parliament square | >Re-PHOTO

Soldier F, HS2 & Bees – 2019

Soldier F, HS2 & Bees: On Saturday 28th September 2019 people, many former soldiers, were protesting in Westminster against the prosecution of ‘Soldier F’ for the murder of unarmed civil rights protesters in Londonderry on ‘Bloody Sunday’ in 1972. From there I went to Euston for a protest against the destruction of ancient woodland to build HS2 and finally to Stoke Newington for a protest against the lack of action over climate change which threatens the future of many species including our own.

Veterans Moon for Soldier F

Parliament Square

Soldier F was one of several paratroopers who had opened fire on unarmed civilian protesters in Londonderry on Bloody Sunday’ in 1972.

Although the government had recently announced that soldiers would be granted protection against prosecution for any alleged historic offences, a special exemption allowed offences during the Irish ‘Troubles’ to be brought to court. Soldier F was the first to be brought to trial. The protesters called for this exemption to be removed and the case to be dropped.

The square was surrounded by riders and motorbikes who were to ride as a part of the protest and there were hundreds waiting to march, along with a few military vehicles. A small group on the top of one of these dropped their trousers, mooning towards Parliament and also turning and then towards the middle of the square.

Soldier F was eventually found ‘Not Guilty’ by a Belfast Court Judge in 2025.

Veterans Moon for Soldier F

HS2 threatens ancient Woodland

Euston

*Chris Packham with a man dressed as a tree hold pots of saplings from South Cubbington Wood*

Despite huge cost overruns and the abandonment of the routes past Birmingham that were needed to make the project worthwhile, HS2 was (and is) still going ahead, its route ploughing through and destroying acres of irreplaceable ancient woodland.

The Woodland Trust had come for a ‘Euston: We have a Problem’ with people carrying plants in posts and Chris Packham handed out acorns for people to take home and plant. My own fairly small garden already has far too many trees – and I have to pull up hundreds of ash saplings every year or it would really be a small forest, but I didn’t refuse them.

HS2 was justified by the need for greater capacity on the West Coast mainline by providing an alternative route north of Birmingham – but will not now do so. It will take far longer to build than envisaged and cost more than twice as much while providing little in return – a few minutes shorter ride between London and Birmingham but to stations at each end rather disconnected from the rest of our transport system, so probably meaning longer overall journey times for most passengers.

HS2 is a huge and continuing example of throwing good money after bad; it should never have got off the ground and successive governments have lacked the political courage to cancel it.

The protest came days before destruction was to start of South Cubbington Wood, one of 30 classified ancient woodlands among a total of 108 woods to be wholly or partly lost to HS2. The felling was delayed for some time but huge numbers of trees were felled there in 2020.

HS2 threatens ancient Woodland

Requiem for a Bee

Stoke Newington

Extinction Rebellion Hackney marched from Clissold Park to Stoke Newington Town Hall behind a coffin ‘OUR FUTURE’ in protest against failures to take action over global heating which is caused by increasing levels of man-made greenhouse gases. After speeches there XR Hackney marched to a final rally at the gates of Abney Park Cemetery on Stamford Hill.

The protest title, ‘Requiem For A Bee’ referred to the Red Girdled Mining Bee previously found in the cemetery becoming extinct there due to loss of habitat due to increasing development in Hackney.

They demanded that Hackney Council appoint a biodiversity officer, act on their recent declaration of climate emergency, include XR and other local groups in a citizens assembly, commit to net zero emissions by 2025 and divest 100% of pension fund from fossil fuels.

Fortunately for me the protest was late in starting as I had arrived late after rushing from Euston. I was able to photograph it leaving the park and then continue all the way to the end. I found the final rally with an odd period of reflection rather strange.

Requiem for a Bee

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Guantanamo & Nanas Against Fracking – 2018

Guantanamo & Nanas Against Fracking: On Wednesday 12th September 2018 I went to Parliament Square where the Guantanamo Justice Campaign was holding a monthly vigil calling for an end to the illegal torture camp at Guantanamo and Nanas from Lancashire with others were calling for the government to end fracking. Later I went with the Nanas who marched to protest at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in Victoria St.

Trump told to close Guantanamo

Parliament Square

Guantanamo & Nanas Against Fracking - 2018 — *Baroness Jenny Jones came to visit the vigil*

Another monthly vigil opposite Parliament called on UK Prime Minister Theresa May to make urgent representations to President Trump to close Guantanamo and end the brutality and torture which is continuing against the 40 men then still held there in indefinite detention.

They demanded Trump respect human rights and internation law, saying the illegal camp is a legal and moral outrage and a symbol of US torture and injustice.

The protesters were joined briefly by Green Party member of the House of Lords Jenny Jones, Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb.

Trump told to close Guantanamo

#100Women against fracking

Parliament Square

Following 3 months of “Love & Defiance” that took place from April-June in Lancashire by the Nanas they came to London to tell the government to stop ignoring science and the will of the people and ban fracking.

As well as threatening the areas of the country in which it was taking place with earthquakes and pollution, fracking is also a threat to the future of the planet through its high level of carbon emissions.

Many of the protesters wore suffragette costumes to mark the 100th anniversary of women first getting the vote in 1918 and called on the government now to make voting mean something. The rally took place in front to the statue of suffragist campaigner Millicent Fawcett.

Speakers at the rally included Ruth George, Labour MP for High Peak, Jenny Jones, Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb, Mike Amesbury, Labour MP for Weaver Vale, Lancashire Nana Tina-Louise Rothery, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell and Green Party Deputy Leader Amelia Womack.

Also speaking at the rally were women against a proposed move of the statue of suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst, funded by suffragettes in 1930, from Victoria Tower Gardens next to the House of Lords to Regent’s Park, which they described as an “act of vandalism against women’s history“.

More pictures including most of the speakers at 100Women against fracking.

100Women protest at BEIS

Dept for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy

*Nanas sing in protest against fracking at the BEIS*

At the end of the rally in Parliament Square, the anti-fracking women protesters in Suffragette dress marched around the square and on to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in Victoria St for a noisy protest there.

*Women get ready to march to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in Victoria St*

*Outside the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy*

One woman climbed on the low wall in front of the delivery bay at the centre of the frontage and others followed with more moving inside behind to support them.

The protest continued between the two wings of the offices and on the pavement in front with much shouting and singing.

100Women protest at BEIS

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Diana & Mass Lone Demo – 2006

Diana & Mass Lone Demo: On Thursday 31 August I went with a friend to the gates of Kensington Palace on the ninth anniversary of the killing of Princess Diana (I think I deliberately misspelt her name twice as Diane to show my lack of interest in the royals) before going to a pub in Kensington.

Later in the day I went to Parliament Square for the Mass Lone Demonstration suggested by Mark Thomas in response to the ludicrous and dangerous restrictions on protests in a large area around Parliament and other designated sites imposed in the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005.

Princess Diana, 9th Anniversary commemoration

Kensington Palace

The last day of the month was the ninth anniversary of Diana’s death, and her fans, including members of the Diana Circle, were at Kensington Palace to mark the event, taping flowers and tributes to the gates and fence. I’d gone to meet a friend, who had extensively photographed the scenes there in the days immediately following her death.

The fans had come from all over the country, and from Germany and elsewhere. Father Frank Gelli, who was curate of St Mary Abbots just down the road at the time of her death, led prayers at a short memorial service. Throughout the day more people arrived with tributes and flowers. Next year on the 10th anniversary there are hopes for a bigger event. [And I went again then.]

Kensington Palace has had a bit of a face lift, doubtless benefiting from the Diana effect on visitor numbers. However, rather than taking a visit there, we went to visit the Elephant And Castle, and old press pub, taking a short detour through St Mary Abbots on our way.

More pictures on My London Diary.

Mass Lone Demonstration

Parliament Square

Later in Parliament Square I got a small badge ‘Mass Lone Demonstration 31/8 Parliament Square‘. This was an idea from Mark Thomas, who had suggested that as many people as possible should give the required one weeks notice to the police that they planned a solo demonstration in parliament square from 6-7pm.

I’m not sure how many did so, though there were perhaps around 50 with different placards while I was there. If I’d heard about it in time, I would perhaps have applied and arrived with a poster “End Police Harassment Of Photographers“.

One of the stupidest things that the Labour government have done was to try to pass a law to get rid of Brian Haw, whose continuing protest opposite the Houses of Parliament was causing minor embarrassment to Labour ministers, particularly Mr Blair. They managed to tag it on to something called SOCPA, the Serious Organised Crime And Police Act 2005.

The blunt weapon they wielded banned all demonstrations without a weeks notice within a kilometre or so of parliament, and much to their disappointment it has so far failed to get rid of Brian. Actually he’s a reasonable man, and if they had instead done something serious to stop children being killed in Iraq he would have been out of the square immediately.

Instead they choose to strike at free speech for all of us. It’s a law that has so far resulted in some farcical prosecutions (though with serious consequences for those taken to court.) Many of the police I’ve talked to obviously feel the law is an ass, and resent having to try and enforce it. Often they’ve turned their backs and walked away from illegal events (or even escorted the people carrying them out when they were company directors), but it has also wasted huge amounts of public money when they have been pushed into action.

One of the provisions of the law is that a lone demonstration – one person with a placard – is automatically to be granted permission provided a week’s notice is given, although conditions may be attached either when the permission is granted or by a police officer on the spot. It was Mark Thomas who had the idea that there could be a large number of such demonstrations at the same time and place, and it was made public on several blogs and web sites.

Those taking part were encouraged to pick their own subject of protest – serious or silly – and you can see some of these in my pictures. Brian Haw, who has received limited permission to use a megaphone, was able to do so.

A few more pictures here on My London Diary.

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No Glory No More War – 2014

No Glory No More War: Monday 4th August was the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War – and campaigners marked the anniversary with a ‘No Glory – No More War‘ event in Parliament Square.

My father was 14 when the ‘Great War’ began and had just left school. Soon after was working in a factory making munitions close to Kew Bridge. Although his only formal qualification was his school leaving certificate he worked in the drawing office rather than on the shop floor – though the only work he ever mentioned doing there was sharpening pencils. Years of working with his father in their car-building workshop as a carpenter and wheelwright had made him a dab hand with a chisel.

After some months he was out of a job, and fed up and decided – as he put it – “he might as well join the army” before he was conscripted. He went to join up and had a medical where the officer examining found he was severely deaf in one ear – and told him he could be excused military service. “Do you want to go?” he was asked and he said he did. “Good man!” he was told and signed up to the army.

Then came military training, which he didn’t much like after which he was sent to barracks. At some point when he was ordered to do some particularly time-wasting job he told the officer concerned what he thought of it and was put on a charge. Fortunately his senior officer was a sensible man, and after telling Dad he could be shot for disobeying an order told him not to be stupid again and sent him back to his unit.

Dad’s skills were not being used in the Army and he requested a transfer to the Royal Flying Corps as a mechanic. He went first to France and later to Germany, helping to repair the planes when they came back damaged. The airfields were well behind the front line and relatively safe. On April 1, 2018 the RFC became the RAF but I doubt if it made a lot of difference on the ground. And he was on the ground, and would never say if he ever went up in the air during his service.

After the end of the war Dad was one of the last of his unit to be demobbed, ending up as stores quartermaster, only coming home in 1919, bringing with him some odd iron German coins and fond memories of fraternising with the German people. He had not seen the true horror of the war, though many he knew and served with had died. And of his five sisters, only two ever found men to marry.

At the event there were much more dramatic stories of the war and the truth about it, with a number of well-known speakers including historians and others. Among them was Neil Faulkner, author of the pamphlet No Glory, which gives a real history of WW1.

Far from being the “war to end all wars” and a “victory for democracy“, it was a military disaster and a human catastrophe, “driven by big powers’ competition for influence around the globe, and caused a degree of suffering all too clear in the statistical record of 16 million people dead and 20 million wounded.“

*WW1 Veteran Harry Patch told Tony Blair ‘War is Nothing Better than legalised Mass Murder’*

I concluded my account: “While we remember the bravery and sacrifice of those who took part, we should also be aware of the pointlessness of the war and make use of its anniversary to promote peace and international cooperation.”

Many more pictures on My London Diary at No Glory No More War.

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Cuban 5, Knives & Peace Strike – 2008

Cuban 5, Knives & Peace Strike: Saturday 7th June 2008 I photographed a protest following the dismissal of an appeal in Miami by five Cuban men held in the USA since 1998, a Seventh Day Adventist Church march against knife crime and a rally by the Peace Strike camped in Parliament Square.

Release the Cuban 5

Trafalgar Square

The Cuban 5 were Cuban intelligence officers who came to Miami to spy and infiltrate on the Cuban exile community after terrorist bombings by Cuban exiles had taken place in Havana, organised with the support of the CIA.

The five men were arrested in September 1998 and later convicted in Miami and given lengthy jail sentences. International concerns about their lack of a fair trial led an Atlanta Court of Appeals hearing which overturned their convictions in 2005, but this decision was soon overturned by the full court, who re-instated the original convictions.

In the week before this protest an appeal court in Miami upheld the convictions and the life sentence against Gerardo Hernandez and that of 15 years against Rene Gonzalez, but referred Ramon Labanino, Antonio Guerrero and Fernando Gonzalez for re-sentencing in Miami.

Rock Around the Blockade had protested at the US Embassy the previous Thursday as a part of an international day of protest and were in Trafalgar Square on Saturday to raise awareness and collect signatures for a petition calling for the release of the men.

Rene Gonzales was eventually allowed to return to Cuba for his father’s funeral in 2013 having served 13 years of his sentence and Fernando Gonzalez was released in February 2014. The three remaining prisoners were released later that year in a prisoner swap.

More at Release the Cuban 5.

Adventist Youth March against Knives, Guns & Violence

Trafalgar Square- Kennington Park

*Pathfinders – an Adventist youth group – wait for the march to start*

Seventh Day Adventist Church organisations had organised a youth rally in Trafalgar Square before marching to Kennington Park to make young people realise the dangers they face if they carry a knife.

Many feel that they need a knife to defend themselves if they are attacked by someone with a knife, but we know that meeting aggression with aggression carries a high risk.

*Carrying a gun can get you a five years, use it and you could get a life sentence*

I wrote: “Communities need to police themselves more effectively and to cooperate with the police when they cannot deal with situations without them. The problem is one that needs both strong community organisations and sensitive policing. I hope that Boris will be encouraging and putting resources into community organisation in the inner city and not just stepping up policing.”

He didn’t.

Youth March against Knives

Peace Strike – Parliament Square

*Maria Gallastegui explains about the Peace Strike*

The Peace Strike had joined the peace protesters already in Parliament Square in Brian Haw’s Peace Campaign there since 2001.

Maria Gallastegui had set up Peace Strike to call on people to take effective action for peace by striking, withdrawing their labour if only for short periods. The campaign against the invasion of Iraq had shown the marches, even huge marches, did not stop the war.

At the marches before the invasion began, speakers including Tony Benn had called for people to strike if the war went ahead, but when it happened Stop The War had simply decided to call yet another march.

Peace Strike aimed to build actions not just in the UK but globally which will demonstrate that people are willing to strike for peace and the future of humanity. In June 2008 an attack on Iran was a major threat, with the US building up forces.

As well as speeches we all enjoyed the playing and singing of singer/songwriter Harry Loco who had come from Holland, and as well as his own songs he gave a fine performance of a Dylan number.

Peace Strike – Parliament Square

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State Opening of Parliament 2015

State Opening of Parliament: I wasn’t of course attending the Queen’s Opening of Parliament on Wednesday 27 May 2015, but it was a day for protests in Westminster. Class War had come to protest against the monarchy and the political system and were hounded by police, Compassion in Care protested in support of whistle-blowers, students in the National Campaign against Fees and Cuts had organised a rally and march and others including Disco Boy and Ahwazi protesters came to join in. The day ended with a People’s Assembly rally at Downing Street but I was too tired to cover this properly and went home. I wrote about all these in My London Dairy and uploaded quite a few pictures – you can read and view more by following the links in the brief introductions below.

Class War protest Queen’s speech

Parliament Square

Class War only managed to display their ‘political leaders’ banner on the corner of Parliament briefly before police forced them to put it away. Around 50 officers then followed most of them as they went to a nearby pub and continued to watch them from the opposite side of the street for several hours.

Police arrested two other men for simply standing in the square, one holding a video camera and the other a rolled up poster. They were released without chanrge some hours later.

More at Class War protest Queen’s speech.

I am Edna’ – protect whistle-blowers

Downing St

*A woman holds a photograph of her husband who died because of his mistreatment in a care home*

A line of people held up posters and shouted ‘I am Edna’ at Downing St calling for a law which would make it an offence not to act on the genuine concerns of a whistleblower and to protect those revealing scandals in social care and other sectors.

More at ‘I am Edna’ – protect whistle-blowers.

Police arrest man in Trafalgar Square

Trafalgar Square

As people gathered for the National Campaign against Fees and Cuts a police squad rushed in and arrested a man. They were surrounded by a crowd who grew angry when police refused to give them any explanation for the arrest and pushed some away roughly

Police pushed a young man standing on the pavement near the police van roughly out of their way, and when he complained, he was assaulted by an officer then arrested for assault.

Later police announced that the arrest in the square was in no way related to the gathering protest but to an earlier offence. Had they made that clear to the crowd when they made the arrest the problems could have been avoided.

More pictures Police arrest man in Trafalgar Square.

Disco Boy plays Trafalgar Square

*Disco Boy at the mike with his mobile rig and crew in Trafalgar Square*

Disco Boy’ Lee Marshall from Kent who runs discos at local events and carries out stunts to be videod and posted on social media brought a mobile rig to Trafalgar Square before the NCAFC protest there and had people dancing around the square before going on to perform elsewhere, including outside Downing St.

Disco Boy plays Trafalgar Square

NCAFC rally in Trafalgar Square

*Class War’s controvesial banner got loud cheers from the crowd*

Students and other supporters of the National Campaign against Fees and Cuts met in Trafalgar Square, and there were a few short speeches before they set off on a march.

A banner points out that less than a quarter of the population had voted for the Tory government and called for proportional representation.

Protesting with them were Class War, with several banners including a replacement for their ‘Political Leaders’ banner’ which had been taken by Bethnal Green Police the previous month (and police ‘lost’ it) and also the Hashem Shabani group of Ahwazi Arabs, who later held their own protest

NCAFC rally in Trafalgar Square.

NCAFC March against ‘undemocratic’ government

The National Campaign Against Fees & Cuts set off down Whitehall with police making ineffectual attempts to stop them, arresting several forcefully.

The rest of the protesters remained peaceful and simply walked through the huge gaps in the police line, made larger as they made the few arrests. There seemed to be no reason for the police attempting to stop them.

The protesters complained to police about the violent attacks and arrests. They went to protest outside the DWP and then marched past the now heavily protected Tory Party HQ back to a People’s Assembly rally opposite Downing Street. Some stayed there, others marched on and I went home. It had been a long day.

More pictures at NCAFC March against ‘undemocracy’.

Ahwazi Arabs protest Iran’s war on them

*Our Pens Are Our Swords. Our Voices Are Our Bombs*

Ahwazi protesters joined the mainly student anti-austerity National Campaign Against Fees & Cuts protesters in London to call for an end to the Iranian attacks on their heritage and identity. Their homeland, which includes most of Iran’s oil, was occupied by Iran in 1925

I photographed them in Trafalgar Square with the NCAFC and later when they left the march as it went through Parliament Square to hold a separate protest there.

More pictures: Ahwazi Arabs protest Iran’s war

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March Against Monsanto – 2013

*March Against Monsanto in Parliament Square*

The March Against Monsanto on Saturday 25 May 2013 attracted rather more attention than in some years partly because Bianca Jagger was to speak.

It had been intended to hold a static rally on the pavement in front of Parliament Square which is controlled by Westminster Council, but there were more people than could fit on this.

*One of many pictaures of Bianca Jagger*

The protest began to spill over on to the grass of the square where the authorities are particularly sensitive about protests after it was occupied by the Democracy Village peace camp in 2010.

Police suggested to the organisers that they move to Old Palace Yard, where there is more space for the rally, and they did so.

The London rally was one of many taking place around the world as an annual global ‘March Against Monsanto’.

Bianca Jagger has a long history of working for human rights and environmental causes – receiving for the latter the Green Globe Award from the Rainbow Alliance in 1997, and the United Nations Earth Day Award in 1994. Among over events I photographed her at several protests against mining company Vedanta.

*Monsanto GMOs Destroy Agricultural Diversity*

She was followed by a number of other speakers stressing the danger of GM foods and biofuels and calling for some more organised action against them.

Hare Krishna had come and were providing free food for all who wanted it – but as usual I had brought my own sandwiches – always safer for a long-term diabetic. At the end of the rally their bike-hauled band with drum kit, amps and speakers arrived.

The event had been planned as a static rally, but soon the band was leading most of those present in a march around Parliament Square and up Whitehall where they stopped for a brief protest at the gates of Downing Street.

The march continued up Whitehall to Trafalgar Square where I left them – the band was returning to its base in Soho.

On My London Diary there is a very brief account of the problems of GMO foods and the particular dangers posed by Monsanto and their relationship with the US Food and Drugs Administration, as well as many more pictures: March Against Monsanto.

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Youth Strike for Climate – 2019

Youth Strike for Climate: London, Friday 24 May 2019

As we are expecting record May temperatures in the next few days and a summer with more deaths than ever from excessive heat, it is abundantly clear that the response of governments and politicians around the world to the climate crisis has for many years been woefully inadequate – and continues to be so.

Of course many of us have been pointing this out for many years, stressing the need for drastic changes to move away from the use of fossil fuels. As well as a huge shift to renewable energy this would also have needed dramatic changes in lifestyle in the industrialised countries and a move away from the politics and economics of greed and inequality.

Back in 2019 many young people saw we were heading towards catastrophe and failing globally to take effective steps to ameliorate the unavoidable crisis. They face a future world where temperatures will be generally several – perhaps five – degrees higher and our current global weather systems will be replaced by more extremes, with even more common fires and floods.

The younger you are now, the worse the problems will get in your lifetime, so it is hardly surprising that the young are more concented, and that many thousands around the world took part in a global climate strike against the lack of action by governments worldwide to combat the climate crisis in London in May 2019.

It was a protest with a great deal of energy, with a large crowd of mainly school students meeting in Parliament Square before marching past several ministries and staging a sit-down outside the Ministry of Education demanding that climate change becomes a vital aspect of the curriculum.

*A crowded sit-down on the street at the Education Ministry*

Clearly many school art departments were already getting involved, with protesters carrying an unusually numerous wide range of placards, for once hugely outnumbering those mass-produced by the Socialist Workers Party.

From there they marched back up Whitehall past Downing Street to hold a rally in front of Nelson’s Column, then returning to protest at the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy and finally going back to Parliament Square.

By then I think some police tempers were getting a little frayed and some students were manhandled rather aggressively off the road – and at least one minor was arrested.

I’d got tired with some often rather fast marching and the protest was still continuing when I decided it was time to go home.

Many more pictures at Youth Strike for Climate.

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6 Music, EDL & Democracy – 2010

6 Music, EDL & Democracy: On Saturday 22 May 2010 I began work outside the BBC with people protesting over the threatened closure of two popular radio networks, 6 Music and the Asian Network. I then covered a march through London by the far-right English Defence League. During the day I walked several times through Parliament Square and took a few pictures of the ‘Democracy Camp’ still there along with the longstanding Peace Camp.

Save BBC 6Music & Asian Network

Broadcasting House

Newspaper reports that the BBC might be planning to axe the digital music channel 6 Music stirred a huge campaign by supporters to save the radio station with #SaveBBC6Music trending on Twitter and a Facebook Group with nearly 180,000 members.

Radio 6 had been launched by the BBC in 2002 as a digital alternative music station and played a wide range of music including many genres largely marginalised by the more mainstream Radio 1 and Radio 2 – Wikipedia lists its output “pop, rock, dance, electronic, indie, hip-hop, R&B, punk, funk, grime, metal, soul, ska, house, reggae, jazz, blues, world, techno, experimental and many others“.

Around five months later “the BBC Trust announced that it was not convinced by the BBC Executive’s plans and that the station would not be closed.”

The very public campaign to save the station led to a significant growth in listeners and this continued, and by 2014 it was attracting more listeners than Radio 3.

The Asian Network which had begun on BBC local radio beofre being launched in 1989, and had later gone nationwide were also under threat. The BBC Trust also rejected plans to close the network but did cut its budget by 50%.

Save 6 Music & Asian Network

EDL In Patriot March in Central London

Westminster

The march through London to pay respect to the war dead at the Cenotaph and then hold a short rally at the Duke of York Steps was officially organised by ‘British Citizens Against Muslim Extremists’, but was largely if not entirely attended by those who had taken part in previous EDL marches, with many carrying EDL banners.

Unlike previous EDL marchers this was a peaceful march and there were few if any counter-demonstrations. The few hundred marchers included quite a few families and many carried St George flags.

Most here happy to be photographed when I met them outside a pub at the start of the march, many playing up for the cameras. And stewards quickly led away one man who seemed about to attack a press photographer.

Stewards also quickly dealt with a man who began an offensive chant about Allah, telling him the EDL was against such racist sentiments and also that the police had told them they would stop the march taking place if there were such racist chants.

There were loud chants against Sharia Law but also against ‘Muslim bombers’ a phrase that stigmatises all Muslims for the actions of a a few extremists which are not supported by the mass of the Muslim community.

The march set off noisily, but as it turned into Whitehall and approached the Cenotaph it became a silent tribute to British troops, which was followed by applause, with the chanting resuming as they came past Downing St, marching on through Trafalgar Square to Waterloo Place for the rally.

*This man had been cautioned by police for wearing this ‘England Till I Die’ t-shirt on the street*

On My London Diary I write more about the march and about some of the marchers I photographed who told me about police harassment and being refused entry to pubs for wearing England shirts. Most who spoke to me were also insistent that they were not racists and they were happy for Muslims to live here so long as they respected British traditions and fitted in with our way of life.

At the rally I was threatened by a few of the protesters who decided to try to prevent press photographers from working. I complained to a couple of the stewards, and one of them accompanied me as I took a few more pictures before leaving.

More at EDL Patriot March in London.

Democracy Camp Continues

Parliament Square

I walked through Parliament Square several times over the day and took a few pictures.

There wasn’t a great deal happening, but the Democracy Camp which had set up there on May Day was still there three weeks later, despite the huffing and puffing from Boris Johnson and others.

Although they claimed their action was supporting the long-term protest by Brian Haw and supporters who were under constant threat by the police and others, the Parliament Square Peace Campaign suspected the Democracy Camp of being promoted by the police.

Democracy Camp Continues

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May Day 2000 – Anti-capitalist celebrations

May Day 2000 – Anti-capitalist celebrations: May Day has been celebrated in Europe since ancient times as the beginning of Summer, with festivities, dancing and more, but also became International Workers’ Day following the 1889 International Workers Congress, the date marking the start of a general strike in the USA in 1886 which lead to the Haymarket affair three days later.

May 1st is a public holiday in many countries, but only occasionally in the UK when the first Monday in May happens to be on 1st May. The Labour government that eventually brought in the early May Bank Holiday in 1978 chickened out from making it actually May Day. So one of the many advantages of leaving full-time teaching to become a freelance writer and photographer was that I was for the first time able to able to go every year to the May Day events in London.

As it happens, the first May Day after that was Monday May 1st 2000 and the big London event on that day was an anti-capitalist celebration that combined elements of both the traditional events and International Workers Day, beginning with partying and ‘guerrilla gardening’ in the sun in Parliament Square.

I went with the protesters up Whitehall towards Trafalgar Square, and was outside McDonald’s when a handful of protesters began smashing the windows there. Most of the people at the protest stood back and watched. I was a few yards away and the crowd was too dense for me to get close enough to take pictures.

Police clearly made no effort to protect the McDonald’s though it was an obvious target, but stood waiting around the corner until after the damage took place before charging into the protest, herding them into Trafalgar Square where they were kettled for some hours and around 95 people were arrested. It looked as if police had they had planned to let protesters attack the fast-food outlet to justify the use of violence against the large crowd of peaceful protesters.

The BBC report began “Hundreds of demonstrators have been fighting running battles with police during anti-capitalist protests in London” but failed to say that these ‘battles’ were the result of police attacks on largely peaceful protesters – and they also wrongly said the McDonald’s was “in The Strand“. They used the term “defaced‘ for the decoration of Churchill’s statue with a turf ‘Mohican’ which considerably overstated the event, but was also the main preoccupation of the rest of the media. Reading their account I very much get the impression that it was written by someone not there when things were happening.

As you can see from my account at the time below, I was there until I saw the riot police charging the protesters, batoning clearly peaceful protesters offering them flowers, before deciding to go home rather than face possible police violence and detention.

May Day 2000 – Anti-capitalist Celebrations

May in London must mean May Day, and we made the most of this one, dancing around Parliament Square.

I was more or less next to Macdonalds on Whitehall when demonstrators started to break windows and generally smash it up. It was obvious it was going to happen some time before, and the police made no attempt to prevent it, standing back and letting things happen, although they were massed down a nearby side-street.

I could only conclude they wanted some damage to be able to justify their actions that were to follow, as well as the dire warnings their superior officers had spent some time giving on the media.

The damage could easily have been prevented; action by a handful of police would have been enough to have led the demonstrators on into Trafalgar Square.

*A woman harangues demonstrator’s from behind police lines*

When I saw they were letting it happen, I drew back, making my way through the police lines as they prepared for a massive charge. I watched the first few waves go in and belatedly take up positions. They were hyped up for action and one or two stepped out of line to attack a demonstrator who was offering them flowers with their sticks, knocking him flying and leaving blood pouring from his head. I was just too far away on the wrong side of the charging police to get the picture.

One or two photographers who got close to the police received similar treatment. At this point I decided to leave the scene before I was trapped in by the police or assaulted – I had other things I needed to do that evening. If I had left it a few minutes later I would have been among the several thousand confined for hours for little reason in Trafalgar Square. Perhaps I would have got more pictures, but equally likely I would have suffered gratuitous violence. I wasn’t commissioned to be there and decided not to stay.

There are just a few more pictures on My London Diary but quite a few more that I’ve never posted on-line, both black and white and colour. I hope to digitise more later.

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