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Hizb Ut-Tahrir & Grenfell Protests – 2018

Hizb Ut-Tahrir & Grenfell Protests: On Saturday 14th April 2018 I photographed a protest at the Turkish Embassy by the now proscribed group Hizb Ut-Tahrir and later went to Kensington Town Hall where I photographed bikers on a ride for Grenfell and the silent walk 10 months after the tragic fire.

Hizb Ut-Tahrir protest against Turkey

Turkish Embassy, Belgrave Square

Hizb Ut-Tahrir & Grenfell Protests - 2018 — *Men stand at the front of the protest opposite the Turkish embassy*

Hizb Ut-Tahrir Britain had come to protest criticising Turkey for their role in supporting President Assad in regaining control of Syria.

They say Turkey since the end of the Ottoman state in 1922 has been a secular state “whose role is to protect the colonialist’s interests in our lands” with Turkey recognising the Zionist occupation of Palestine in 1949.

They accuse President Erdogan of strengthening Turkish military and economic ties with Israel, “defending and strengthening our enemies who murder us in Syria and Palestine“.

The protest took place on the night in the Islamic calendar when the Prophet made a night journey to al-Aqsa (Jerusalem) and it called on all Muslims to support the Palestinians in their fight “against the illegal occupation, as they are mercilessly killed by the Zionist regime.”

Hizb Ut-Tahrir are a Sunni Muslim group who call for the restoration of the Khilafah Rashidah, the “Rightly Guided” rule of the four caliphs who succeeded the Prophet in a 30 year reign from 632 -661 AD when Muslim armies conquered much of the Middle East.

The organisation was banned in January 2024 after a protest outside the Egyptian Embassy in which they called upon Muslim armies to attack Israel. Previous calls under Tony Blair and David Cameron to ban the organisation had been opposed by the UK government’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation and the Home Office as Hizb Ut-Tahrir did not advocate violence.

Hizb Ut-Tahrir protest against Turkey

Bikers for Grenfell

Kensington Town Hall

Bikers, including Muslim bikers Deen Riders and others took part in a United Ride 4 Grenfell from the Ace Cafe on the North Circular to Parliament and then came to Kensington Town Hall demanding action and justice for the victims of the Grenfell fire.

People gathering from the monthly silent march for Grenfell cheered and applauded them as they rode past and then began their march. Among them were many of the survivors from the fire.

Bikers for Grenfell

Grenfell Silent Walk – 10 Months On

Kensington

*‘Tories have blood on their hands’ but the silent walks seemed to have had little impact*

The Grenfell fire was a tragedy waiting to happen because of decisions made by Kensington and Chelsea Council who had approved the fitting of unsafe cladding to cut costs, had ignored residents complaints about safety in the building, and more. Government too share some of the blame for their cutting ‘red tape’ policies that had hugely compromised safety, including the privatisation of fire inspections.

The contractors they employed to carry out the cladding – and those they had employed had not done the job properly – but the council had failed to oversee their work properly and the reduced safety regulation regime allowed them to get away with improper installaion.

Kensington & Chelsea is a borough of extremes of wealth, and its Tory council is largely run by and for its wealthier residents. Both in the way in which it ran its social housing leading up to the fire and its failure to deal effectively with its aftermath it showed little concern for the poorer in the borough. Ten months after the fire there were still survivors who were not properly rehoused.

And now, almost nine years after the fire on Wednesday 14 June 2017, we have still seen no justice, despite a long and hugely expensive inquiry. As so often the authorities seem to have been more interested in protecting the guilty, kicking things into the long grass. I doubt there will ever be any real justice – if it comes it will be far too little and far too late.

More at Grenfell silent walk – 10 months on.

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Stop the War – Troops Out – 2008

Stop the War – Troops Out: The protest organised by Stop the War, CND and British Muslim Initiative on Saturday 15th March, 2008 was an impressive one, with around 50,000 marchers calling for the withdrawal of our troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, no attack on Iran and a free Palestine, as well as many other groups drawing attention to other issues around the world including the genocide in Somalia.

It began with a rally in Trafalgar Square where speakers included Tony Benn and Bruce Kent and then took a roundabout route across Westminster Bridge and then back over the Thames on Lambeth Bridge and up Millbank to Parliament Square. Those at the rear of the march were still passing the corner of the square when those at the front arrived back there.

It was an event that included many issues still relevant now, particularly over Iran and Palestine, but also on direct action, with a reminder of the then upcoming trial of the Raytheon 9, anti-war activists who had entered the Raytheon factory in Derry in August 2006 after learning that Raytheon missiles were being used by Israel in their 2006 invasion of Lebanon.

Occupying the offices for eight hours before they were arrested they destroyed computers and documents, and six were tried for criminal damage and affray in May 2008. One man was found guilty of stealing two computer disks but they were all acquitted on all other charges.

The police took a great deal of interest in the protest, with FIT teams who photograph protesters (and journalists, particularly photographers) took an unusual interest in anarchist protesters from Class War, the Anarchist Federation and FITwatch who use their banner to try to prevent the police taking photographs and video.

I missed seeing four of the FITwatch protesters arrested, apparently for intimidating the police. As I commented, “Since a couple of weeks ago one of their photographers and his minder had been seen taking flight and seeking refuge up the steps of the National Gallery when pursued by a polite and always well behaved woman with a shopping trolley and free cakes – much to the amusement of other police present – intimidating the FIT doesn’t seem too difficult.“

But this – like the many large pro-Palestine protests since ‘September 7th’ – was an entirely peaceful protest, calling for peace in many areas around the world and for an end to UK involvement in wars and oppression.

It was a lively protest, with samba band, sound systes, street theatre and dancing. People laid flowers at Nelson Mandela’s statue and Brian Haw – still permanently camped in Parliament Square despite the attempts to remove him by passing SOCPA – joined the protest.

And like all of these marches it also included many Jewish marchers including the Neturei Karta ultra-orthodox anti-Zionists.

You can see many more pictures which also cover other aspects of the march on My London Diary at Stop the War/CND/BMI – Troops out.

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12 Days of Christmas – March

12 Days of Christmas -some of my favourite pictures from those I made in March 2025.

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12 Days of Christmas – February

Some of my favourite pictures from those I made in February 2025:

London, UK. 1 Feb 2025. Anti-fascists in London oppose the protest by supporters of racist Tommy Robinson against his imprisonment for contempt of court. It comes shortly after Donald Trump took over as US President with Elon Musk making a Nazi salute, extreme right parties on the rise in Europe, and Farage claiming Reform UK has over 180,000 members. The London march says fascists are not welcome on our streets and is against all forms of racism including antisemitism and Islamophobia. Peter Marshall

12 Days of Christmas – January

Some of my favourite pictures from those I made in January 2025:

12 Days of Christmas, TRUMP CLIMATE CATATROSPHE, Imperialism, Hands of COngo, — London, UK. 11 Jan 2025. TRUMP CLIMATE CATATROSPHE. US Embassy protest called by Campaign against Climate Change rejects Trumps climate denial and demands urgent action as world reaches 1.5 degree man-made temperature rise and climate disasters occur around the world. Trump has said he will pull the US out of the Paris agreement and his example will embolden climate deniers around the world, threatening homes, livelihoods and lives of billions, particularly in the poorest countries which have done least to cause our climate chaos. Peter Marshall

12 Days of Christmas, Police harass holocaust survivors in Whitehall — London, UK. 18 Jan 2025. Police harass a group of holocaust survivors and familes, making the move further up Whitehall. After police had banned their march from the BBC on spurious political grounds the march organisers decided to hold a rally in Whitehall. Speakers and marchers welcomed the current ceasefire agreement but continued to call for a permanent end to the genocide, an end to arms sales to Israel, for the release of all hostages and prisoners, for urgent humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza and for peace with justice for Palestinians. Over a thousand police surrounded and harassed the protesters to prevent them marching. Peter Marshall

12 Days of Christmas, Police take protesters carrying bunches of flowere through line and then arrest them — London, UK. 18 Jan 2025. After police had banned their march from the BBC on spurious political grounds the march organisers decided to hold a rally in Whitehall. Speakers and marchers welcomed the current ceasefire agreement but continued to call for a permanent end to the genocide, an end to arms sales to Israel, for the release of all hostages and prisoners, for urgent humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza and for peace with justice for Palestinians. Over a thousand police surrounded and harassed the protesters to prevent them marching but sherperded the front few rows through the of marchers through the police line into Trafalgar Square, where they were arrested.

London, UK. 29 Jan 2025. Bus Drivers marched from Victoria to Parliament accompanied by Caroline Russell, AM.. They call for proper rest breaks to avoid fatigue that leads to mistakes – in the last 10 years 80 people have died in collisions involving buses. They demand clean, serviced toilet and rest facilities on all bus routes and for proper heating and air conditioning in cabs. Peter Marshall/Alamy Live News

London, UK. 29 Jan 2025. Members of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a civil, volunteer-based organisation focused on the safe return of all Israeli citizens held hostage by the terrorist organization Hamas, stood in silence facing Downing Street holding up photographs of those still held in Gaza. There message was simple ‘Bring them home now – by any means necessary’. Peter Marshall

London, UK. 29 Jan 2025. Teachers from non-academy sixth form colleges on strike against a two-tier pay system which would mean them getting paid 2% less than colleagues in academies came to a National Education Union rally at parliament against this obvious injustice, demanding equal pay. Sicth form colleges receive 22% less funding than secondary schools. Two further strike days are planned next month. *Peter Marshall*

London, UK 30 Jan 2025. A large crowd at the law courts in Strand support 16 climate activists – JSO16 – appealing their jail sentences for standing up for our planet’s future. Judges prevented juries from hearing the reasons they acted. At first people stood on the pavement with placards but soon hundreds marched in carrying posters with captions and large pictures of political prisoners and sat down blocking the road as an exhibition. Police warned them they might be arrested. Peter Marshall

London, UK 30 Jan 2025. People remember the 53rd anniversary of Bloody Sunday when British soldiers opened fire on a peaceful protest march in Derry against internment without trial, killing 26 unarmed civilians. The vigil in Parliament Square organised by the Terence MacSwiney Committee called for justice. Speakers including several MPs linked the killing with other conflicts caused by British imperialism including the current genocide in Palestine, expressing support for the Palestinian people. Peter Marshall

Tommorow some of my pictures from February.

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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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Muslim Veils, Illegal Goods, Murders, Union Busting and London – 2010

Muslim Veils, Illegal Goods, Murders, Union Busting and London: Saturday 25th September 2010 was a day for several fairly small protests around London, involving me in quite a lot of travelling around. As well as photographing Muslim women protesting against a French ban on Islamic face veils, a protest and counter-protest at a shop selling products from an illegal Israeli settlement, families of murder victimes calling for tougher sentences and a protest against a company employing cleaners for their union-busting activities I also took quite a few pictures as I rode buses and walked around between these events.

Hizb ut-Tahrir Women Protest French Veil Ban

French Embassy, Knightsbridge

Muslim Veils, Illegal Goods, Murders, Union Busting and London - 2010

I’ve often commented on how women were normally sidelined – literally – at protests by the now banned Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain but at this protest outside the French Embassy they were very much at the front, with around 80 women, many with children, and only a handful of men – who did seem to be organising the event.

They were to protest against a law passed by the French Senate on September 14th to prohibit all full-face coverings in public places, clearly aimed at Muslim women who wear the niqab or burkha.

Such garments were then rarely worn in France, certainly outside of Paris and some Mediterranean coastal cities, and of France’s 2-3 million Muslim women the ban is thought likely to only effect around two thousand of them.

Very few of the women at the protest wore veil, most simply covering their hair. The protest in a wealthy area of London close to Harrods was passed by quite a few women who were veiled, but who all seemed to ignore the protest.

I wrote:’ Speakers at the event castigated the French government for taking a measure which they felt limited the freedom of women to make decisions on what they wear while at the same time ignoring issues that degrade and oppress women – such as domestic violence, and “the objectification and sexualisation of women’s bodies in pornography, lap-dancing clubs, advertising, and the entertainment industry, all permitted under the premise of freedom of expression and driven by the pursuit of profit in Western societies.”‘

More at Hizb ut-Tahrir Protest French Veil Ban.

Protest Against Illegal Israeli Goods

Ahava, Monmouth St, Covent Garden

This was one of a series of fortnightly demonstrations outside the Covent Garden Ahava shop which sells products manufactured in an illegal Israel settlement on occupied Palestinian land. These protests were a part of an international ‘Stolen Beauty’ campaign organised by ‘Code Pink’, a women-initiated grass-roots peace and social justice movement which began when American women came together to oppose the invasion of Iraq.

As usual there was a smaller counter-demonstration by a few EDL supporters and a handful of Zionists, handing out leaflets which described the call for a boycott as “bigoted, complicitly and politically antisemitic“.

The protesters say Israel in in breach of international law and Ahava “has openly flouted tax requirements by exploiting the EU-Israel trade agreement and violates UK DEFRA guidelines in respect of proper labelling.” I read the leaflets they handed out and the web sites calling for the boycott and could find no evidence of anti-Semitism. Many calling for a boycott of Israeli goods are Jewish and I reflected that when I began taking photographs in London no Jewish shop would have opened on a Saturday.

More at Protest Against Illegal Israeli Goods.

Families of Murder Victims Call For Justice

Embankment

‘Families Fighting For Justice’, including many families of murder victims, marched through London on Saturday calling for tougher sentences for murder – with life sentences meaning life imprisonment.

The group was formed in Liverpool by Jean Taylor whose sister, son and daughter were all murder victims. She set up a petition which said “Life should mean life, for first degree murder, also tougher sentences for manslaughter” and in 2008 recruited families of other murder victims to join her and march with it to Downing Street.

You can read some of the horrendous stories on the groups web site, and some I was told at the protest were truly heartbreaking and showed why many ordinary people have lost faith in our justice system – and I highlight one of them on My London Diary.

But as I also commented “I don’t feel that the ‘Life 4 A Life’ campaign would actually do much if anything to solve the problem“. Murder is never a rational act where murderers weigh up how long a sentence they might get if caught and draconian sentences would have little or no deterrent effect. Things more likely to help include better social services and policing, but we really need “changes that bring back some of our community spirit and give people a greater engagement.” There really is such a thing as society despite Thatcher’s dismissal and we uirgently need more of it.

Much more at Families of Murder Victims Call For Justice.

Protest Over Initial Rentokil Union Busting

Old St

A short protest by around 20 trade unionists outside the Initial Rentokil offices in Brunswick Place near Old Street on Saturday afternoon marked the start of the campaign against the company for its intimidation and bullying of union members who choose to speak out about pay and employment practices and play an active role in the union.

The cleaners employed by the company at the Eurostar terminals at St. Pancras International were RMT members and the dispute between the union and Initial has continued.

The unions alleged that Initial was deliberately employing workers with doubtful immigration status so they can pay minimum wages and provide sub-standard working conditions, often requiring them to work without proper safety equipment or precautions. They allege that workers who question their rights or attempt to organise have been reported to the immigration authorities who have then raided the workplace.

More at Protest over Initial Rentokil Union Busting.

Around London

One bus I didn’t travel on but photographed outside the former Aldwych Piccadilly Line Station.

‘I am Here’, one of London’s largest art installations overlooking the Regent’s Canal at Haggerston with photographs of former residents on empty flats where people are moved out to redevelop the Haggerston estate – with the promise they will be moved back to new social housing on the estate

Missing letters on an advert beside the canal for Ron’s Shellfish on sale every Saturday at Hoxton Market create a puzzle for those walking by, though this and another picture on My London Diary concentrate on the images and miss out the centre of the sign.

Decoration on the Suleymaniye Mosque on Kingsland Road which mainly serves the British Turkish community.

More at Around London.

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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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Divided Families, Gaza, Ghouta & Sri Lanka – 2014

Divided Families, Gaza, Ghouta & Sri Lanka: Saturday 23rd August 2014 was a busy day for protests around Whitehall. I began at Downing Street with a protest by family members kept apart from their loved ones by Teresa May’s cruel and unfair immigration rules in a deliberate breach of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, then photographed a protest against arms sales to Israel and an end to Israeli war crimes. Then in Trafalgar Square Syrians marked the first anniversary of The chemical massacre at Ghouta before marching to Downing Street, where Tamils were protesting the rapes and killing in Sri Lanka.

Divided Families protest over cruelty – Downing St

Divided Families, Gaza, Ghouta & Sri Lanka - 2014

The Universal Declaration on Human Rights states:

'No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.'

But British citizens who are married to foreign nationals from outside the EU and may have children with them can only bring their partners to the UK if they are in well-paid jobs. And even then the visas needed are expensive and there are tough English Language tests, a need to prove greater attachment to the UK than of any other country and a five year probationary period.

The rules are complex and hard to understand and have changed since 2014, particularly by Brexit. Then those earning less than £18,600 a year were unable to bring on-EU spouses to join them – and couples with two children needed an annual income of £24,800. Visa application was also (and still is) very expensive.

More at Divided Families protest over cruelty

Gaza Protest – Stop Arming Israel – Downing St

Back in 2014 as now people were calling for an end to UK arms sales to Israel and for an end to Israeli war crimes.

The 2014 conflict in Gaza resulted in over 2000 Palestinians being killed including almost 1500 civilians and many more injured, leaving around a thousand children with life-changing disabilities.

Fighting lasted 50 days with many schools and health centres being damaged and over 12,600 homes being destroyed and around a further 6,500 seriously damaged. At the time of this protest UNRWA was housing around 300,000 internally displaced people in the roughly half of its school buildings which had not been destroyed or seriously damaged.

Among the protesters were several groups of Jews, including ‘Jews for Justice for Palestinians’. Also there were Neturei Karta Orthodox Jews with banners opposing Zionism and the idea of a Jewish political state; they call for all to live peacefully together in Palestine – as Jews and Arabs did before the partition and formation of Israel.

A small group of pro-Israel protesters, one dressed as Superman, tried to disrupt the protest but after a short while were led away by police.

More pictures at Gaza Protest – Stop Arming Israel.

Syria Chemical Massacre Anniversary – Trafalgar Square

The chemical attack using the nerve gas Sarin by the Assad regime on Ghouta on 21st August killed 1,477 residents including over 400 children in this Damascus suburb.

Leaders in countries around the world expressed outrage at the attack, called for action to be taken. Pressure did lead to Syria agreeing to sign the Chemical Weapons Convention and the US and Russia agreed on a framework to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons, and much of Syria’s stock was destroyed in the year following the massacre.

‘I am Chemical Bashar Al Assad and one year on I am still gassing Syrian children.
Thank you for UN veto’

But Assad continued to use chemical weapons, including many attacks with chlorine gas which was not covered by the framework because of its widespread chemical uses, as well as some attacks involving Sarin or a similar nerve gas. In 2023 the UN Security council declared that Syria’s chemical weapons declaration was incomplete and demanded full disclosure and cooperation with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

Syria Chemical Massacre Anniversary

Tamils protest Sri Lankan rapes & killing – Downing St

Following the Sri Lankan military defeat of the Tamil Tigers in 2009, Tamils allege that the Tamils who make up around 11% of the population of Sri Lankan have been the subject of a continuing genocide by the government and the Sinhalese majority.

The protest called for the UN to conduct a referendum over setting up a Tamil state and investigate Sri Lankan genocide of Tamils. The Sri Lankan government had not kept the promises it made to the international community at the time of the Tamil defeat and has subjected the Tamil region to military occupation, rapes and killing.

Tamils protest Sri Lankan rapes & killing

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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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