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Close Guantanamo 5th Anniversary Demonstration – 2007

Close Guantanamo 5th Anniversary Demonstration: A protest on Thursday 11th January 2007 outside the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square marked the 5th anniversary of the setting up of the illegal US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay where almost entirely innocent prisoners were held and tortured without trial for many years. Over the years around 780 men were brought to the prison and by 2025 almost all had been released without charge. Around nine have died there, most alleged to have committed suicide, but 15 are thought to still be held there at the end of 2025, largely because there is no country to which they can safely be released.

Every year from 2006 to 2019 I photographed protests against the camp, particularly on 11th January, but also on other occasions through the year, particularly covering the long-term campaigns for the release of those British prisoners held there. Protests here became less regular after the release of Shaker Aamer, the last British resident to be held there on 30 October 2015.

*The flag was flying but American Embassy staff kept hidden away from windows throughout the event*

The protest I photographed on 11th January 2007 was the first I knew about on the actual anniversary of the establishment of the camp, and the pictures here and the text below are from that. Then we naively thought that the USA could sink no further, but current events are proving how wrong we were. As usual I’ve made some minor corrections to the text including restoring normal capitalisation and I’ll give a link to the original post were you can find more pictures

Close guantanamo 5th anniversary demonstration

Amnesty International: US Embassy, London. Thur 11 Jan, 2007

*American guard’, ‘Prisoners’, Police and Embassy.*

*Amani Daghayes, sister of Guantamo captive Oscar Deghayes, a British resident*

Orange seems to be a colour fatally linked to America’s disgrace in the modern world through human rights and related abuses. Agent Orange spread dioxin-related birth defects over the vast tracts of south-east Asia it was used to defoliate, and orange boiler-suits have become the symbol of the fatal American own goal in the fight for freedom, the illegal prison camp at Guantanamo Bay.

Amnesty International marked the fifth anniversary of this blot on the free world with a world-wide series of protests, in New York, Tokyo, Rome, Madrid, Tunis, Tel Aviv and London. I entered Grosvenor Square to see a long line of around three hundred people in orange boiler-suits spreading a quarter of the way around the large square. They were soon formed into groups and marched by those dressed as camp guards into a small pen in the road directly in front of the US Embassy.

In a re-creation of the Guantanamo Bay camp more or less on the embassy doorstep, the ‘guards’ patrolled, issuing arbitrary orders and generally abusing the prisoners, subjecting them to the infamous kneeling ‘submission posture’ with the occasional incident of casual ‘violence’ thrown in for greater authenticity. The hour-long vigil there ended with a display of defiance as the ‘prisoners’ joined together in clapping.

Other amnesty supporters held placards and banners calling for an end to the travesty of justice at Guantanamo Bay and other illegal detention centres and the illegal rendition of prisoners. They called for the release of all those held illegally, and in particular the British residents still in Guantanamo. These included Omar Deghayes, whose sister Amani Deghayes was present at the demonstrations. The lack of any effort by the UK government to press for the release of these British residents is a continuing and senseless disgrace.

*Detainees’ clap at end of demonstration.*

This was a high-profile media event, although I didn’t hear it mentioned on the BBC radio news later in the day, press and TV from London and abroad were covering it. Unlike some earlier events I’ve covered at the same location, the policing was a model of good practice, allowing the press to get on with the job, and proportionate to what was happening.

More pictures on My London Diary.

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All photographs on this page are copyright © Peter Marshall.
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An Icy Day in Westminster, Drums for Sudan – 2010

An Icy Day in Westminster, Drums for Sudan: Saturday 10th January 2010 was an icy day in Westminster with snow still lying on grassy areas and though it was bright with a little wintry sun there was a chill north-east wind and the temperature stayed around zero. But despite the weather there were a number of protests taking place and I had wrapped up well to cover them. Though the rather thin gloves I needed to let me operate my cameras failed to keep my hands warm, though I could keep them gloved in my pockets when not taking pictures.

I began by walking from Waterloo across Westminster Bridge to Parliament Square where there were a few tents of the Brian Haw’s Peace Camp, continuing since June 2001, but the protesters were sensibly keeping inside.

Next to them were the banners and box of the Peace Strike, then drawing attention to the killing of Tamils in Sri Lanka and calling for a boycott of Sri Lankan made garments and holidays in the country.

I didn’t disturb the protesters sheltering inside their tents but “walked up Whitehall past the government offices and the gathering demonstration over Sudan.” On my way I took a few pictures including of the 1861 former Colonial office – now the Foreign and Commonwealth Offices – “an imposing reminder of the Victorian era when Britain ruled much of the world (and then and later produced much of the mess it is now in.)”

Thick ice covered the fountains in the square, with lumps of ice broken from the edges and thrown across now covering it. But despite the cold there were at least two groups of protesters on the North Terrace.

One was a regular Quaker vigil for peace in the Middle East which I didn’t photograph on this occasion. But I did take some pictures of the Iran Solidarity group who have organised daily acts of solidarity in Trafalgar Square and in other cities since Monday July 27 2009 over the killing of Iranian student Neda Agha-Soltan at a protest in Tehran, Iran on June 20, 2010.

More at Westminster – Ice & Protest

I was in a hurry to get back to the Drums for the start of the Sudan protest opposite Downing Street. This was the start of a year of the global Sudan365 campaign by a coalition of groups including the Aegis Trust, Amnesty International, Arab Coalition for Darfur, Darfur Consortium, FIDH, Human Rights Watch, Refugees International and the Save Darfur Coalition leading up to the 2011 Sudanese referendum in January 2011.

Around 200 people, mainly Sudanese, including a large contingent from Coventry, had turned up for a couple of hours of noisy drumming and some speeches, including one by Sudanese Archbishop Daniel Deng who was in London for meetings with Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Archbishop Rowan William on the following Monday.

The protesters called for peace, human rights and development for all in all regions of Sudan, with safety and security for all, as well as protection for Darfur and women’s rights. They supported the 2011 peace agreement which had called for a referendum over independence to be held in Southern Sudan in January 2011, and demanded free and fair elections in the country.

“The Sudan365 campaign’s ‘Drum for Peace’ has attracted support from some of the most famous drummers from around the world, including Phil Selway of Radiohead, Stewart Copeland of The Police and Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason, who are taking part in a film in which the drum beat for peace, starting in Sudan is passed to drummers around the world, including in Brazil, Mexico, US (New York and San Francisco), UK, France, Spain, Senegal, South Africa, Ghana, Egypt, Mali, UAE, Japan, Russia and Australia.”

The 2011 referendum had over a 97.5% turnout by registered voters and over 98% of these voted in favour of independence. South Sudan became an independent state on 9 July 2011, but this was followed by seven years of civil war in 2013-20. The peace agreement called for elections in 2023, but these have been twice postponed and are due to take place in December 2026. Fighting broke out again in 2025.

More about the protest on My London Diary at Drum For Peace in Sudan.

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All photographs on this page are copyright © Peter Marshall.
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12 Days of Christmas – December

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

Various minor problems prevented me from working much in December and with other committments all these pictures are from a single day, 13th December.

12 Days of Christmas – December — London, UK. 13th Dec 2025. Hundreds of riders took part in the 11th BMX Life Santa Cruise London dressed as Santas (with a few elves, snowmen, Christmas trees and reindeer), a charity ride to raise money for the Evelina Children’s Heart Organisation. So far BMX Life have raised over £200,000 through their rides. They stopped for lunch on Horse Guards Parade. Peter Marshall.

So this is the end of a little look at my photographs from 2025. If I went though them again I would quite likely come up with many difference choices. I’ve made this selection entirely from the events I’ve covered to submit work to an agency and there are also some interesting images from outings with friends and family.

All of those featured were made with either Fuji-X or an Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III camera. I like the Fuji-X system, but every now and then get frustrated with the cameras which seem to develop random faults. Mostly this year I’ve gone back to using the Fujifilm X-T1 rather than the XT-30, usually with the Fuji 12-24mm. If I need anything wider I do have a fisheye in my bag, but it’s become a little tricky to de-fish images since Fisheye-Hemi went out of business and their plugin no longer works.

You can still do the job – converting from a circular perspective to a Panini (Vedutismo) one – and its even possible but rather tricky event in Photograph, but it lacks the one-click simplicity of the old plugin.

24mm on the Fuji is equivalent to 36mm on full-frame. The reason for carrying the Olympus is the 14-150mm Olympus lens – equvalent to a 28-300 on full frame. It’s a remarkably small and light lens for its specifications and while not wide aperture (f4.6-5) it’s good enough when you can work digitally at higher ISO.

I seldom use very long lenses but hen I first got this lens I was about to go on a job where I knew I neede at least a 300mm. I tested this against a Nikkor lens more than twices a big and probably three times as heavy – and would give me 450mm in DX mode. Rather to my surprise it gave sharper and more detailed results than the Nikkor, and since then as been my choice for longer focal lengths.

The Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III camera is also perhaps the best camera I’ve ever used. It came out in 2019 and I bought it to replace the very similar Mark II which had suffered an unfortunate impact with a pavement putting it beyond economic repair. I was going to buy a secondhand version, but found a grey import cheaper than the local secondhand price. They are still sold secondhad for only a little less than I paid.

It’s also my holiday camera – with a few other lenses to go with it, depending on exactly how light I want to travel.

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All photographs on this page are copyright © Peter Marshall.
Contact me to buy prints or licence to reproduce.

12 Days of Christmas – November

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

London, UK. 26 Nov 2025. Unite Community hold a Budget Day protest in Parliament Square as a part of a national day of action to protest against the ongoing cuts and sanctions to people’s benefits. They say sanctions which penalise people already struggling to feed, pay rent and heat homes, particularly the disabled, are now at record levels under this Labour government and are driving working people, disabled people, and children further into poverty. Peter Marshall

London, UK, 26 Nov 2025. Anti-Brexit campaigners including Steve Bray protested at the crossroad leading into Parliament Square with loud music and EU flags, as well as a Brexit elephant. They reminded people of the huge financial impact of Brexit on us all and the failure of any of the promised benefits to materialise – except for some of the super-rich and called for Britain to rejoin Europe. Peter Marshall

London, UK. 29 Nov 2025. Blind wheelchair user Mike Higgins wants to be arrested again. Over two hundred people sat in silence holding placards “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action” outside the Royal Courts of Justice on the opening day of the Judicial Review of the ban on the organisation. They waited patiently for police to arrest them under the Terrorism Act. Many feel the ban is an abuse of law and are concerned at the attempt to scupper the review by appointing judgesfor the case with a clear conflict of interest. Police were slowly arresting people and carrying them away to waiting vans when I left. Peter Marshall.

London, UK. 29 Nov 2025. Charlie X – Only Obeying Orders.Over two hundred people sat in silence holding placards “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action” outside the Royal Courts of Justice on the opening day of the Judicial Review of the ban on the organisation. They waited patiently for police to arrest them under the Terrorism Act. Many feel the ban is an abuse of law and are concerned at the attempt to scupper the review by appointing judgesfor the case with a clear conflict of interest. Police were slowly arresting people and carrying them away to waiting vans when I left. Peter Marshall

November turned out to have been a slighly confusing month for me and I managed to date some of my captions wrongly – thanks to careless “copy and paste”. I think the actual album dates for the Facebook albums are all correct.

Finally the 12 day of Christmas tomorrow – pictures from December 2025.

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All photographs on this page are copyright © Peter Marshall.
Contact me to buy prints or licence to reproduce.

12 Days of Christmas – September

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

September was a very month for me in London and I found it impossible to stick to just one picture per event as I have done for most of these ’12 Days of Christmnas ‘posts.