March For England | >Re-PHOTO

Marble Arch to Waterloo Place

Al Quds Day March - 2009 — *Marchers approaching Piccadilly Circus*

The annual Al Quds Day (Jerusalem Day) march in London as usual attracted controversy, with various groups coming out to protest against it. In 2009 these included Iranian democrats, royalists and socialists as well as far right groups including the English Defence League and March For England, but there seemed to be few organised Zionists on the streets.

Al Quds Day was initiated by Ayatollah Khomeini when he became Supreme Leader of Iran in 1989 as a day on the last Friday of Ramadan (the London march is on the following Sunday) to oppose the Israeli occupation and control of Jerusalem, and at least one of the groups involved in organising the event is said to received funding from the Iranian authorities – which accounts for the Iranian protesters.

The march has become a wider protest calling for freedom for Palestine and an end to the Israeli occupation of land which for many centuries was Palestine. For many of the marchers this also means support for those fighting against Israeli occupation, both in Palestine and Lebanon.

A few of the marchers carried Hezbollah flags, the flag of both the Lebanese Shia political party and its military wing. The military wing had been proscribed in the UK in 2008, but it was only in 2019 that this ban was extended to cover the political wing, making carrying the flag an offence. You can see a few of these yellow flags in my pictures. There are also some placards supporting Hezbollah and Hamas for their resistance to Israel.

In 2009 the march was carefully policed to keep the marchers and protesters against the march from coming into contact and I saw some from both groups being stopped and searched in the area around Marble Arch where the march gathered.

People come to the march in coaches from mosques around the country and many come as families. Although there were separate men’s and women’s blocs the organisers announced that those who wanted to march as families were welcome to do so, and many, particularly the younger marchers, took advantage of this.

*Rabbi Ahron Cohen who spoke at the rally at the end of the march*

At the front of the march were Muslim clerics and two Neturei Karta Jewish leaders. These ultra-orthodox Jews are anti-Zionist and believe that Jews are forbidden from establishing a Jewish state until the arrival of the Messiah and support the peaceful dismantling of the state of Israel to become a part of Palestine.

The main counter-protest came at Piccadilly Circus, with most of those taking part encircled around ‘Eros’ by a double line of police. They protested noisily as the march went by but most of the marchers followed the advice of the march stewards and ignored them. Some held up their posters and there were minor scuffles when a few marchers tried to leave the march and approach them.

As well as shouting insults at the Muslims, the counter-protesters were also making threats, gestures and shouting at the photographers, and I was glad not to be too close although the police bodies between made taking pictures difficult.

Police had also told the march organisers that they could not march to Trafalgar Square but must end with a rally in the much smaller area of Waterloo Place, which became extremely crowded. I left after listening to the first few speakers.

*The head of the march comes to Waterloo Place*

Many more pictures on My London Diary: Al Quds Day March.

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“My Son (Paul Calvert) went to prison to lose his liberty not his life!”

In 2009 the 31st October was also a Saturday, and a busy day for me in London, though today I’ll be staying home and only going to the UFFC annual memorial on-line event which starts at 1pm. In 2009, the UFFC had also decided not to march, but groups from some of the families of those killed by police had come with their banners to protest opposite Downing St.

Earlier I’d photographed a mass protest ride by motorcyclists, angry at Westminster Council’s imposition just over a year earlier of parking charges for motorbikes as an ‘experimental measure’ which has become permanent as a good money-earner for the council. It did seem ridiculous that bikers were being charged more for an annual permit than owners of small cars when 8 motorbikes can be parked in one car space. Although still contributing to pollution in the city, motorbikes take up considerably less road space too, their use reducting congestion which is a major factor in producing the lethal levels of air pollution that result in almost 10,000 premature deaths in London as a whole.

I’d gone on the photograph two groups protesting against the planned ‘March for Sharia’ by Anjem Choudary’s Islam4UK (a 2009 rebrand and relaunch of the radical Islamic group Al Muhajiroun, disbanded in 2004 to avoid proscription). Choudary, widely believed to have been cultivated by the UK security forces, probably never actually intended the group to march but announced as a provocation, always intended as a ‘no show’. He issued a statement around the time it was due to begin that the organisers had cancelled the march because of security concerns.

The two groups had gathered around the statue of Eros at Piccadilly Circus, although the information I’d heard from Islam4UK was that they would march from Parliament Square to Trafalgar Square via Downing St, around 600 yards away from the counter-protesters. There was certainly a lot of misinformation around before the event, and both Muslims4UK and The Islamic Society of Britain had called off plans for a counter-demo, possibly anticipating there was not to be a march. The larger group of protesters were supporters of British Muslims for Secular Democracy.

Also present were a number supporters of extreme right anti-Islamic groups including the English Democrats, March For England and a few from the EDL. Later I found that more of the EDL were wandering around the Parliament Square area where the March4Shariah had been planned to start.

As I walked down from Piccadilly Circus towards Downing St and went through Trafalgar Square I met several angels, and accepted the offer of a hug, something we are currently rather short of, from one of the Angels of Love, Compassion, Wisdom, Patience, Courage, Happines or Harmony who gave me a picture of an angel on the reverse of which was written “I purify my mind by affirming my worth and honouring my choices for love.” I thanked her but refused the offer of a rose as I needed my hands for my cameras.

After talking with the ‘United Friends and Families‘ of those who have died in suspicious circumstances in police custody, prison and ‘secure’ mental health facilities who were protesting at Downing St, I continued down to Parliament Square, where I met with other photographers and journalists who had been waiting for the March4Shariah to begin. None of those from Islam4UK had turned up and I went home.

United Families and Friends
Be With an Angel
Moderates gainst March4Sharia
Right Wing against March4Sharia
Protest Ride at Bike Parking Charge

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.

Tag: March For England

Al Quds Day March – 2009

31st October 2009