police | >Re-PHOTO

Suicide, Arms Dealers & Letting Agent – 2015

Suicide, Arms Dealers & Letting Agent; Friday 11th September 2005 I began with a protest outside Parliament on a matter which is still being debated inside Parliament today, having been talked out by opponents in the House of Lords earlier this year – Assisted Suicide. I went on to the continuing protest outside the DSEi Arms Fair at the Excel Centre in Newham before finally going further east to Goodmayes in Redbridge where United Voices of the World were supporting a member to get back his life savings from a letting agent who failed to provide the property and was refusing to repay the money.

Assisted Suicide Debate Lobbies

Old Palace Yard, Westminster

Suicide, Arms Dealers & Letting Agent - 2015

Rival groups of protesters for and against the Assisted Suicide Bill were protesting at Parliament on the day that the bill was being debated.

Not Dead Yet UK were opposing the bill and were supported by disabled protesters who had recently lost ILF support now feel threatened by the Bill.

The Campaign for Dignity in Dying had come to support it, calling for our broken law to be fixed. There were also some disabled protesters supporting them, and claiming the support of 86% of disabled people.

There was a barrier between the two groups and there were some quiet arguments across it. The current law is certainly not satisfactory but it is hard to see how it can be changed without putting some at risk. For good reason the activities of doctors are now much more in the open – we remember Harold Shipman, thought to have killed around 250 of his patients over 24 years as a Manchester doctor, but perhaps now there are too many who “strive needlessly to keep alive” rather than risk allegations of misconduct.

More pictures: Assisted Suicide Debate lobbies.

Refugees Welcome, Arms Dealers NOT

Excel London, Royal Victoria Dock

I arrived at the protest camp close to the East Gate into the Excel Centre while a rally was taking place on the side of the road leading into the centre.

*‘Welfare NOT Warfare’ was the message of a long banner held on the central pavement*

*Green Party Leader Natalie Bennett speaks about the UK’s failed foreign policy and massive arms supply at the root of the world’s worst refugee crisis since the Second World War.*

Speakers, including Green Party leader Natalie Bennett, Simon from Occupy The Arms Fair, Rita Chadha of Refugee and Migrant Forum of Essex and London, Cecil of Black Dissidents, Spike of Veterans for Peace pointed out the injustice in allowing free movement of arms while restricting the movement of the refugees the use of arms creates.

*Cecil of Black Dissidents speaks about the racism behind the treatment of migrants*

Arnold (from Sierra Leone) and Kiarash (from Iran) talked of their personal experiences of the problems faced by those seeking asylum in the UK, and some refugees waiting to come here from Calais were able to speak by phone.

When the rally ended a group of protesters formed themselves into an ‘Alternative Border Farce’ and stood in the road in front of lorries attempting to go into the Arms Fair. Police warned them they might be arrested but while I was there simply pushed them, occasionally rather more forcefully than seemed necessary, out of the road when each lorry approached.

The protesters managed to hold up several lorries for a few minutes, but more police arrived and by the time I left they were able to escort the lorries through with a line of police on each side.

More on My London Diary at Refugees Welcome, Arms Dealers NOT.

UVW tell Estate Agent to Pay Up

Hunter Home Properties Ltd, Goodmayes

*Hunter Home Properties Ltd* is this single desk by the window

United Voices of the World trade union member Carlos had paid his life savings of £6,500 to estate agent Usman Bhatti of Home Hunter Properties Ltd in Goodmayes as deposit and 2 months rent on an house for his family. But the house was not available and he was now homeless and unable to get most of his money back.

The UVW had been trying to get Carlos’s money back for several month, and had been promised it would be paid and even given a cheque – which bounced. But now Mr Bhatti was not answering calls so the union decided to pay him a visit.

I went with a dozen members of the UVW and Carlos to the office in Goodmayes which Bhatti shares with other businesses – he had a single desk by the window though his company name was prominent on the shop front.

They went inside the shop and began a noisy protest with drums and horns, bringing in their banner and placard. UVW General Secretary Petros Elia then talked to Bhatti and the others went to continue the protest on the pavement outside.

Mr Bhatti promised to pay but could not do so immediately and said he would do so within two weeks, but the protesters were not convinced as he had make similar offers in the past and not kept to his promises.

The protesters went back into the shop and Mr Bhatti then lost his temper and tried to grab a vuvuzela that Elia was blowing in his direction, assaulting him. But he soon calmed down and took Carlos and Elia into a back room for more talks, accompanied by the videographer who was also recording the protest.

Shortly after they came out, two police officers arrived, talked to both the protesters and people inside the office. There seemed to be no problems and the protest was ending so I left to catch a train back into London.

Back home I I heard that shortly after I left the police had arrested Petros and another of the protesters, and that Petros was being charged with assaulting Mr Bhatti. I was shocked, not least because I had seen the opposite happening.

There is a longer account of the event with many more pictures on My London Diary at UVW tell Estate Agent to Pay Up.

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DSEi Arms Fair & Sotheby’s 2 – 2015

DSEi Arms Fair & Sotheby’s 2: On Monday 7th September 2015 I went to the protests outside the world’s largest arms fair which was takes place in East London every two years and on my way home went to a protest in Battersea Park at Sotheby’s international car auction calling on the company to reinstate two sacked cleaners.

DSEi Arms Fair protest Israeli Arms Sales

Excel London, Royal Victoria Dock

DSEi Arms Fair & Sotheby's 2 - 2015 — *Protesters stopped a lorry going to the DSEi arms fair with a military vehicle for around 2 hours*

Protests were taking place on the first of six days outside the world’s largest arms fair, sponsored by the UK government at the Excel Centre. Occupy Democracy had set up a protest camp close to the East Entrance to the Excel Centre.

The theme of this day’s protest organised by the Stop The Arms Fair Coalition and Occupy Democracy and supported by Campaign Against The Arms Trade and a broad coalition of protest groups was ‘Stop Arming Israel’.

Israel also has a large arms industry and they were selling their arms at the fair which were said to be ‘battle-tested’, having been used against the Palestinian people in Gaza as well as in Syria.

When I arrived protesters were setting up a couple of stalls, one to ‘sell’ mock Israeli arms – with arms dealers D. Eath and C. Arnage, who were later joined by two enthusiastic sales representatives apparently from a proudly Israeli firm ‘Killing Machines Unlimited.’

Excel had fenced in the roundabout at the gates, claiming they owned it, so that protesters were unable to camp there. Later it was found that it belonged to Newham Council and that they had not given permission for the fence, but it did provide a good place to put up a huge banner with the message ‘Stop Arming Israel.

When a large low-loader arrived carrying a military vehicle protesters rushed into the road to block it and one in an orange jumpsuit and Tony Blair mask locked on to it. Others jumped up on to it. A woman who used a white-board marker to write ‘ARMS TESTED ON CHILDREN’ was arrested for ‘criminal damage’ although the slogan would easily wipe off without trace.

*‘Tony Blair’ locked on. Protesters still hope to see him tried for war crimes onver the invasion of Iraq*

After around 45 minutes police warned the protesters they might be arrested unless they moved away and most did, but then began a Dabke Arab folk dance workshop in front of the lorry. The police then called for reinforcements and when they arrived they pushed the protesters off the road, allowing the bemused Hungarian driver to move on.

*Police come and warn the protesters on the lorry, asking them to leave*

*The Dabke dance workshop in front of the lorry. Police watch but don’t dance*

*Eventually police lose patience and a large group come and push or drag eveyone from the road, watched by the photographers*

In 2026 the UK still sells arms to Israel which are being used in the genocide of the Palestinian people and some of those protesting against this have been given long prison sentences as ‘terrorists’.

More on My London Diary at DSEi Arms Fair protest Israeli Arms Sales.

Reinstate the Sotheby’s 2 at car auction

Battersea Park

*A line of police stopped the protesters at the entrance to the auction site*

Barbara and Percy, two cleaners at Sotheby’s in New Bond Street had been sacked after they took part in a protest calling for proper sick pay, holiday pay and pensions, and their trade union, the United Voices of the World had organised a number of protests including this one to demand their reinstatement.

Along with members of the UVW the protest was supported by Class War, SOAS Unison and Unite the Resistance and I met them outside Battersea Park Station from where they marched to the Sotheby’s auction site, Battersea Evolution inside Battersea Park, where police prevented them from entering.

Although they were some distance from the actual auction, the noisy protest could clearly be heard there, as one of those present at it, the mother of UVW General Secretary Petross Elia, came to tell us across the gates.

The protest continued for some time and I was tired and left before the end, missing a a spectacular performance of fire breathing by one of the protesters.

The campaign by the UVW eventually resulted in all outsourced workers there including cleaners, security guards and caterers becoming the first group of outsourced workers in the private sector to receive occupational sick pay – at a significantly enhanced rate to statutory sick pay.

More at Reinstate the Sotheby’s 2 at car auction.

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Monkey Business, Wrecked Cars & Roupell – 1990

Monkey Business, Wrecked Cars & Roupell: I’d thought when I wrote my previous post about 1990 that my day on April 1st 1990 had finished when my walk in Stoke Newington ended, but my contact sheets and the dates written on them tell a different story.

I’d not gone to the Poll Tax demonstration the previous day, but from Stoke Newington took the tube down to Covent Garden and walked to St Martin’s Lane and Tottenham Court Road where I photographed a few burnt out cars before going on to Waterloo East and catching a train to Lewisham to take more photographs there.

*Monkey Business, Covent Garden, Westminster, 1990, 90-4b-33*

Monkey Business was a restaurant in Covent Garden which apparently came to an untimely end around 1991. In a Facebook post Sajan Narain relates: “While I was studying at Cambridge, a few of us friends went to Monkey Business, an aptly named restaurant in Covent Garden. While we were dining in the basement there, we heard loud sounds of guns being fired, and smashing of glass, like sound effects from an action movie. Waiters and staff were running around shouting.

We saw lots of huge red marks on white shirts worn by waiters. It turned out to be blood. There was a huge gang war going on above us. Many shots were fired and glass windows at the front of Monkey Business had been smashed.

Armed police, ambulances, doctors and paramedics arrived while we were there. We survived the gang war without any injuries. After that incident, Monkey Business had to be shut down, unfortunately.”

Burnt out car, St Martin's Lane, Covent Garden, Westminster, 1990, 90-4b-21 — *Burnt out car, St Martin’s Lane, Covent Garden, Westminster, 1990, 90-4b-21*

Back in 1990 I rarely photographed demonstrations, mainly only on the large marches of organisations to which I belonged such as the Anti-Apartheid movement and CND. Although I was aware of protests against the Poll Tax – and had photographed people burning their community charge demands – I did not attend the major protest called for March 31st when around 200,000 crowded into the area around Trafalgar Square.

The police had thought there would only be a few thousand and laughed at the protest organisers when they had suggested there could be 20,000 but it turned out much, much larger and the police were unprepared.

*Smashed car, Charing Cross Rd, Westminster, 1990, 90-4b-22*

Heavy-handed policing, including the violent arrest of a man in a wheelchair and a charge by mounted police into the crowd in Trafalgar Square, followed by police driving riot vans into the crowd aroused huge anger from the protesters, many of whom began attacking the police with anything to hand, including scaffold poles. The police actions turned what would have been an angry but largely peaceful protest into a riot.

*Smashed car, Charing Cross Rd, Westminster, 1990, 90-4b-23*

According to Wikipedia “Scuffles between rioters and police continued until 3 am. Rioters attacked numerous shops, most notably Stringfellow’s nightclub, and car showrooms, and Covent Garden cafés and wine bars were set ablaze, along with motor vehicles.”

*Smashed car, Charing Cross Rd, Westminster, 1990, 90-4b-24*

A police report the following year found “no evidence that the trouble was orchestrated by left-wing anarchist groups”, though some of these definitely claimed the credit. As usual at protests, most of those responsible for attacks on police evaded arrest and those arrested were largely bystanders and many were acquitted with video evidence showing the police had “fabricated or inflated charges”.

Protests including this one against the Poll Tax led to the questioning of Margaret Thatcher’s position as Prime Minister and led to her replacement by John Major. In 1991 he announced his intention to replace the Poll Tax by a new Council Tax, still in operation.

This returned to basing tax levels on property valuations but was in many respects a much cruder and less fair system than the former rates, particularly favouring owners of large and expensive properties at the expense of those in moderate and smaller homes.

*Rooftops, Waterloo, Lambeth, 1990, 90-4b-26*

My day was still not finished and I was on my way to Lewisham. As I walked down to the platform at Waterloo East station I pushed my camera through the gap in one of the slightly open windows and took this picture of the rooftops of Roupell Street and its neighbours.

These densely packed late Georgian worker’s cottages were developed by metal merchant John Roupell in 1824. He had married the daughter of a wealthy City wine merchant and after she inherited a wealthy aunt’s estate in Essex bought around 7 acres here at a cost of £8,000 to develop the Roupell Park Estate, its streets named after his family.

In their early years many of these small 4-roomed houses will have housed perhaps four large families, one to a room, perhaps over 20 people. These streets are much used as settings for films and TV, and the small houses now sell for around £1.5m

Pictures from Lewisham in later posts.

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DPAC at BBC – Tell The Truth! 2013

Broadcasting House

DPAC at BBC – Tell The Truth! Although the BBC has some excellent reporters and produces some great programmes, particularly on Radio 4 and in its World Service, in its coverage of the UK it too often acts as a government mouthpiece. In particular few if any protests get reported, and I would be fairly sure that this one on Monday 2nd September 2013 at Broadcasting House got no mention in the day’s news.

Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) and the Scottish Black Triangle campaign came to protest at the failure by the BBX to report truthfully the effects of government cuts – particularly hard on the disabled – blocking the main BBC entrance to Broadcasting House for an hour.

The BBC of course relies on the government to award the licence fee settlement and it also appoints the members of the trust which is responsible for its running. And many appointments of senior staff – from the Director General down are essentially made by the government, so it is perhaps unsurprising that the BBC as a whole fails to offer any radical perspective on UK affairs.

When the Tories came back into power – at first with the help of the Liberal Democrats to whom they threw a few minor carrots (including the 2011 rigged referendum on proportional representation) they instituted an austerity programme that in particular targeted the disabled.

They clearly thought that supporting the disabled was a waste of money and that they would be an easy target to reduce benefits. DPAC and others had shown them they were wrong, with a series of direct action protests – which the BBC largely failed to report, although some were covered by foreign media.

Disabled people had several advantages which aided their protests. Firstly they enjoyed a great deal of public support which meant in particular that police (who often also sympathised with their case) had to handle them with much more consideration and care than non-disabled protesters, particularly when the press were present. Batoning people in wheelchairs would not be good for the public image – and I never saw it happen.

And secondly they presented practical problems for the police, particularly in making arrests of protesters in wheelchairs or on mobility scooters. Police cars and vans are not generally equipped to handle these safely. I can only remember one protest where the police had hired a suitable vehicle – and it only accommodated a single wheelchair.

DPAC invited me to photograph this protest and I met them in a nearby cafe to discuss final plans before making their way with legal observers and a few photographers unnoticed to the main entrance of the BBC building.

Here they spread across the doors and brought out their banners. BBC security failed to stop them but did manage to keep one door at the end free so people could still enter and leave the building.

*Many of the protesters spoke about why they were there, calling on the BBC to do its job and report properly on the effects of the cuts on the disabled*

A number of the protesters then spoke in turn about the failure of the BBC to report the real hardship caused by ATOS assessments and the withdrawal of benefits, benefit cuts and caps and the bedroom tax. They were all fed up with the BBC repeating the lies and half-truths of government and asked why the real problems and numerous deaths from the austerity programme and the protests over these were not being properly reported.

*BBC security try to move the protesters but after some argument they backed off*

The situation was dire for many poor and disabled people, with over 500,000 having to resort to food banks set up by churches and charities to fend off starvation.

The protesters chanted ‘BBC, Tell the Truth’ and called for someone from the BBC to come and discuss the issue with them – but no one came. They made clear they were not asking for special treatment for the disabled but for the BBC to live up to the reputation it once had for impartial reporting.

*Mark Thomas congratulated the protesters and expressed his support for their attempt to get the BBC to report in an unbiased manner*

They were joined for some minutes by activist comedian Mark Thomas who had been at a meeting inside the BBC. He recognised some of the protesters, talked with them and gave a short speech in support.

Shortly after two of the protesters in wheelchairs moved to lock themselves in front of the remaining open door closing it for the remainder of the protest. BBC security then called the police and two cars arrived.

Police talked with security and then came and talked to the protesters. The told the police it was a one hour protest and they would then leave peacefully. Police stayed and watched until the end of the hour when the protesters got up and left.

Before they did so, a BBC cameraman arrived having been asked to film the protest – not for news but for possible use in the future. “I joked with him he might try and sell the footage to Sky or some other broadcaster who were rather more likely to use it.”

Many more pictures on My London Diary at DPAC at BBC – Tell The Truth.

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Class War protest Ripper ‘museum’ again – 2015

Cable St, London. Wednesday 12th August 2015

Former Google diversity chief Mark Palmer-Edgecumbe had applied to Tower Hamlets Council for planning permission to open a “Museum of Women’s History” meant to celebrate suffragettes, equal-pay campaigners, and local social struggles, and got a number of historians, academics and others to advise on the project.

It was a shock when the building renovations were completed and those involved as well as the council saw from the frontage that it was instead to be a tourist trap celebrating the gruesome Victorian murders of ‘Jack the Ripper’.

*Ian Bone asks “Would you protect it if it glorified the killing of police officers”*

Many local residents, and others including descendants of the poor working class victims of the sadistic murderer where shocked, and even Tower Hamlets Council was moved to protest following its opening. Unfortunately the council found it had no power to close down what was described as a ‘sick horror attraction’.

*We have better stories’ says a poster with some images of women who should be celebrated rather than celebrating a brutal and deranged upper-class killer who attacked working class women*

But the most sustained protests came from anarchist organisation Class War who carried out a series of colourful protests outside the so-called ‘museum’, including this one in which they were joined by Action East End and Fourth Wave and other feminists.

When protesters came to the tourist attraction they found it was hidden behind a heavy metal shutter, with police standing in front guarding it, erected since the previous protest a week ago. This was in breach of planning regulations and they were some time later foreced to remove it.

Among those who spoke at the protest was East End historian David Rosenberg who spoke about the real history of women in the East End, as well as Class War’s Ian Bone and Lisa McKenzie.

After the speeches and a couple of smoke flares the protesters, including some local residents blocked the road for some time though leaving the cycle path open. Police attempted to move them with no success, the women protesting asking them whether they would defend a museum celebrating the murders of police officers.

My final comment in 2015 was:
“Protests will continue until the museum closes down or turns into what was promised, a museum of women’s history rather than of women’s degradation and brutal slaughter. It sensationalises the tragic fate of the working class victims at the hands of a deranged upper class murderer, presenting a voyeuristic experience that sickens anyone with any decency and humanity.”

Unfortunately it remains open.

Many more pictures at Class War protest Ripper ‘museum’ again.

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Foil Vedanta & Black Lives Matter – 2016

Foil Vedanta & Black Lives Matter: On Friday 5th August 2016 I photographed Foil Vedanta protesting outside the AGM of mining giant Vedanta Resources in the City and later went to Whitechapel where Black Lives Matter UK were a rally as a part of a “national shutdown”, the first major Black Lives Matter events in the UK.

Black Lives Matter had begun in the US in 2013, founded by three Black women, and grew around the Twitter hashtag #BlackLivesMatter. Of course it came from a broader history of civil rights movements and struggles, both in the USA and here in the UK.

Foil Vedanta at mining giant’s AGM

Ironmonger Hall, Aldersgate

Foil Vedanta & Black Lives Matter - 2016 — *City of London Police stop Samarendra Das and the Vedanta Monster at the entrance to the Ironmongers Hall*

Foil Vedanta staged a noisy and colourful protest outside the Ironmonger Hall in the City of London where Vedanta, then still listed in London were holding their AGM.

This protest was in support of the fight by communities around the world where the mining company and its subsidiaries had polluted rivers, displaced communities, killed workers in accidents and destroyed the environment, as well as defrauding governments by tax evasion.

The mining giant was 69% owned by billionaire chairman Anil Agarwal and his family, but when listed on the London Stock Exchange had to hold an annual meeting for shareholders. Some of those protesting had become shareholders so they could attend these meetings and ask questions about the company activities.

The protesters came with many placards about the company’s crimes and with statements from some of those who had suffered from them, and lobbied shareholders as they arrived for the meeting. A team from Vedanta carrying documents for the meeting got a very noisy reception, but police escorted Mr Agarwal to the meeting by a side entrance, though the protesters spotted him and shouted loudly.

The campaigners had come with a large inflatable ‘Vedanta Monster’, its various heads representing Vedanta companies – and with a resemblance to Anil Agarwal

When fully inflated the Vedanta Monster made a dash for the entrance but was stopped by police. It was too large to enter the hall, but did for some time block the doorway.

Police escorted shareholders past the monster and tried to get those holding it to move away – and eventually they withdrew a few yards.

It was soon time for Samarendra Das and other protesting shareholders to go into the AGM while the noisy protest continued outside.

Some shareholders who left the meeting early were escorted by politc past the noisy protest where protesters were still shouting and drumming

Many more pictures at Foil Vedanta at mining giant’s AGM.

Black Lives Matter London

Altab Ali Park, Whitechapel

BLMUK, Black Lives Matter UK, had called for a national day of action on August 5th to commemorate the many UK victims of state violence, including Mark Duggan, Sarah Reed, Mzee Mohammed, Jermaine Baker, Sean Rigg, Leon Patterson, Kingsley Burrell and over 1500 others, disproportionately black, since 1990. The day of action was five years and a day after the police killing of Mark Duggan.

*Marcia Rigg, whose brother Sean Rigg was killed by police in Brixton in 2008, raises her fist in salute*

*Stephanie Lightfoot-Bennett whose twin brother Leon Patterson was battered to death by police in a Stockport cell in 1992*

*A relative of Sheku Bayoh, killed by police in Scotland in 2015*

The London event took place in Altab Ali Park, renamed in 1998 in memory of Altab Ali, a 25-year-old Bangladeshi Sylheti clothing worker who had been murdered in May 1978 in Adler Street which runs along the east side of the park. He was killed by three teenage boys in one of the many racist attacks taking place in the area then.

BLMUK had recently come together as a community movement of activists from across the UK who believed deeply that #BlackLivesMatter but are not affiliated with any political party. They called for justice and an end to racialised sexism, classism and homophobia and a new politics based on community defence and resilience.

The rally ended with meetings by those present in four large groups to discuss future community organisation in North, South, East and West London, and I then went home.

*The East London meeting begins in one corner of the park*

More on My London Diary at Black Lives Matter London.

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Police Prevent Peaceful Protest – 2026

Police Prevent Peaceful Protest: On Thursday 30the July 2026 Defend Our Juries had arranged a static peaceful protest on the wide pavement in front of Westminster Magistrates Court on Marylebone Road. It was to begin at noon with an hour of speeches, music and poetry.

I arrived at the starting time to find several surrounding roads full of police vans and squads of police standing waiting while others were in the crowd making arrests.

There was a large crowd present, perhaps around a thousand demonstrating against the government ban on Palestine Action. They included many who had been arrested at previous events for holding signs in support of Palestine Action.

Over 1500 of these arrestees had earlier received letters from the court stating that their cases would be dealt with on this day – but most at least had been told they need not attend. Clearly magistrates cannot hear that many cases in a day and the intention had been to simply rubber-stamp the great majority without allowing those arrested to make any defence.

Defend Our Juries had in fact been told that because of administrative problems, the ‘non-hearing‘ of these cases would not be going ahead on this day. But they had decided to go ahead with the protest and after the hour of entertainment had invited all those charged – if they wanted – to come up the the small platform they were bringing and make a further statement of their support for Palestine Action and their intention to encourage others also support the banned group.

Most of those previously arrested had been charged under Section 13 of the Terrorism Act, but by making the intended statement would also be in breach of Sections 11 and 12 which carry more serious penalties – and would lead to a jury trial. Defend Our Juries were clearly intending to ramp up their challenge to the authorities in what they called a ‘Graduation Day’ ceremony.

Before I arrived police had already seized the platform and the public address system as well as several protesters – including one who who had been testing the sound system. Perhaps they will now argue that ‘1.2.3.4 …testing‘ is now a terrorist chant.

The Court of Appeal had surprised many by overruling the High Court’s decision that the ban was unlawful. It was was pushed through Parliament by combining them with a genuinely terrorist organisation, and would probably have met with considerable opposition otherwise. As the protest was taking place on Thursday the Supreme Court announced it would hear a further appeal in September which could quash the ban. Andy Burnham could end this nonsense now.

More of my pictures in the Facebook album Defend Our Juries Graduation Day.

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Pakistani Christians & a ‘Patriot’ March – 2010

Pakistani Christians & a ‘Patriot’ March: On Saturday 21 July 2010 I photographed a protest against the persecution of Christians in Pakistan and then a march by right wing extremists against Sharia Law and calling for a referendum on leaving the EU and an English Parliament.

Christians Protest Pakistan Persecution

Pakistan High Commission & Whitehall

Pakistani Christians & a 'Patriot' March - 2010

Only just over 1% of the population of Pakistan are Christians, a total of around two million, mainly members of lower castes, many working in sanitation and garbage collection. They were discriminated against at partition, when over 300,000 were made homeless and have been severely discriminated against ever since, including in the Pakistan Constitution.

Strict blasphemy laws have been used to persecute Christians (and other minorities) and many have been attacked by Muslim religious extremists, with some horrific cases of murders about many of which the authorities have refused to take action, even at times encouraging the mobs.

Christian schools and houses have been burnt and suicide bombers have attacked Christian gatherings.

The Wikipedia article Persecution of Christians in Pakistan details a few of these events. It also includes information about forced conversions and the abduction of “upwards of 1,000 Christian, Hindu, and Sikh girls” each year into forced marriages and forced conversions.

The situation of Christians in Pakistan has worsened since 2010 and regular reports of atrocities continue.

The protest in 2010 began outside the Pakistan High Commission in Kensington with a rally. A petition was handed in calling for the end of persecution. Officials received it politely and told them that that the Pakistani government supports the rights of minorities. But as the continuing persecution shows, it does little if anything in practice to protect these rights.

The protesters, led by a man carrying a heavy wooden cross then made their way along the pavements to Whitehall, stopping at three points on the way for prayers. Opposite Downing Strreet they joined others waiting for them in a further rally.

There were more prayers and some singing, and an address from Pakistani-born former Bishop of Rochester, Michael Nazir Ali. London Green MEP Jean Lambert also spoke and a delegation delivered a letter to 10 Downing St.

More on My London Diary: Christians Protest Pakistan Persecution.

ENA/EDL March in London Again

Tothill St – Duke of York Steps

In May 2010 a couple of hundred people from the English Defence League and others marched through London on what they described as a ‘Patriot March to Challenge Parliament’ organised by ‘British Citizens Against Muslim Extremists‘. Most were from the EDL and they delivered a letter to Downing Street.

They were dissatisfied with the reply they got to that letter and so the English Nationalist Alliance organised this further march. Like the earlier march in May it was largely peaceful and relatively restrained – except in some of the responses to a group of counter-protesters who accused them of being “racist scum”.

*Opposite Downing St were a group of around 20-30 counter protesters, chanting “racist scum off our streets”*

*One protester was held by stewards and police as he tries to cross the road to confront them*

*Counter-protesters are stopped by police as they try to follow the march*

At Downing Street they handed in a letter signed by the ENA and ten other groups, the EDL, Shieldwall, The British Society for Freedom of Speech, Christians for Democracy, England United (Weiran Ce Angelcynn), England St George, Acacia Freedom Fighters, Sikhs against Shariah, English Jewish League and Parents Against Shariah.

Another group on the march was March for England, and along with the St George’s flags and Union Jacks there were also a couple of Israeli flags and a placard from ‘One Law for All.’

At the rally at the Duke of York Steps I had a rather concerning moment when one of the speakers, Blackburn with Darwen English Democrats Party councillor Michael Johnson, pointed me out as an unwelcome guest and police stepped in as a number of people moved rather menacingly towards me.

As I posted:

“A couple of days earlier the ENA web site had published a feature which – among other things – wrongly accused me of publishing lies about the previous march, along with my picture and the statement “he must be confronted and chased away in all future events as a socialist collaborator who cannot tell the truth.”

Police stepped in front of me and requested me I move back a little to quieten the situation, and I complied.

The ENA feature had confused me with another photographer and earlier on the march I had received both a couple of apologies by the mistake and also several compliments from those on the previous march who had read my report.

Though I certainly don’t support the EDL I had tried to report the event and their demands objectively. The article on the ENA web site was an attack on press freedom,”suggesting that the ENA should attempt to impose censorship and limit reporting to those who support it.“

*Police persuade one of the protesters that he should moderate his language*

Like other photographers I have no control over how my work is used in the mainstream press, largely owned by billionaires with editors imposing right-wing views. It makes no sense to blame – as did the ENA – “socialist journalists” for the sins of a capitalist press.

And as I point out, the march was largely if not entirely ignored by the mainstream press and broadcasters. My account, published both on my own My London Diary and in shorter form on Demotix was one of only a few to appear.

Many more pictures and a longer text from 2010 on ENA/EDL March in London Again.

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Muslim Extremists Call For Sharia Zones – 2011

Muslim Extremists Call For Sharia Zones: On Saturday 30th July 2011 I photographed the march by around 70 men from ‘Muslims Against Crusades’ who marched from Leyton to Walthamstow calling for the setting up of Sharia Controlled Zones in the UK which ‘Islamic rules’ would be enforced by Muslims.

As I stated, “Muslims Against Crusades are a very small extremist fringe Muslim organisation led by Dr Anjem Choudary, a follower of the jailed Omar Bakri and co-founder with him of al-Muhajiroun, banned by the UK in 2005, spokesman for Al Ghurabaa, proscribed in 2006, and former leader of Islam4UK, banned in 2010.”

I go on in my post on My London Diary to briefly examine the other ten or so organisations that were claimed to support the march, all of which were linked to Choudary. They included some set up after al-Muhajiroun disbanded when threatened with a UK ban in 2005, though the actual ban only came in 2010. Muslims Against Crusades were banned shortly after this march in Novermber 2011.

I’d been photographing Choudary, at other extremist Muslim events for some years, and listening to his speeches and like many others had concluded that he was allowed to continue (and perhaps even funded) by our security services as someone who let them easily keep tabs on other Muslim extremists in the UK.

The authorities patience with him finally ran out in 2015 when he was charged with inviting support of Islamic State, a proscribed organisation and sentenced to five years in prison in 2016. Released on licence in 2019, by 2021 he was again involving himself in Muslim extremism.

In 2023, Canada and the US became involved, and he was charged with “membership of a proscribed organisation and directing and encouraging support for a proscribed organisation” and in 2024 he was found guilty of “directing an organisation concerned with the commission of acts of terrorism” and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 28 years.

It seemed to many of us that this trial could have been held in 2010 when the UK government banned Al-Muhajiroun.

Muslims Against Crusades (one of a whole string of organisations set up by Choudary as others were proscribed) had told the press before the event that there would be around a thousand of them on the march, but only around 2 arrived by the time it was due to start, with another 70 or so turning up later – some having had problems in finding Leyton.

Before the event there had been for some weeks “a poster campaign in several East London Boroughs including Waltham Forest, with small posters being stuck on bus stops and lamp posts declaring the area a ‘Sharia Controlled Zone’

These stickers stated that the area was now under ‘Islamic rules’ and that these prohibited drinking alcohol, drug taking, smoking, prostitution, gambling, musics, concerts and pornography.” Of course

A picture showing one of these became one of my most pirated images, published without permission or payment on right-wing extremist web sites around the world as if these zones every really existed. Unfortunately although I was able to get a few taken down by Internet Service Providers they simply appeared again on other hosts; getting payment for my work proved financially unfeasible.

A speech by Choudary before the march made clear that Law in these Sharia zones would be enforced by the kind of cleric-led officers and vigilantes that we see in countries such as Iran, although he did not make clear if we could expect to see stoning, hanging and amputations.

The march was through an area with a high Muslim population and many stopped to watch it, though I saw no expressions of support. As one shopkeeper told me, activities such as this give Muslims a bad name.

*Police kept some who wanted to protest against the march shut in a pub*

There were a couple of places where a few right-wing extremists had come to oppose the march though many had followed the advice on most right-wing web forums to ignore it. Police kept them away from the marchers and I saw no incidents.

*Bill Baker of the English Nationalist Alliance*

Police did allow a few members of the English Nationalist Alliance to protest on the opposite side of the street as the march reached central Walthamstow and I went across to photograph them and talk with their leader Bill Baker who was holding several placards. He asked me to make clear that they are not an anti-Muslim organisation but simply opposed to the kind of Muslim extremism represented by Choudary, and proposals to bring Shariah law to Britain.

Again, more about them on My London Diary, where I quote one of their placards:

Sex, Drugs, Beer & Rock and Roll, it’s our Western way of life, so get over it or leave, simple as that.

As I commented, ” I’d prefer to leave off those last five words and simply call for toleration.”

The march ended with a lot of shouting between the two groups, but was generally peaceful, and I think the few scuffles at the rally involved young Muslims objecting to the extremists.

You can read more and see many more pictures in the much longer account on My London Diary: Muslim Extremists March For Sharia Zones

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Lebanon: Ceasefire Now! – 2006

Downing St, Westminster

Lebanon: Ceasefire Now!: In July 2006 there were protests in London over Israeli attacks on Lebanon and Palestine. There had been a large march on 22nd July and the pictures here are from a second protest on the following Friday, July 28th.

I posted about the first of these events here last week and you can read further details about what was happening around the world including in Lebanon and Palestine on July 28th on Wikipedia. UK Prime Minister Tony Blair was on that day in Washington holding talks with President George W. Bush on the crisis in the Middle East.

I didn’t write much about this protest at Downing St: “Several hundred demonstrators lined up on the pavement in Whitehall opposite Downing Street. They included a number of Jewish protesters who also felt that the Israeli bombing and invasion was an entirely disproportionate action, as well as supporters of Hezbollah.”

The presence of many Jewish protesters has been a continuing feature of all the protests against the Israeli attacks on Palestine and Gaza, something which is seldom mentioned or given any prominence in media coverage or the comments by politicians on these events.

*Jew and Arab in solidarity opposing the Israeli action*

Accurate reporting on these events and an end to government ministers and leading politicians describing them as hate marches and respecting those Jews who feel compelled to protest against the Israeli government actions – rather than promoting the views of pro-Zionists would I am sure have lessened both the rising anti-Semitism and Islamophobia we now see.

More pictures on My London Diary

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