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Elephants, Football Lads & Stand Up To Racism – 2017

Elephants, Football Lads & Stand Up To Racism: On Saturday 7th October 2017 I went to Parliament Square where people were holding a silent vigil against the ivory trade and then to Park Lane to photograph a rally and march by the Football Lads Alliance and Veterans Against Terrorism following terrorist attacks in the UK and Europe. Stand Up To Racism had organised a rally in Whitehall when their march was passing, calling on everyone including the Football Lads, to stand together against racism and Islamophobia.

Silent Vigil for Elephants and Rhinos

Parliament Square

*A campaigner wearing a t-shirt ‘Only a Rhino Needs Its Horn’ holds a mock elephant tusk*

Parliament Square was filled with carefully lined up protesters in t-shirts against the ivory trade, with some holding mock elephant tusks or rhino horns in a half hour long silent vigil. The event was part of the annual Global March for Elephants and Rhinos taking place around the world.

They called on the UK Government to bring in a full ban on ivory trade, saying that sales by antique dealers in Britain plays a major role in keeping ivory markets open and is driving the poaching that threatens elephants and rhinos with extinction.

My London Diary: Silent Vigil for Elephants and Rhinos.

Football Lads Alliance Rally

Park Lane

The protest followed a number of attacks by terrorists across Europe, including the Westminster and London Bridge attacks in London in April and June 2017, and brought around 5,000 from the Football Lads Alliance and Veterans Against Terrorism to a rally and march to lay wreaths at Westminster Bridge.

Many had come with wreaths in their team colours and badges and posed with them before the really began.

Among those at the protest were families of the victims of the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings for which six Irishmen were wrongfully convicted using coerced confessions and fabricated evidence, serving 16 years in prison in one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British history. Their convictions led to an end to investigations that might had led to the actual killers being found.

*Up the Gas (Bristol Rovers football club)*

*John Meighan, founder of Football Lads Alliance*

The event organisers emphasised that they were exposed to all extremism and racism, but some of the speeches were clearly racist and suggested that many thousands of Muslims in the UK were Islamist extremists and should be locked up, and were met with shouts of approval and much applause.

The event demanded the locking up of all terrorist suspects and the deportation of any of foreign origin. As I commented, “It was hard to avoid the impression that it was a meeting to stir up Islamophobia, and there seemed to be a total lack of sympathy with refugees fleeing their countries to seek asylum here.”

What shocked me most was the response of the crowd when a speaker mentioned Diane Abbott, then Shadow Home Secretary. There was a huge and prolonged outcry with a loud shout from a man behind me that she should be raped that met with approval from at least some of the crowd.

On my way to the rally I had walked past several pubs where supporters of the FLA were drinking, with small crowds of them on the pavement outside. Several people had shouted abuse at me and I recognised others from EDL, Britain First and other extreme right events I’ve photographed.

There were a few more I recognised at the rally and again I got a few hostile comments and I quickly moved away, but most of those at the event were keen to be photographed and get publicity for their event. Fortunately I think most of those in the pubs stayed there to join the march as it went past.

More pictures on My London Diary: Football Lads Alliance Rally.

Football Lads Alliance March

Park Lane to Westminster Bridge

*A Leeds United fan holds up a message ‘Together we are stronger’ on Whitehall*

The Football Lads Alliance and Veterans Against Terrorism marched from Park Lane to Westminster Bridge to lay wreaths where the April terrorist attack had taken place. Among those taking part were groups representing clubs large and small around the country.

*It was impossible to get a view of all of those at the front of the march as people kept walking in front of the photographers*

*The march begins… but I left shortly after and rejoined it at Trafalgar Square*

The organisers had billed it as a silent march, and certainly some marched in silence as it left Park Lane, but it was quite loud by the time it arrived at Trafalgar Square. There it was joined by a group of a couple of hundred Gurkhas, many wearing their medals.

*A large group of Gurkhas joined in front of the march at Trafalgar Square*

The Gurkhas marched in front of the rest for a few yards, but were then soon overtaken by the march organisers including FLA founder John Meighan and Phil Campion former SAS Special Ops from SOFREP (Special Operations Forces Situation Report), a pro-military information site run by veterans, both of whom had made Islamophobic speeches at the Park Lane rally.

Going down Whitehall the march became very noisy, especially as it passed the small group form Stand Up To Racism opposite Downing Street. Police stood on the pavement between them and the marchers as they attempted to hand out leaflets suggesting how people might follow the march slogan ‘Together We Are Stronger‘ in a more inclusive way and to avoid the movement being dominated by the extreme right.

By the time the march arrived at Bridge Street to go onto Westminster Bridge, the numbers seemed to have roughly halved from those who had set out, despite several hundred people having joined it at Trafalgar Square. Some of them had stopped to confront the Stand Up To Racism protesters until police finally persuaded them to move on, but others had stopped off at various pubs.

More pictures: Football Lads Alliance March.

Stand Up To Racism and the FLA

Downing St

*A man rips up one of the leaflets from Stand Up To Racism*

Stand Up To Racism had not tried to organise a large counter-demonstration but instead a small group had come to hold up banners and hand out leaflets to the marchers.

They had been careful not to call the marchers racists, but clearly many of the marchers felt they were being accused of racism and shouted abuse and threats at Stand Up To Racism (and at photographers.) Most from Stand Up To Racism stood well back from the march with banner.

*Stand up to Racism supporters try to had out a flier to the marchers, but are largely met by shouted insults*

“A few from Stand Up to Racism stood between the police lining the kerb were handing out a flier ‘Some questions for the leaders of the FLA’, which asked them to take steps to ensure their movement was not taken over by racists. Although the FLA strongly denies accusations that they are racist and against Muslims in general, there were many former supporters of far-right groups such as the EDL among those marching.”

*Police eject a FLA supporter from the protest by Stand Up to Racism*

A few FLA marchers tried to get into the SUTR protest but were ejected by police, but others were held back by friends.

*A woman shouts at me for taking pictures, accusing me of calling her and the FLA racist*

A crowd of the marchers stopped and continued to abuse the SUTR protesters. Eventually the police brought up reinforcements and pushed them away down the road.

More on My London Diary at Stand Up To Racism and the FLA.

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Chelsea Manning, Kurdistan & Syria – 2016

Chelsea Manning, Kurdistan & Syria – Three protests in London on Saturday 17th December 2016.

Vigil on Chelsea Manning’s 29th birthday – Trafalgar Square

A silent vigil on the steps of St Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square marked the 29th birthday of trans-gender whistleblower Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning, jailed for 35 years in 2013, whose courageous leaks revealed war crimes by US, UK and other governments.

Working for the US Army as a specialist intelligence analyst as Bradley Manning she released almost 750,000 documents to Wikileaks in 2010 showing the US, UK and other governments’ war crimes and corruption in Afghanistan, Haiti, Iraq, Israel & the Palestinian Authority, Peru, Venezuela and elsewhere. Some were classified and many others were highly sensitive and incriminating. In 2013 she was sentenced to 35 years and held in the maximum security U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth.

The London vigil was a part of an international day of action for her release. Since she came out as a trans woman in 2013 she had been repeatedly harassed by the military in prison and twice in 2016 had attempted suicide. Protesters around the world called on President Obama to release her on the basis of the prison time she had already served before he left office. The following month he commuted her sentence to around seven years and she was released from jail. She spent a further year in 2019-2020 after she refused to testify to a grand jury investigating WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Vigil on Chelsea Manning’s 29th birthday

Kurds protest for a Free Kurdistan – Downing St

Kurds, many wearing or waving the flag of Free Kurdistan called on the civilised world to recognise the sacrifices made by the Peshmerga in fighting for freedom and against Islamic extremism in Iraq and Syria.

The Peshmerga is the army of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq, first formed in the18th century as border guards but more recently fighting for Kurdish autonomy, although it also includes Assyrian and Yazidi units. Iraqi Kurdistan is an autonomous region of Iraq, and under the Iraqi constitution the Pershmerga is responsible for the security of the region.

They played a key role in US missions against al-Qaeda after 9/11and were with other Kurdish forces now fighting against ISIS with some support from the USA. But the USA was refusing to directly supply any weapons except through the Iraqi government who were failing to pass any on the the Pershmerga as they feared they would be used to promote an independent Kurdistan. And in London people seemd to be clearly calling for a free Kurdistan.

The result of this failure to pass on weapons is that the force is poorly armed, mainly using Soviet-era weapons they captured in earlier Iraq uprisings and now weapons captured from ISIS in 2014. This protest called for greater support to provide them with modern weapons and other support they lack including ammunition, ambulances and military communications equipment.

Kurds protest for a Free Kurdistan

Doctors & Nurses Die-in for Syria – Old Palace Yard, Westminster

A short walk away in front of the Houses of Parliament Healthcare workers held a die-in at Parliament in solidarity with the Syrian people.

They called for an end to the bombing of civilians, hospitals and schools by the Assad regime and for the UK government to put pressure on the Syrian government to allow the delivery of aid. They urged the UK to make airdrops of aid, provide safe passage to all those trapped and grant asylum to refugees.

The protest was organised by Medact’s Arms and Militarisation (MAM) group along with Syria solidarity activist groups and individuals including the Syrian British Medical Society.

Between 2014 and 2021 when the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme closed, the UK accepted around 20,000 Syrian refugees. When adjusted to reflect the population size of European countries this puts the UK well down among European countries. For the total number of resettled refugees from 2008-20021 the UK comes fifth behind Germany, Sweden, Norway and France but adjusted for population size we are in 10th position.

But along with the USA, Britain failed to take any effective action in support of the Syrian revolution and the crimes against the people committed by the Assad regime, and were severely outplayed by Russia who backed Assad.

Doctors & Nurses Die-in for Syria

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Arctic 30, Gurkhas, Zombies & John Lewis

Another busy day for me in London on Saturday 2nd November 2013, though I spent quite a lot of it in a pub with zombies who were putting on a rather late Halloween appearance. But there were more serious things as well.

Free Kieron & Arctic 30 – Russian Embassy, Notting Hill. Sat 2 Nov 2013

Family, friends & supporters of freelance videojournalist Kieron Bryan, one of the 30 arrested on Greenpeace’s Arctic Sunrise, held a silent vigil at the Russian Embassy, delivering a petition signed by over 1000 journalists calling for his release.

There was intense media interest in the event, with several TV crews, radio journalists and photographers, perhaps because the imprisonment of a journalist is a threat to all journalists around the world. Unusually the Russian embassy had agreed to meet Kieron’s brother and take the petition, and although no photography is permitted in the private street in which it (and the Israeli embassy) are situated I was able to photograph him standing in the gate to the street holding it.

The Arctic 30 had sailed to the Russian Arctic on the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise in September 2013 to protest peacefully against Gazprom’s plans to start oil production in the Arctic. The ship was seized and they were kept in custody for two months before being released on bail in November – after the Netherlands had filed a case at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea which led to an order for the crew and Dutch-registered vessel to be released while the case was being considered. Although Russia ignored this ruling they did release the journalists, activists and crew, and six months later, the ship. Probably protests such as this helped to persuade them to do so.

The Dutch government filed complaints at the European Court against the unlawful detention of the Dutch-registered ship and the protesters also took a case claiming that hey had been detained unlawfully and their right to freedom of expression had been breached.

Free Kieron & Arctic 30

Gurkha Veterans Hunger Strike for Justice – Downing St, Sat 2 Nov 2013

*Gurkha wives and widows support the campaign for justice*

Although high-profile earlier campaigns supported by Joanna Lumley and others in the broadcast media have led to increased support for former Gurkha soldiers, elderly Gurkha veterans did not benefit from these and most live here in extreme poverty.

After submitting their petition to Prime Minister David Cameron and the Nepalese Prime Minister in April and getting no satisfactory result and they had “with a heavy heart” begun a series of hunger strikes. These had begun in late October with a “13 days relay hunger strike in the name of the 13 Ghurka VCs” which was in progress when I took these pictures, demanding equal pensions, compensation, a preserved pension for those made redundant, the right of settlement in the UK for their adult children and free medical treatment in Nepal.

Five days later some began a hunger strike until death, and after two weeks the government offered talks and this was halted.

Gurkha Veterans Hunger Strike

LoNdOn ZoMbIE WaLk VII – Soho, Sat 2 Nov 2013

I met with around a hundred zombies in Waxy O’Connor’s pub on Rupert St, where they were drinking for a couple of hours occasionally emerging into the dim daylight of Wardour St for a fag break.

Around 4pm as dusk was falling the multitude of undead staggered up the stairs to begin their crawl around Londinium in search of brains and booze. I left them to it.

Among those on Gerrard Street were a group of Zombie Police whose warrant cards carried the message ‘A pint of Cider and Black Please’.

Announced as the seventh consecutive year for this event, it followed on from some earlier ‘Crawls of the Dead’ which began in 2004.

Inside the pub the lighting was low and I needed to use flash. While the Nikon flash gun I was using in the hot-shoe of my camera is generally a great performer I had some problems. While it is OK with the camera in landscape mode, turning the setup through 90 degrees for portrait format images isn’t really very successful. And I also found myself unable to use the usually magical i-TTL mode, not because of some zombie spells, but as later searches through the fat manual at home revealed it is incompatible with the camera mode I had set for the dark interior. I think the camera and flash manual have a total of well over 500 pages – these things are just too complicated for mortals.

LoNdOn ZoMbIE WaLk VII

City Link & Cleaners at John Lewis – Oxford St, Sat 2 Nov 2013

As the final zombies staggered out of the pub to crawl Soho I rushed away to Oxford Street where cleaners were holding a protest outside the flagship John Lewis Store, and were today joined by City Link workers who deliver goods for the company.

City Link was sold off earlier in the year to Jon Moulton’s private equity group ‘Better Capital’ and face pay cuts, enforced overtime, loss of bonus scheme and other changes. They were protesting with John Lewis’s cleaners who are fighting to get a living wage and better working conditions. Unlike other staff in the store who are directly employed by the company as ‘partners’ and share in the profits through a bonus scheme, cleaners are outsourced to a cleaning company and paid less than a pittance, with unsocial hours and poor conditions of service. John Lewis management wash their hands and say it it nothing to do with them.

City Link & Cleaners at John Lewis