out by the authorities for a 4.30am raid, not given the opportunity to properly pack their belongings or say goodbye to friends and neighbours, taken to the airport and put on a plane back to a country where they may well face persecution for their political or religious beliefs.
This is a problem that needs a sensible, humane and pragmatic solution. Strangers Into Citizens have proposed one: – those irregular migrants who have lived here for more than 4 years should be given a 2 year work permit; at the end of this, provided they get suitable employer and character references, they would be given leave to remain indefinitely.
Although a great advance on the current treatment of these people it seems to me not to go far enough; too many would still be left out in the cold. It’s also a a one-off measure, and needs (as Strangers Into Citizens propose) to be a part of a wider package of fair treatment for those applying for asylum or immigration.
Since 2007 our political parties have shifted dramatically to the right, strengthening their already racist stances and now a new extreme-right party has gained significant votes in elections although still only having 5 MPs. At the last General election only the Lib-Dems and Green Party had more sensible and positive policies on migration.
So while the proposals by Strangers into Citizens seem sensible and humane – if rather limited – there seems to be no political possibility of them or anything like them becoming law.
Long Live Mayday! London 2015: I don’t often post recent work I’ve taken on this site but I am still covering events in London though not on the scale I used to. I no longer post regularly on My London Diary as there are almost the maximum possible number of files on that site and I would have to delete older work to continue posting there. But all my new work – or at least my selection of it – now gets posted on Facebook – and you can follow me there.
London, UK. 1 May 2025. Musicians Union prepare to lead the May Day march
As well as albums of new work I also post one of my earlier images every morning – currently colour images from around 1986.
I’m still working on putting a large selection of my earlier work on film on Flickr, both black and white and colour images, mainly of buildings and events in London but also pictures from Paris, Hull and elsewhere. Currently I’ve uploaded almost 40,000 images, mainly from 1974 to 1987, probably around a quarter of those I took. It’s now one of the largest archives of images of London, including many of its less well known parts.
London, UK. 1 May 2025. Stop executions in Iran.
But on Thursday 1st of May, International Workers Day, I was out again on the streets of London, meeting friends and taking pictures at the start of the London May Day March at Clerkenwell Green.
London, UK. 1 May 2025. Socialist Women’s Union.
It was London’s hottest May Day since records began, and I couldn’t walk the whole length of the march taking pictures now. So I started with the marchers and then stopped for the whole long march to go past me, photographing people and banners. Then I walked down the shaded side of Farringdon Road to Farringdon Station to catch the Elizabeth Line – cool in several ways – the one stop to Tottenham Court Road where I changed to the rather warmer Northern Line, arriving at Charing Cross well before the march.
London, UK. 1 May 2025. Kurds call for Freedom for Ocalan.
I walked along Strand and sat down at a bus stop. Traffic had already been stopped along the road ahead of the march, but the TfL indicator board was still showing buses due which would not arrive until after the march had passed and I passed on the news to those waiting so they could find other transport – or stay to watch the march.
London, UK. 1 May 2025. United Voices of the World.
Sitting at the bus stop I was able to eat my sandwich lunch before the march drew close and I walked towards it, continuing moving slowly east as it came past me taking more pictures. I was on my way to the Indian High Commission where I had heard another protest was taking place.
London, UK, 1 May 2025. Sikhs protest opposite the Indian High Commission against Modi over Kashmir
When I arrived at Aldwych I found there were actually two groups of protesters, both there because of the killing of tourists last month in Kashmir. Opposite the High Commission were a group of Sikhs with a effigy of Indian Prime Minister Modi hanging upside down, opposed to his extreme-fight Hindu nationalist government which has threatened Pakistan, suspended the water-sharing agreement and made savage reprisals against Kashmiris after the 22 April attack.
London, UK, 1 May 2025. Supporters of Indian Prime Minister Modi protest against terrorism in Kashmir
After spending a few minutes photographing them I walked across the road to another group of protesters at the side of the High Commission. They had come to support Modi and protest against Pakistan which he claims had supported the militant group which carried out the killing. Part of Kashmir became a disputed territory at partition in 1947 when the local ruler decided to join India despite a majority Muslim population. It was granted some autonomy under an article of the Indian constitution, but this was recently rescinded. The country has been under a savage military occupation by India for many years. Other parts of Kashmir are administered by Pakistan and a smaller area by China.
On May Day I sent three groups of pictures to on-lin agency Alamy, a total of 84 pictures. The pictures in the three albums on Facebook are smaller versions of the same 84 images I posted the following day and a few of them are in this post. Unfortunately I think you need a Facebook login (free) to view the rest.
Workers, May Day March & Police Party: May 1st is of course May Day, International Workers’ Day, and I will be at Clerkenwell for the annual May Day march in London, and perhaps some other events to celebrate the day. For Catholics it is also dedicated to Saint Joseph the Worker, the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus and approopriately in 2006 my day started outside Westminster Cathedral with the launch of the London Citizens Workers’ Association. Here is what I posted back on May Day in 2006 – with the usual corrections and links to more pictures on My London Diary.
London Citizens Workers’ Association – Westminster Cathedral
May 1st saw the launch of the London Citizens Workers’ Association, a new organisation to support low-wage and migrant workers across London, backed by faith organisations, trade unions and social justice organisations. May 1 is the feast of St Joseph the Worker and the event began with a procession into the cathedral and a ‘Mass For Workers’, but I didn’t bother to get up in time for that.
After the mass was a ‘Living Wage rally’ outside the cathedral, with speakers including Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor (then leader of the Catholic Church in England & Wales), Sir Iqbal Sacranie (Secretary General, Muslim Council of Britain), and Jack Dromey (General Secretary of the TGWU) along with representatives of other unions and faiths, and of the new association.
The association aims to fight a campaign for a living wage for low paid workers as well as training them to organise and campaign and providing free advice on rights at work and legal support. Workers in low paid jobs often also lack decent working conditions and there was in 2006 little trade union representation*. It will also provide english classes.
Several large employers who have already taken steps to improve conditions were awarded ‘Living Wage Employers awards’ at the rally, but I didn’t wait around for this. more pictures
[* Since 2006 we have seen the rise of several grass roots trade unions taking a strong stance for the rights of low paid workers, particularly migrant workers, including the United Voices of the World and the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain.]
London May Day March – Clerkenwell
Around half of London’s tube network seemed to be down for planned engineering works, and getting around was a bit like playing Mornington Crescent to some very special rules. But the Victoria Line and Thameslink got me to Farringdon well before the start of the annual May Day parade.
This seemed larger than in previous years, with a few more trade unions there, with particularly strong support from the RMT, but many others also took part, including my own – the NUJ (and there were many of us members covering the event as well.)
As usual, the most colourful aspect of the march was provided by the various Turkish communist parties, with strong youth wings. MKLP (and its KGO youth), the DHKC, the TIKB, the TKP/ML and probably more. There were some powerful reminders of the repression in Turkey in the portraits of some of those who have died in terrorist actions or death fasts.
Movements in a number of other countries were also represented, including Iraq, Iran Greece and Sri Lanka as well as the Kurds. Also taking part was the African Liberation Support Campaign Network.
Gate Gourmet strikers marching behind their banner chanted “Tony Woodley – out out!” denouncing the attempts of the TGWU to force them to sign the compromise agreement which waives their rights to further work or legal redress. Others demanded that Remploy factories be kept open. There were protests over the Dexion and Samuel Jones pension outrages, and other causes.
More or less bringing up the rear of the march were around 500-1000 in the Autonomous Bloc, an anti-capitalist grouping marching against ‘precarity’, the working environment of late capitalism.
Increasingly there is a polarisation of the employment market in our service-based economies, characterised at one end by poor conditions, lack of job security, temporary employment, use of migrant labour at one extreme, and at the other by increasing encroachment of work into the private lives of more highly paid employees, making them into company property in exchange for their security.
In contrast to the relatively low-profile police presence for the rest of the event, this bloc was flanked on both sides by a line of uniformed police. Many of the marchers in this section wore scarves covering the lower half of their faces, and some carried anarchist flags. Leading the block were a number of bicycles, and a pedal powered sound system.
The march continued on its way to Trafalgar Square, where people stood around mainly looking pretty bored. I didn’t catch much of the speeches but if what I heard was typical I could understand why.
When the Autonomous Bloc arrived at the square, the police barred their entry on the grounds of public order and seized the sound system. More than half those marching left at this point, with the police making little attempt to stop individuals who wandered into the square.
The rest of the bloc stayed on the road, with a few short speeches over a loud hailer, then moved up the side of the square towards the national gallery, where there was another short meeting. This was interrupted by the news that the police tactical support group was on its way, and they soon surrounded the relatively small group who had decided to stay.
I walked through the police line at this point, and they seemed to be making little attempt to stop anyone leaving, or at least didn’t detain them for more than a few minutes.
While the marchers were walking to Trafalgar Square, I took what was left of the tube to Bank and the ‘Police Victory Party‘ organised on their behalf by the Space Hijackers.
There I watched Tony Blair and some rather more attractive than usual police (and with pink fluffy hand-cuffs) being watched by some other police. A couple of the latter walked away when asked if they would mind being photographed, but some others seemed to be rather amused by the proceedings.
Of course, the police (both lots) were taking lots of pictures of the events too, and I can imagine some of them causing amusement at section house parties.
There was a ‘pin the blame on the anarchist’ game, a pinata (ta for the mini Mars bar) and some dancing before I had to rush off to make the gig at Trafalgar Square. Where the politics were perhaps less serious.
Muslims, Our Railways & Little Venice: Twenty years ago I published this post on My London Dairy about my day taking pictures, but it isn’t easy to find. So here it is again with the usual minor corrections and a few pictures, with links to the others already on-line.
Muslims United Against Oppression – Marble Arch
Mozzam Begg reads his poem. War on Terror = War on Islam
Saturday 30th April 2005 was a busy day. I started at Marble Arch where a number of Muslim organisations were showing their unity in protesting against the anti-terrorism laws and the way the ‘war on terror‘ was used to detain prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and Bellmarsh, to carry out increased stop and searches on Muslims in the UK, and threaten them with extradition, and to label the liberation struggles in Palestine, Kashmir, Iraq and Chechnya as terrorism.
The ‘Muslims United Against Oppression’ march and rally was organised by ‘Stop Political Terror’, the ‘Islamic Human Rights Commission’, ‘Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain’, ‘Cage Prisoners’, the ‘Islamic Party Of Britain’, ‘Muslim Directory’ and other organisations, and representatives of many of these spoke at Marble Arch. There were also two former Guantanamo detainees who spoke, Martin Mubanga and Mozzam Begg, who read a moving poem.
Ashfaq Ahmad
Ashfaq Ahmad spoke about the detention of his son, Babar Ahmad, who was born and brought up in south London. On December 2nd 2003, anti-terrorist police broke into his house in the early hours, and assaulted him brutally in front of his wife before taking him away. Six days later he was released without charge. He had over 50 injuries to his body, two potentially life-threatening, but despite this the Crown Prosecution Service decided there was insufficient evidence to prosecute any of the officers involved.
Babar Ahmad was again arrested on 5th August 2004 following an extradition request by the US government. In 2005 he was still in prison awaiting a final verdict on whether he will be sent to the USA, although a fair trial there seems unlikely.* The allegations against him appear to be that he emailed a US sailor on two dates (one was Babar’s wedding day, the other in the middle of his honeymoon on a remote island without internet access), that he had a brochure from the Empire State Building (true, his father had got it on a visit there in 1973) and that he had travelled on a false passport, despite the fact that his real one has the appropriate entry and exit stamps.
Unfortunately our extradition agreement with the USA apparently does not allow Britain to refuse requests on the grounds of evidence.
Having failed to treat Babar with any justice in this country following his arrest – almost certainly a case of mistaken identity that too many would lose face over to readily admit – it now looks as if we will hand him over to our American allies for further mistreatment.
Around 5000 Muslims made there way from Marble Arch and along the Edgeware Road towards Paddington Green Police Station for a further rally.
* Babar Ahmed spent 8 years in a UK prison before eventually being sent the the USA for trial. Although there was huge pressure to try him in the UK the CPS decided there was “insufficient evidence to prosecute” him. In 2009 he was awarded £60,000 compensation for the “serious gratuitous prolonged unjustified violence” and “religious abuse” during his arrest; the four officers who were accused of this and dozens of other assaults on black and Asian men were tried but acquitted in 2011. After his extradition in 2012 he spent two years in solitary confinement in pre-trial detention in a Supermax prison. Eventually he came to a plea bargain which led to his release in July 2015.
RMT march to Renationalise the Railways – Bloomsbury
I made my way to the Charing Cross Road to meet the RMT march against rail privatisation, a two-week, 14-city national mobile demonstration from Glasgow to London to make the case for re-nationalising the rail network.
As someone who travels frequently by rail, I’m fully convinced of the need for some action. On my line to London, services are less frequent and less reliable and slower than when I moved here thirty years ago. The latest trick has been to write yet more ‘spare minutes’ into the timetables so that more trains will arrive on time. Journeys that a few years ago took 28 minutes are now timetabled for 34 minutes. [Now in 2025 this has increased to 37 minutes.]
There certainly seem to be a great problem over signalling on the lines, with trains that should have a clear run on green with miles of clear track in front of them continually finding amber or double amber and occasionally red. Either systems are not working or there are not the signallers to work them.
The whole fare structure is also a nonsense, far too complex for anyone to understand. None of the enquiry services ever seem to be able to tell you anything other than standard fares (if that) and journeys covering more than one operator are a nightmare. Try several online systems and you are likely to get several different answers as to fares and availability. As a first move back to a sensible system why not set up a national fare structure, with train operators paid for running trains from a central body?
It was a good-natured demonstration making a real point, but unfortunately not one any likely government wants to hear.
Finally I went off to Little Venice, where the Inland Waterways Association was having a three day Canalway Cavalcade celebrating the bicentenary of the Battle of Trafalgar. In 1805, canals were growing as the main form of inland transport, and it was the year two of the major civil engineering structures of our canals, the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and the Blisworth Tunnel were completed.
I’m not a great canal person, though I often cycle along the towpaths. But the first time I ever drove a narrowboat, I found myself in charge of 70 feet of steel hull through the dark narrow length of Blisworth, and later the same year also took the marginally overwide craft across Pontcysyllte, where there was considerable resistance to its movement through the narrow channel. Getting through some of the locks on the way there and back was harder, and we learnt some less conventional locking techniques, opening the upper gates for the water to force the marginally over-wide hull through, scraping its sides past the brickwork.
However I’d not come to see the boats, even though the navy were taking part, with one of our smaller ships, a crew of three and commander from the Royal Naval Reserve.
London Isn’t Venice, Yet! – Mutiny Arts, Little Venice
Mutiny Arts from Brixton were to perform an ecological drama, London Isn’t Venice, Yet!, warning of the dangers of global warming and rising sea levels.
The sea level is rising fast
The play went down well with the audience in the Sheldon Square ampitheatre, part of a new office development in Paddington.
Armenians, Football, Tweed, TTIP, KFC, BP, NHS: Ten years ago on Saturday 18th April 2015 London was busy with protests and I rushed around covering seven events, though the last four at Shepherds Bush were all part of the Day of Dissent rally against TTIP, related to the problems which would be caused with a trade deal with the USA – and all threats now relevant to the current talks between our government and the Trump administration.
Centenary of Armenian Genocide
A woman paints an Armenian flag on a man’s cheek
I met hundreds of Armenians close to Hyde Park corner on Piccadilly as they prepared for their annual march in protest against the Armenian Genocide. This year, 2015 marked the centenary of the start of the killing of 1.5m Armenians by Turkey between 1915 and 1923.
Turkey still refuse to accept the mass killings as genocide and the UK has not recognised the Armenian genocide. Armenians demannd that both countries should recognise this historic event and that it should be taught in the national curriculum.
Some carried placards with pictures of Hrant Dink who is described as ‘The 1,500,001st Victim of The Armenian Genocide‘. Editor of the Istanbul Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos, he was prosecuted under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code which makes it a crime to publicly denigrate the Turkish government, republic or nation. After having received many death threats he was assassinated by a 17 year old Turkish Nationalist in January 2007.
I left the protest shortly before the march began, hoping to see them later at Downing Street but had left Westminster before they arrived.
I went to Westminster to find the Football Action Network who were taking copies of their manifesto to the Labour, Tory and Lib-Dem offices, and finally caught up with them on the steps of the Lib-Dem offices.
Their demands include a Football Reform Bill, a living wage for all staff, fair ticket prices, safe standing, and reforms to clubs & FA.
I briefly left the football fans as the Tweed Cycle Ride stopped on the road opposite and rushed to take pictures as it went into Parliament Square. The vintage-themed ride, “a jaunty bike ride around London in our sartorial best“, stops for tea and a picnic and ends with “a bit of a jolly knees-up” and raises funds for the London Cycling Campaign.
Shepherds Bush was the venue chosen for the Day of Dissent rally against TTIP, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, a proposed trade treaty between the European Union (then still including Britain) and the United States which would have given excessive power to corporations, enabling them to override national laws.
The event began with a rally on Shepherds Bush Green with speakers including Dame Vivienne Westwood, John Hilary of War on Want along with many others.
But much of the time was spent in a number of group discussions and it wasn’t an easy event to make interesting pictures. What was really clear was the threat that the TTIP treaty being negotiated by governments and corporations poses to democracy and all public services, that it would be a threat to public health and the NHS and would prevent changes made to combat climate change.
Campaigners then left to carry out the three separate actions I then photographed.
Protesters in white coats formed a line outside KFC at Shepherds Bush dipping rubber chickens in buckets of chlorine and acid, illustrating that TTIP would force the UK to accept unsafe agricultural and food practices (including GMO crops) allowed in the USA.
Chickens need chlorine washing because of lower farm hygiene standards and US meat contains much higher levels of hormones and other chemicals than here.
On the other side of Shepherds Bush Green protesters calling for a fossil fuel free future staged a die-in at BP Shepherds Bush against TTIP, which would force countries to use dirty fuels including coal, tar oil and arctic oil and seriously delay cutting carbon emissions and the move to renewable energy.
After some speeches about the protest the protesters got up from the garage forecourt and walked away.
Protesters walked in to the Westfield Centre to protest outside the Virgin media shop over the danger that TTIP poses to our NHS. Virgin Healthcare, (in 2021 rebranded as HCRG Care Group) had already taken over providing large parts of the simpler services provided by the NHS, replacing the easily run parts of our National Health service, and taking money out of the system.
NHS campaigner Gay Lee introduces the protest and the short piece of street theatre
Campaigners urged that the NHS should be excluded from TTIP, but governments and business insist it should not be. Now in 2025 we are again worried that any US-UK trade agreement made by the Starmer Labour government may open up our health service to much greater privatisation by the giant US health companies.
George Barda offers his garland of dollars to ‘Richard Branson’
Many UK government members have significant financial interests in private healthcare companies, and coulld have expected rich profits if TTIP is agreed as it will force the NHS to contract out its services to them.
A pensioner in a wig acts as a judge
After Trump became president he stopped the TTIP talks so he could pursue a trade war with the EU. One of the few things we can thank him for.
I had been worried that security staff might try to stop photographers working as like most shopping centres, Westfield does not generally allow photography. Police and security watched the protest closely but did not generally try to stop it or photographers working.
The protesters were considering further protests, but I had been on my feet too long and left for home.
Smiley Culture & Orange Order: On Saturday 16th April I photographed two very different marches in London. The first was by several thousand people, mostly black, in protest over the death of reggae star Smiley Culture during a police drugs raid on his home and later I took pictures of the annual parade in Westminster by the City of London District Loyal Orange Lodge.
Who Killed Smiley Culture?
On 15th March 2011 police raided the South Croydon home of reggae star Smiley Culture at around 7am, apparently in relation to a drugs charge on which he was due to appear in court shortly. An hour and a half after their arrival, he is alleged to have been allowed to go into his kitchen alone to make a cup of tea, and to have killed himself with a single stab to the heart.
As many commented, it seemed a most unlikely story. Surely police would “not have allowed a man they had arrested to go alone into his own kitchen, where apart from the possibility of escape they would also know there would be dangerous weapons. And killing oneself with a single stab wound to the heart is not an easy task. His family and friends are sure there was no reason why he should have wanted to commit suicide.”
In April 2011 the case was being investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission and their report went to the coroner. At the inquest in 2013 the jury were unable to reach a unanimous verdict but the coroner accepted a majority verdict that the death had been suicide, while criticising the police for their lack of care and the IPCC for faults in their investigation.
Wikipedia reports that at the request of the coroner the IPCC report “was neither made public nor made available to Emmanuel’s family” and questions remain about the actual circumstances of his death and of the IPCC’s statement “that there was neither criminal conduct by officers, nor individual failings by officers that might amount to misconduct.“
As I pointed out in my post, “Deaths in police custody are unfortunately not rare, and according to Inquest, in the twenty one years since 1990 there have been a total of 930, with 247 of these in the Met area.“
I went on to say that few of these cases get “more than a short paragraph in the local press” unless as in this case they involve celebrities or take place in public with witnesses and often videos of the event; “most of them take place in the secrecy of the police station or other premises with police officers as the only witnesses.“
Among those taking part in this march were families whose sons and brothers also died while in police custody, and in my post on My London Diary I mentioned some of these. The march took place on the “anniversary of the death of David Oluwale, killed in the first known incident of racist policing in 1969; his death remains the only case in British history that police officers have been found guilty of criminal offences leading to the death of a suspect, although they were found guilty only of assaults, the judge ordering the charge of manslaughter to be dropped.”
The death of Smiley Culture was one of several cases identified as a contributing factor to the riots later in the year after the police shooting of Mark Duggan by a study led by the LSE and The Guardian.
In February 2025 a blue plaque was unveiled outside Smiley Culture’s home from 1976-1980 on the Wandsworth Road, close to where this march began, celebrating his contributions to music and culture.
The City of London District Loyal Orange Lodge (L.O.L.) led their annual parade through London with lodges and bands from around the country taking part.
Founded in 1796 to uphold the Protestant religion, the Orange Order was was revived in the early twentieth century to oppose Home Rule for Ireland, and still plays a powerful role in Northern Ireland politics and government, embedded in Unionist politics.
Parades in Northern Ireland are still controversial and seen by many Catholics as deliberately provocative, while many Orangemen regard the Parades Commission, set up to regulate these events as discriminating against them. But here in London they have little political significance and are a colourful celebration of the Irish Protestant tradition.
From Millbank the parade marched around Parliament Sqaure and then on to the Cenotaph where wreaths were laid in memory of the fallen and former comrades by the City of London Lodge, two lodges from Glasgow and the Maine Flute Band from Ballymena.
I left them opposite Downing Street where some had gone in to deliver a letter to the Prime Minister before the parade moved on to its end at statue of the Duke of York in Waterloo Place.
Ian Tomlinson Killing & Sri Lanka Genocide: On Saturday 11th April 2009 people marched from Bethnal Green Police Station to the spot were news vendor died after an unprovoked attack by police officer Simon Harwood. I also photographed a much larger march by Tamils against the genocide taking place in Sri Lanka.
March in Memory of Ian Tomlinson – Bethnal Green Police Station & Bank
G20 Meltdown, the organisers of the protest at Bank on April 1st 2009 where police officer Simon Harwood attacked Ian Tomlinson leading to his death, had organised a memorial march from Bethnal Green Police Station to the place where he died a few yards away from the attack.
Police discuss the march with Chris Knight
Tomlinson was not involved in the protest, but simply trying to make his way home after having been working, selling newspapers in the City. The protest would probably have been over by the time he was killed, but police had turned what had been intended as a carnival party into something far more sinister, kettling and then attacking many demonstrators and killing Tomlinson. There were numerous injuries and one photographer had his teeth knocked out, but I had seen the kettle coming and had left the area to cover another event.
At the Tomlinson family’s request, the march was peaceful, silent and respectful. Before it started his stepson Paul King spoke briefly, describing the family’s trauma from the tragic death of his step-father, a “much-loved and warm-hearted man,” and pain at seeing the video of the assault, and he hoped that the investigation would be full and that “action will be taken against any police officer who contributed to Ian’s death through his conduct.”
Paul King
As usual the investigation was carried out by the IPCC and the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to charge Harwood. After an inquest verdict of unlawful killing the CPS had to change their mind and charged him with manslaughter.
The sisters of Sean Rigg, murdered by police at Brixton the previous August were on the march
The jury was unable to hear evidence about his behaviour in previous incidents and was seriously misled both by some of Harwood’s own evidence and the evidence given by the first pathologist who had examined the body, Dr Freddy Patel. He had destroyed some vital evidence, puring away body fluids and had a long record of botched postmortems, having previously been suspended twice and finally was struck off the medical register in 2012.
After Harwood’s acquittal he was dismissed from the police. Tomlinson’s family took civil proceedings and in 2013, “the Metropolitan Police Service paid Tomlinson’s family an undisclosed sum and acknowledged that Harwood’s actions had caused Tomlinson’s death.
I left the march before it arrived at Bank, but returned the following day to photograph the flowers that had been left in Royal Exchange Buildings where the assault had taken place and a vigil was being held by Chris Knight, one of the G20 Meltdown organisers and a few others.
Tamils March – Stop Sri-Lanka Genocide – Temple to Hyde Park
A huge crowd had assembled on the Embankment at Temple, perhaps as many as 200,000, a very high proportion of Tamils in the UK who are thought to number around 300,000, around two thirds of them of Sri Lankan origin. It was a crowd with very few white faces.
Despite the size of the protest there appeared to be very little UK media interest and I saw no photographers or TV crews from major UK media covering the march to Hyde Park. Where there are usually a crowd of photographers in front at the start of large marches in London, for this one there was just me and three other freelances, none of whom get regular work for the mass media.
By April 2009 the civil war in Sri Lanka was clearly coming to an end, with the Tamil Tigers having been pushed back into a very small area. They had been defeated at a major battle at Aanandapuram on 5th April and the final assault by the government forces came at the end of the month with Sri Lanka declaring victory on May 16th.
Many of those taking part in the march were clearly supporting the “the LTTE, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. A few carried actual tigers, fortunately only large toys, but many more wore the colours or carried flags or portraits of the founder and leader of the Tamil Tigers, Velupillai Pirapaharan.“
The LTTE was proscribed in 2000 and they were clearly committing an offence under the Terrorism Act 2000 by supporting the group or wearing clothing which arouses the “reasonable suspicion that he is a member or supporter of a proscribed organisation.” But clearly the Tamils were not intending to cause any serious trouble and police sensibly made no attempt to arrest them all. Only three arrests were reported.
The Tamils had lost in Sri Lanka and many both civilians and combatants were killed during the civil war – possibly almost 150,000 in the last 8 months of the civil war. Around 300,000 were transferred into special closed camps, described by many as concentration camps – they were slowly released and the camps were closed by the end of September 2012.
Welfare State & Tar Sands Party: On Saturday 10th of April 2010 pensioners led a march to defend the welfare state and oppose cuts in public services and later I went to a party at a BP garage in Shepherds Bush against the company’s plans to exploit Canadian tar sands.
Defend the Welfare State – Temple
The National Pensioners’ Convention, which represents over a thousand local regional and national pensioner groups with a total of 1.5 million members had organised a march and rally in London to defend the public services they are particularly dependent on ahead of the 2010 general election. The march was supported by the TUC and all major unions.
Age Concern has predicted that over 40% of votes in the next month’s election would be made by those over 60, and had identified five key issues which particularly impact pensioners. In particular they said that the basic state pension was seriously inadequate and the pension rise of only £2.40 was far too low. A quarter of all pensioners were living in poverty.
But all three major parties were making plans for cuts in public expenditure and moving away from the consensus Britain had come to during and after the Second World War, the welfare state with pensions, a free NHS, free education and other public services. Over the years some of these provisions had been eroded (and in a few areas such as dental care, never fully implemented) but now they were increasingly under threat, whichever party wins the general election.
Huge deficits had come from handouts to the bankers and the cost of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the NHS had been hit particularly hard by the costs of privatisation under the huge debts from the Private Finance Initiative.
Cuts to local authorities who many pensioners rely on for social care and support services such as meals on wheels, as well as housing benefit, threaten the daily life of many and are leading to the closure of day centres and other provision.
It was pressure from protests such as this, as well as the presence of the Lib-Dems in the coalition with the Tories that was elected that led to the introduction of the “triple lock” on pensions in 2010. In 2020 the state pension was around 16% of average earnings and by 2025 it had risen to around 25%. But pensioners have been badly hit by cuts in care.
Tar Sands Party at the Pumps – BP, Shepherd’s Bush Green
BP Sponsors Climate Chaos
The UK Tar Sands Network, Rising Tide and the Camp for Climate Action had organised a ‘Party at the Pumps’ as a part of a ‘BP Fortnight of Shame’ trying to get BP shareholders to reverse the company’s decision to take part in the exploitation of the Canadian Tar Sands which environmental activists say is “the dirtiest and most desperate attempt yet to profit from – and prolong – humanity’s crippling addiction to oil.“
Whistles signal its time to follow the flags and get on the Central Line
Extracting usable crude oil from tar sands always results in between three to five times the amount of carbon dioxide production as normal oil wells. Deposits close to the surface are strip mined, destroying ancient forests and peat bogs to dig up around 75 metres depth of sand and oil with huge trucks and mechanical shovels.
At the previous stop we were told to alight at Shepherds Bush
In Alberta four-fifths of tar sands are too deep to be mined in this way and are brought to the surface by the injection of high pressure steam – which uses around twice as much energy and pollutes twice as much highly toxic waste water which is already leaking into drinking water.
Indigenous people living in the area have very high cancer rates and their staple moose meat has been found with 300 times the acceptable level of heavy metals from the tar sand extraction.
People on the canopy roof with a banner
BP only got involved in the Canadian tar sands in 2007, probably because they had cheaper sources of oil elsewhere. They signed up with Canadian company Husky Energy for a large-scale tar sands project they called the ‘Sunrise Project’ and for other tar sands projects. This was put on hold when oil prices crashed in 2008, but BP shareholders were expected to approve it going ahead at their meeting in April 15th.
Protesters were told to meet at Oxford Circus with a Travel Card and after an hour or so we all – including a few police – went down into the station following those with green and yellow (BP’s colours) flags, at least some of whom knew our destination and boarded a west-bound Central Line train.
At Shepherds Bush the message came to alight. We rushed behind those carrying the flags along the busy shopping street, across the green to the BP garage on the south side, which had already been occupied by a smaller advance group of demonstrators.
Some of them had got onto the roof from scaffolding on a neighbouring block of flats and were fixing a banner there, while others blocked the forecourt entrance with a large ‘CLOSED’ banner. The protesters occupied the area and put tapes and stickers around the petrol pumps and elsewhere with the messages ‘DANGER GLOBAL WARNING‘ and ‘BP TAR SANDS – BACK TO BLACK?’
The Rhythms of Resistance band had also arrived and was drumming loudly and there was also a bicycle trailer sound system and the protesters were dancing. A live band and a caller played for more dancing and the protesters sat on the pavement and talk, eat sandwiches and snacks and drink, while some handed out leaflets to the passers-by and explained why the protest was taking place.
When I left after a couple of hours the protest was continuing. Police and a man from BP had earlier asked them when they would be leaving and were told ‘sometime later in the day‘ and assured that they would cause no permanent damage and although the police were still watching the protest, filming and taking notes but not otherwise taking any action. I presume BP had asked them to avoid more publicity for the event by trying to force it to an end or make arrests.
2004 Aldermaston March. On Friday 9th April the 2004 Aldermaston March began with a rally in Trafalgar Square before following the route taken by the first march back in April 1958, which had also begun with a rally in the square. The 2004 march was called as a protest against the development then of a new generation of nuclear weapons.
A young marcher on the way from Reading to Aldermaston
I covered the rally and went with the marchers as far as Hyde Park, and cycled to join them again in Maidenhead on Sunday 11th, walking with them for a few miles before returning to pick up my bike and cycle home. On the final day I caught the train to Reading and walked with them to Aldermaston.
I put many of my pictures from the march on My London Diary where you can still view them, and wrote a post about the events which I’ll reproduce here with proper capitalisation and some minor corrections, along with a few of the pictures I made in London on Friday 9th April 2004.
Aldermaston 2004: No New Nukes Rally & Start of March
Aldermaston isn’t in London, but the ‘stop the next generation of nuclear weapons‘ march from London to Aldermaston started on Good Friday, 9 April 2004, from Trafalgar Square, where there was a ‘No New Nukes‘ rally.
Aldermaston and nearby Burghfield are at the centre of the UK’s atomic weapon programme, and the march was a protest against the development of a new generation of nuclear weapons.
Pat Arrowsmith addresses the rally
In 1958 the dangers of nuclear war were clear to most of us, and almost fifty years of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction among members of the nuclear club make them even more of a danger now. We have seen another almost 50 years of lies and deception dressed up as security and national interest. For example we still haven’t been told of the nuclear warheads kept by our American allies at Lakenheath.
It was good to see many familiar faces, both on the platform and off, with addresses from Tony Benn, Jenny Jones, Pat Arrowsmith, Jeremu Corbyn and more, including a fine performance from Susannah York. There were a considerable number who had been on the first Aldermaston march, back in 1958, forty six years ago. I was too young to be involved then, but my two older brothers had been there.
Street theatre about Trident from Theatre of War
‘Theatre Of War’ gave a spirited performance, and there was a jazz band to add a little spirit at the front of the march, perhaps a reminder of the trad boom of the fifties. Pat Arrowsmith, Bruce Kent and some other CND veterans were up there too, leading off the 2,300 who led off through St James. The police estimated the march at 1000. I actually stood and counted as they went by, and although it isn’t an exact science with a march this size, I won’t be more than fifty or so out either way.
A single Trident submarine has warheads equivalent to 3000 Hiroshima bombs.
It was a cheerful sendoff to those marchers on the long plod to Aldermaston, one of several marches there starting from different parts of the country.
At Hyde Park, the march proper formed up, with around 430 making their way west through Kensington and towards the first night stay at Southall. I couldn’t walk all the way, although I’d probably covered as much distance running around taking pictures and left the march in Kensington.
On Saturday, the march continued from Southall to Slough via Uxbridge. I had other things to do in the East End and central London, but I managed to catch up with the march on Sunday morning at Maidenhead Bridge with some furious bike riding from Staines.
Pat Arrowsmith
By then, some problems with Thames Valley Police had emerged, with the police trying to force the march on to the pavement, while some marchers insisted on keeping to the road. In the end a compromise emerged, with the police tolerating those who wanted to stay on the road walking close to the edge of the pavement.
From Maidenhead it seemed a long walk along the A4 to Knowl Hill for a rather late lunch stop. There we were greeted from a distance by the sounds of the Sheffield Samba Band who piped the march in to lunch. I regretted not bothering to pick up my meal tickets, but was really too busy to stop to eat. I photographed the column of marchers setting off for Reading and then started a more lonely walk back to Maidenhead and my bike.
Bristol Radical Cheerleaders
By this time I was feeling the strain. Even on my ‘day off’ on Saturday I’d walked over 10 miles with a heavy camera bag, and the weight of a Nikon with a solid lens round my neck was getting to be too much. So for Monday I travelled light, working with a tiny Canon Digital Ixus. It had the nasty habit of often not taking a picture until a second or so after you pressed the button, by which time I’ve usually put the camera down, so I came home with quite a few pictures of random patches of road and grass from Berkshire. However, as you can see on My London Diary, some came out.
On Monday I walked all the way and a few miles more, with pictures from Reading to Burghfield, were we stopped close to AWE Burghfield [where atomic bombs are made] to the end of the march rally at AWE Aldermaston, after which we took a walk halfway round the large site.
Aldermaston2004 was jointly organised by CND, the Aldermaston women’s peace Camp and Slough4Peace.
CND is still active, still campaigning for peace and a nuclear free world and opposing the UK’s possession of nuclear weapons. As they say, “Nuclear weapons threaten us all. And they are an obscene drain on public finances.” You can find out more about their actions and sign their petition calling on the government to embrace diplomacy and peace negotiations, instead of nuclear weapons and war and take steps towards nuclear disarmament and a safer world.
