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Air Pollution, Lambeth Libraries & Aleppo – 2016

Air Pollution, Lambeth Libraries & Aleppo: Saturday 30th April 2016 was a day that illustrated the diversity of protests in London. Cyclists staged a die-in outside the Dept for Transport against killer air pollution, campaigners in Lambeth demanded the council scrap plans to close ten libraries and Syrians and otheers called for an end to Russian and Syrian air strikes on Aleppo.

Stop Air Pollution Killing Cyclists

Dept of Transport Air Pollution, Lambeth Librariess & Aleppo - 2016

Air pollution in London is a serious problem with pollution often above legal limits, mainly because of exhaust gases and particulates from traffic on our congested streets.

Air Pollution, Lambeth Libraries & Aleppo - 2016

Studies say that this causes the premature deaths of over 9,500 Londoners each year, as well as many more living in suffering from lung diseases, heart problems, cancers, asthma, emphysema and lung infections.

Cyclists are particularly at risk, breathing in large amounts of dirty air as they ride, though of cause the pollution affects us all. This protest was organised by ‘Stop Killing Cyclists’ who say the Tory government had stopped progress on making London’s air cleaner.

Air Pollution, Lambeth Librariess & Aleppo - 2016

The campaigners who staged the die-in on Horseferry Road demanded fair funding for cyclists to make riding a bike in London safer with more segregated routes and safer junctions to encourage more people to ride rather than drive. As well as resulting in less traffic the exercise would also improve health.

They called for all non-zero emission private cars to be banned now from the city on days were the pollution levels were expected to be above EU safety levels, for all diesel vehicles to be banned in the city centre within 5 years – and all petrol powered vehicles within 10 years, as well as regular ‘car-free’ days in London and other major cities.

To stop the killing of children and other pedestrians they called for residential areas to become living streets Home Zones, getting rid of dangerous and polluting through routes and for a national programme of pedestrianisation of city, borough and town centres.

They also wanted councils to be allowed to limit the number of private hire vehicles and to promote the serious use of pedicabs – currently only fleecing tourists in the city. The protest came in the run up to local elections, including for the Mayor of London, and the candidates were asked to respond to these demands. Only the Green Party candidate Sian Berry (who took part in the protest) really responded positively.

More at Stop Air Pollution Killing Cyclists

Save Upper Norwood and all Lambeth Libraries

Upper Norwood

To save money Lambeth Council was planning to close or end funding to five of its ten libraries, with staff losing their jobs.

There were strikes by library staff and a ten-day occupation of the Carnegie Library in Herne Hill.

Upper Norwood Library on the Croydon/Lambeth border and jointly funded by the two boroughs was being handed over to the Upper Norwood Library Trust to run as a community hub. Pressure from protesters has led to the council agreeing to one member of staff for a transitional period, but the library then had five professional staff.

Save Upper Norwood and all Lambeth Libraries

Save Aleppo, Stop Airstrikes

Russian Embassy, Kensington

*Many of the protesters had Syrian Freedom flags*

Protesters from the Syria Solidarity Campaign came to protest after bombing raid on the Al-Qudus hospital in Aleppo the previous Wednesday night had killed tens of civilians including children and three doctors.

The hospital had a policy of only treating civilians and among those killed were the last paediatrician and the last dentist in Aleppo. The air raid also targeted the building used by civil defence volunteers.

Across the street from the private road housing the Russian Embassy they called for an end to Russian and Syrian air strikes, for an end to the Assad regime and for Putin to get Russian forces out of Syria.

Save Aleppo, Stop Airstrikes

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Hizb Ut-Tahrir & Grenfell Protests – 2018

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

Hizb Ut-Tahrir protest against Turkey

Turkish Embassy, Belgrave Square

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hizb Ut-Tahrir protest against Turkey

Bikers for Grenfell

Kensington Town Hall

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

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

Bikers for Grenfell

Grenfell Silent Walk – 10 Months On

Kensington

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

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

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

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

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

More at Grenfell silent walk – 10 months on.

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World Health, Syria & a Pillow Fight – 2012

World Health, Syria & a Pillow Fight: Saturday 7th April 2012 was World Health Day and health campaigners protester against the increasing privatisation of the NHS. It was also International Pillow Fight Day which was celebrated by hundreds in Trafalgar Square. Between these I photographed Free Syria supporters calling for the UK government to do more over the atrocities by the Assad regime against their relatives still in Syria.

World Health Day: Lansley’s Bill

Dept of Health, Whitehall

World Health, Syria & a Pillow Fight - 2012 — *Lansley’s Bill – Lansley lies to the media in the play performed outside the Dept of Health*

The Health and Social Care Act 2012 was now law, having gained royal assent on March 27th 2012. Secretary of State for Health, Andrew Lansley had pushed through the most extensive reorganisation of the structure of the NHS despite the united opposition of the Royal College of Nursing, the Royal College of Midwives, the British Medical Association and the Royal College of General Practitioners and many campaigning groups.

The Act led to a greater marketisation of the NHS with an greatly increased role for private companies who mainly ‘cherry picked’ the simpler and so more readily profitable areas of service, and its structural reforms were damaging, with new complex systems of governance and accountability, while removing the system leadership needed to cope with major changes. And it didn’t give any more choice to the public – unless they went private.

Lansley’s Act failed, largely because it tried to introduce a system based on competition into a an NHS where care and cooperation was the bedrock, but it did succeed in diverting much needed funds to the private sector. By 2019 the policy of competition was effectively abandoned. Labour in 2024 commissioned a report led by Lord Darzi which called it a “broken system” and conclude it “was a calamity without international precedent – it proved disastrous. The result of the disruption was a permanent loss of capability from the NHS“.

Nurse Gail Lee began the protest by explaining that the Act was designed to lead eventually to the NHS being converted to an insurance-based healthcare system that will provide high-cost medical services for those who can afford it while retaining only a basic provision for others. So far this has not happened but there are still politicians – Labour as well as Conservatives – who are urging this.

After her short talk there was a performance of the play ‘Lansley’s Bill’ by Mike Hart, based on the facts of the planning by McKinzey Consulting and the Tories which led to the Lansley Bill, a bundle of Tory lies which opens up healthcare to the market under the misleading mantras of ‘choice’ and ‘efficiency’.

Based around the problems of a cleaner who needs the help of the new version of the NHS but is told to wait, and wait – until she dies, it makes the point that “you have a choice. You can fight for the NHS, become rich, or you can make sure you are never ill. The least worst case is to get out there and fight.”

World Health Day: Lansley’s Bill

Syrians Continue Protest Against Assad

Downing St

Free Syria Supporters protested aaginst the continuing killing, torture, imprisonment and abductions of their relatives by the Assad regime, calling on the UK government to take greater action

Some held up placards ‘For My Sister’, ‘For My Mum’ and for some at least of those wearing gags with the words ‘Freedom’ or ‘Tortured’ it was there own family who was tortured or missing or held in jail. Their protest over human rights violation was personal.

Some held family snapshots, blown up to A4, and others were taped to the railings along with lists of names, and roses dedicated to the missing and dead.

Many also called for the release of human rights activist Noura Aljizawi, who had led protests against the Asad regime, worked in hospitals to support women and children and written for the Syrian underground newspaper Hurriyat. Arrested on 28th March she was tortured and denied access to family and lawyer; an international campaign led by Reporters without Borders eventually led to her release and she fled to Turkey, continuing her campaign against the Assad government, finally relocating to Canada.

My final paragraph on the protest on My London Diary:
“On a pillar behind and on the leaflets handed out were the grim statistics. 12,460 Syrians killed since March 2011; 65,000 innocent Syrians are missing; 882 children and babies murdered, 773 women slaughtered; 212,000 men women and children are detained; 30,627 refugees fled in fear of their lives. And the numbers are still rising.”

Many more pictures at Syrians Continue Protest Against Assad.

International Pillow Fight Day

Trafalgar Square

*Feathers soon began to fly in the square*

It was International Pillow Fight Day with fights arranged in 111 cities around the world in an event promoted by the urban playground movement.

*A whistle signalled the start of the fight*

As well as London there were fights in cities from Amsterdam to Zürich, with the majority being in the USA, but they were also in virtually every European country, as well as in Canada, Greenland, Turkey, Bahrain, South America, Cape Town, Australia, Hong Kong and China.

The organisers had set out a list of nine rules, some of which were adhered too, but others were clearly ignored – such as “6) NO FEATHERS, let’s not make a mess”.

Another that was often ignored was “4) Do not swing at anyone without a pillow or holding a camera”, though some did apologise after hitting me.

As I commented, it “was half an hour of glorious chaos as people of all ages – though mainly in their teens and twenties – rushed around attacking anyone with a pillow.”

Generally the attacks were random, but there were occasional cries to “attack the panda, or the guy in stripes or spiderman or one of the others in identifiable costumes”.

After around 20 minutes when the air (and my lungs) was full of dust and feathers the council cleaners began to pour buckets of water and sweep the dampened feathers away, but the fighting continued until a whistle blew to end the fight at the end of 30 minutes – with just a few continuing to fight.

Many more pictures at International Pillow Fight Day.

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Human Rights, Intifada, Copyright & Free Speech – 2012

Human Rights, Intifada, Copyright & Free Speech: Four protests on Saturday 11th February 2012 all have a connection with with human rights and freedom of expression.

Amnesty International’s rally was in solidarity with protesters in Syria, Egypt and elsewhere, and the Victory to the Intifada protest outside Marks and Spencers also expressed solidarity with protesters in Syria, Iran and Somalia as well as support for Palestinians.

Recent arrests at protests in the UK are attempting to criminalise any expression of support for the Palestinian Intifada – a word which refers to any resistance by Palestinians to the Israeli occupation, whether violent or non-violent. It remains to be seen whether our courts will throw out their attack on human rights and freedom of expression.

ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, was widely seen as an attempt by major film and music companies, drug manufacturers and other multinationals to infringe fundamental rights including freedom of expression and privacy for their own commercial interests and its ratification was eventually definitively rejected by the EU in July 2012.

Finally I covered a rally by One Law for All defending freedom of expression, called following increasing pressure from Islamists asking for censorship of cartoons, meetings and expressions they regard as blasphemies.

Amnesty Protest For Human Rights

Trafalgar Square

The large rally by Amnesty International was one a number of similar events in major cities across Europe, as well as in Iceland, Morocco, Nepal, Peru and Paraguay and sent thhe message to the people of the Middle East and North Africa that “you are not alone in your struggle. We are with you.”

Large numbers of Syrian protesters formed a circle around a clock tower representing that in Homs, where Clock Square has been at the centre of the protests, and danced around it, waving Syrian freedom flags, and at the rally which followed there were live link ups to protesters in two Syrian towns

There were many Egyptians also present and they and protesters from other countries spoke to an enthusiastic welcome from the crowd in the square.

*Syrians stamp on the face of War Criminal President Asad*

Amnesty Protest For Human Rights

Victory to the Intifada Picket

Marks & Spencers, Oxford St

Victory to the Intifada had been holding regular pickets outside Oxford St flagship store since 2000 and this week were also stressing solidarity with Syrian, Iran and Somalia.

Their protests showing solidarity with Palestine began at the start of the Al Aqsa Intifada in 2000, and have continued once or twice a week since then. The location on the wide pavement here was chosen as M&S is Britain’s largest corporate backer of Zionist initiatives in Israel.

They urged shoppers to oppose British support for Israel and to boycott Israeli goods and support the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.

Victory to the Intifada Picket

Stop ACTA – London Protest

British Music House, Berners St

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) was a treaty negotiated in secret talks with little or no public debate between major countries including the United States, the European Community, Switzerland, Japan, Australia, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Mexico, Jordan, Morocco, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, and Canada to protect the commercial interests of major film and music companies, drug manufacturers and other multinationals.

During the talks there was little if any representation from the artists and others who actually create the intellectual property from which these companies profit, or from the general public who pay for them.

The protesters say that ACTSA would threaten free speech on the Internet and allow governments too much control over what could be put on the web. It would also make it possible for companies to prevent the making of parodies, which would stop proper creative and critical engagement with cultural works.

The protest was opposite British Music House where the Music Publishers Association, the Performing Rights Society for Music and other groups were based, and was called by an Anonymous group calling themselves ‘Stop Acta For Freedom’ and the ‘Open Rights Group’ and was joined by the ‘Pirate Party UK’. Many of those taking part wore ‘Anonymous’ masks, some with a black pirate eye patch.

*Anti-democratic Corporate domination Technically inept Abomination – ACTA stops life-saving generic drugs for the sake of corporate profit’*

Apart from its effect on web freedom, ACTA would be used to prevent the production of cheap drugs which have a vital role in treating disease in the majority world.

Although quite a few countries initially signed up to ACTA, few ratified it and public pressure finally resulted in it being abandoned. The full European Parliament rejected it in July 2012 by 478 votes to 39.

Stop ACTA – London Protest

Defend Freedom of Expression

Old Palace Yard

*Queen Mary College poster ‘Tolerance of Intolerance is Cowardice’*

I arrived late to join the roughly 500 people listening intently to speeches at the One Law for All rally opposite the Houses of Parliament.

The event like that by Amnesty International was part of a wider international Day of Action For Free Expression, with other events in Melbourne, Brazil, Paris, Gambia, Germany, Warsaw (and elsewhere in Poland), Portugal, South Africa and the US. In the UK the Day of Action was endorsed by nearly 100 groups and individuals including Jessica Ahlquist, Richard Dawkins, Equal Rights Now, Taslima Nasrin, National Federation of Atheist, Humanist and Secular Student Societies, National Secular Society, Salman Rushdie, Southall Black Sisters, and Peter Tatchell.

I felt that a few of the speakers were taking the opportunity to criticise religions in general and Christianity in particular in something of an anti-religious crusade in a way I felt was unsuitable; as I commented “atheist bigots are surely no more acceptable than religious ones“.

The protest was in response to actions taken by various authorities in this country, including at Queen Mary University and University College London acceding to demands by Islamists for the censorhip of individuals and organisations. We still see this attack on freedom of expression in institutions over this as well as other issues such as trans rights and accusations of anti-semitism by those who oppose Zionism and the activities of the Israeli government.

Defend Freedom of Expression

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End the War on Rojava – 2026

End the War on Rojava: Last Saturday, 25th January 2026, I photographed thousands of Kurds and supporters marching from the BBC towards Downing Street in an attempt to break the world’s silence as the Trump/USA supported Al Qaeda Islamist Syrian government forces destroy much of the autonomous mainly Kurdish region of Rojava.

After the Syrian revolution began with mass protests against the brutal Assad regime in 2011, on July 19th 2012, three predominantly Kurdish-inhabited areas of north-east Syria declared their autonomy, becoming the democratic ‘Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria’ (AANES), better known as Rojava, although this later grew to include a third of Syrian territory and nearly a fifth of its population.

The area remained committed to the ideas of the Arab Spring and set up a democratic constitution with equality for all ethnic groups. It embodied the the slogan “Jin, Jiyan, Azadî” – “Women, Life, Freedom” and many of the banners and placards on the protest reflected this.

Turkey has for many decaades discriminated against its Kurdish communities, with a denial of Kurdish identity attempting to violently assimilate Kurds. In 1978 Kurds founde the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, PKK, which in 1984 began a militant insurgency against the Turkish state. Following pressure from NATO member Turkey, the New Labour government in 2001 proscribed this as a terrorist organisation, making support of it illegal in the UK.

In a political show trial now taking place at the Old Bailey, six members of London’s Kurdish community are charged with being members of the banned PKK. The trail, largely unreported in the mass media, is a sign of Turkey’s increasing attempt to crush the Kurds and the UK’s further collaboration with its fellow NATO member and in line with an increasing use of terrorism charges to oppose political demonstrations – such as those by supporters of Palestine Action and others who oppose the actions of the Zionist state.

The PKK in 2025 announced an end to its military insurgency, ceremonially burnt some of its weapons and officially disbanded in an attempt by Kurds to make peace with Turkey. But the Turkish response has been to carry out military attacks in predominantly Kurdish areas of Syria and to persuade its NATO allies to take a harder line against the Kurds.

For some years the Kurds had been backed by USA air support in leading the fight on the ground against the Islamic state (ISIS) in Syria, largely ending their control of the area – and the UK had played a part in this too. But the situation changed after an Islamist group succeeded in overturning Assad and becoming the new government of Syria. And Trump and his advisers see Rojava as dangerously socialist if not communist – and would prefer any more conservative regime. The USA has a long record of support for dictators.

Since then the autonomous region has engaged with the government to come to agreement so that the advances in the area particularly in the relations between different ethnic groups and the hugely increased freedom for women can be retained. But it seems now that the government is attempting to put the clock back and impose its Islamist ideas across the country, and to fight – with the aid of Turkey -to do so.

Following a video showing a Syrian soldier proudly holding the braid of a slain Kurdish woman fighter, Kurdish women began braiding their hair in solidarity as an unusual form of protest. In London some carried hair braids and posters with the message “keziya me rimetame” – Our hair is a crown.

Other posters carried the message “2 + 2 = 1” – After the end of the First World War in treaties largely determined by England and France, the Kurdish areas were split between four countries – Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq and they were denied their own country, Kurdistan which the slogan states is a single people and country.

*London, UK. 25 Jan 2026. 2+2=1 – Kurdistan is in Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran*

Many more pictures in an album on Facebook and available for editorial use on Alamy.

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Slavery, Cruelty to Animals & Afrin – 2018

Slavery, Cruelty to Animals & Afrin: On Saturday 27th January 2018 I photographed a protest against the imprisonment, torture and slavery of African migrants in Libya and their slavery in Dubai, the continuing protests against animal cruelty outside the Canada Goose store and a march by Kurds calling for an end to attacks by Turkish forces on Afrin. That protest took the same route as last Saturday’s protest against the attacks on Kurds in Syria, now by the Syrian army.

End UAE Support For Slavery In Libya

UAE Embassy

Slavery, Cruelty to Animals & Afrin - 2018

The protest outside the UAE Embassy had not been well advertised and was rather smaller than the organisers had hoped or the police had planned for. The United Arab Emireates was targeted as they fund armed groups in Libya which imprison, torture and kill African migrants and sell them as slaves.

African migrants are also trafficked to be slaves in Dubai, the largest city and capital of the UAE and the protest called for an end to this and for help to be given for slavery victims in Dubai to return to their families in Africa.

End UAE support for slavery in Libya

Canada Goose Protests Continue

Regent St

Protesters continue their regular protests outside the Canada Goose flagship store in Regent St calling on shoppers to boycott the store because of the horrific cruelty involved in trapping dogs for fur and raising birds for the down used in the company’s clothing.

Their activities have been restricted by injunctions obtained by the store but they were still protesting every Saturday and on at least one other day each week.

They say ‘Canada Goose Murders Dogs’ . The clothing they sell uses fur from wild dogs caught in traps; caught in the traps and wounded by them, they slowly bleed to death and may be attacked and eaten by predators while still alive before the trappers return. Some of those caught gnaw through their own legs to escape and die slowly elsewhere.

Canada Goose protests continue

Defend Afrin, Stop Turkish Attack

BBC to Downing St

Several thousand, mainly Kurds took part in the march calling for an end to the attacks by Turkish forces on the Afrin Canton of Northern Syria, now a part of the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria (DFNS) or Rojava, a de-facto autonomous region in northern Syria since the 2011 revolution.

Many see Rojava and its democratic constitution which treats all ethnic groups – which include Arabs, Assyrians, Syrian Turkmen and Yazidis as well as Kurds – equally and liberates women as a model for the future of this and other multi-ethnic areas.

Turkey has long been engaged in a fight against the Kurds inside Turkey and was now attempting to eliminate those in areas close to its border with Syria. The PKK, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, a Kurdish nationalist organisation regarded by Turkey and its allies as a terrorist organisation, has been in armed conflict with Turkey since 1984, demanding equal rights and Kurdish autonomy in Turkey.

It was Kurdish forces, with the help of US air support that defeated ISIS in Syria, while Turkey was aiding ISIS in smuggling out the oil which financed their activities. But Turkey has the largest military forces in the area including weapons sold to them by the UK, France and USA as a member of NATO.

The PKK is a proscribed group in the UK and the police apparently seized a few PKK flags at the start of the march. It’s leader Abdullah Ocalan has been held largely in isolation in a Turkish jail since 1999, though in 2025 he called for the PKK to dissolve itself and announced an end to their insurgency against Turkey.

Many more pictures on My London Diary: Defend Afrin, stop Turkish Attack.

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Gaza, Freedom, Syria & Gay Tourism – 2014

Gaza, Freedom, Syria & Gay Tourism: Saturday 18th January 2014 was the fifth anniversary of the end of the 2008/9 Israeli massacre in Gaza, Operation Cast Lead in which around 1,400 people, many unarmed civilians were killed. I also photographed a rather unorganised protest by Anonymous against privatisation, cuts, environmental and other issues, a peace vigil by Syria Peace & Justice and finally Queer Strike and ‘No Pinkwashing’ picketing a beach-themed LGBT tourism event promoting Israel as a tourist destination.

Gaza Massacre 5th Anniversary

Israeli Embassy, Kensington

Gaza, Freedom, Syria & Gay Tourism - 2014

Around 500 people had come to a protest on Kensington High Street opposite the private road leading to the Israeli embassy. The attacks on Gaza in 2008-9, Operation Cast Lead, had shocked the civilised world, though the 1400 largely civilian deaths were on a small scale compared to the current ongoing genocide when over 70,000 have died, with deaths continuing daily since the so-called ceasefire.

As well as continuing Israeli attacks children and old people are now dying in Gaza due to the freezing conditions and inadequate shelter because of the destruction of buildings and the continuing Israeli restrictions preventing much of the humanitarian aid and critical supplies needed to keep people safe, alive and well.

The hundreds who came to the protest in 2014 kept up a noisy barrage of chanting calling for justice for the victims of Israel’s massacre and against the ongoing siege on Gaza for around an hour before a series of speeches.

Among those at the protest were many Palestinians as well as Jews some of whom had been leading the call for a boycott of Israeli goods. It was supported by a wide range of groups and on My London Diary I gave the following list : “Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Palestinian Forum in Britain, British Muslim Initiative, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Stop the War Coalition, Jews for Justice for Palestinians, Friends of Al-Aqsa UK, Liberal Democrats Friends of Palestine, War on Want, Unite the Union, Public and Commercial Services Union, Amos Trust and ICAHD UK.”

More at Gaza Massacre 5th Anniversary.

Anonymous March For Freedom UK

Trafalgar Square to Parliament Square

This protest had been called by Anonymous supporters following their large protest on Novemeber 5th, but fewer than a couple of hundred had arrived. Some had instead gone to the Gaza protest, and like me will have arrived rather late for this event.

They were in one corner of Trafalgar Square and people took turns to speak at an open microphone. As well as those in ‘Anonymous’ masks I recognised many who had taken part in Occupy London.

Eventually someone suggested that they march to Parliament. For once the police facilitated this, suggesting they could walk along the southbound carriageway of Whitehall, and shepherding them across the traffic lights to do so. It “had been organised as a peaceful and family-friendly event, and this was the case, as they marched past Downing St with nothing more than a few shouts and rude gestures and on to Parliament Square.”

When they arrived outside Parliament “it became obvious that this was a protest without leaders, and with no real idea where they were going or what to do.” People – including some police made a number of suggestions but eventually they decided to stop in Parliament Square for a rally.

They were still on the roadway, but after a couple of minutes agreed to police suggestions that they move onto the pavement so that traffic could flow again.

There were then a few speeches followed by some discussion about what they should do next.

One suggestion was that they should stay where they were and party in Parliament Square and it seemed likely that they would do so.

I decided it was time to leave and walked back up Whitehall past a small crowd of police vans. The police were obviously taking no chances and I think probably outnumbered the protesters, although most simply sat in their vans.

Anonymous March For Freedom UK

Peace vigil for Syria

Trafalgar Square

Back in Trafalgar Square I found a small group from Syria Peace & Justice holding a peace vigil “calling for immediate humanitarian ceasefires and the release of all political prisoners and an inclusive Syrian-led peace process.”

The Geneva 2 peace talks were to start the following week and they said that the agenda was being “being set by major foreign powers like the US and Russia” and that only the Syrian government and a Turkey based Syrian group had been invited.

They demanded “an inclusive Syrian-led peace process that includes strong representation from Syrian women, Syrian civil society organisations and various moderate Syrian opposition groups.”

Peace vigil for Syria

Israeli Gay Tourism Pinkwashing

Villiers Street

Queer Strike, Women of Colour, the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, and people from the ‘No Pinkwashing’ campaign had come to picket an event promoting Israel as a tourist destination for LGBT people.

*A security man objects as the protesters block the arcade entrance briefly for photographs*

The Gay Star Beach Party LGBT tourism event claimed Tel Aviv to be “one of the best gay cities in the world” and together with the Israeli Tourism Board they were trying to persuade gay people to holiday there.

The protesters say that this is “pinkwashing”, an attempt to divert attention from human rights crimes against Palestinians, using opposition to homophobia to legitimise Israel and undermine support for Palestine. They called on those going to the event to boycott it and not go to Israel until it ends human rights abuses, recognises the Palestinians’ right to self-determination and complies with international law.

They handed out a card with five reasons for LGBT tourists to boycott Israel:

 - the military occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza since 1967, with over 100 illegal Israeli settlements on land stolen from Palestinians;
  - the violence against Palestinian children, hundreds of whom are arrested each year and held in military detention without access to lawyers, mainly for alleged stone-throwing;
  - the inhuman siege of Gaza, blocking import of food, fuel and medical supplies and preventing the repair of many homes destroyed in the 2008-9 invasion by Israel;
  - the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their homes and land which began in 19438 and still continues, creating millions of refugees;
 the apartheid system of roads reserved for Jewish Israelis, the apartheid wall and the many check points involving long waits and searches for Palestinians.

The protesters also highlighted Israel’s racist treatment of African people, There had been protests the previous week in Tel Aviv by 30,000 African asylum seekers and refugees demanding that all African refugees imprisoned in Israeli prisons and detention centres be freed and for recognition of their rights as asylum seekers and refugees.

Israeli Gay Tourism Pinkwashing

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Don’t Bomb Syria – 2015

Several thousands had come to Downing St on Saturday 28th November 2015 to urge MPs not to support British air strikes on Syria and more arrived as the rally was beginning bring the number up to perhaps ten thousand.

Police who had tried to restrict the crowd to the wide pavement area were forced to stop traffic on the southbound carriageway, but put in a row of barriers so they could keep northbound traffic moving.

There were a long list of speeches – you can read a partial list and see photographs of most of them on My London Diary.

Don't Bomb Syria - 2015 Tariq Ali — *British Pakistani writer, journalist, and filmmaker Tariq Ali*

The speakers called for the need to take effective action against the Turkish complicity in Daesh oil exports, in which members of Erdogan’s family take a leading role, and against what Tariq Ali described as “the obscenity of the Wahabi regime in Saudi Arabia” which provides the fanatical religious basis and much funding for Daesh. And, always in the background, the continuing crisis over Palestine.

But there seemed to me to a glaring omission. As I wrote, I was there “with notebook poised ready to write down the names of the speakers representing the Syrians and the Syrian Kurds, who should surely have been at the forefront of this protest rather than so many old ‘Stop the War’ war-horses. None came, not because none were available or willing to speak, but because the politics of those most closely involved don’t accord with those of Stop the War.”

Throughout the speeches some protesters had been trying to move across onto the roadway directly in front of Downing Street. Eventually so many moved past the barriers that it became impossible for the police to force them back and keep the road clear for traffic.

Hundreds then sat done on the road and were still there chanting ‘Don’t Bomb Syria’ and other slogans well after the speeches had ended. After around an hour after police reinforcements arrived.

Previously police had been trying to persuade the protesters to stand up and leave the road with little success, but now they were warned they would be arrested if they failed to do so. Some were more reluctant than others to move, but I think eventually all did and I saw no arrests.

*People slowly decide to move rather than be arrested*

In September 2014 the UK Parliament had voted overwhelmingly in favour of British air strikes against ISIS in Iraq, but Parliament had also blocked the government’s plans for military action against Syria after the 2013 Ghouta chemical attack.

PM David Cameron had repeated calls for air strikes following a mass killing of tourists by an Islamist militant group in Tunisia, but it was only after the terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2015 that the House of Commons approved air strikes against ISIL in Syria – which began hours later in December 2015. In the next 15 months the RAF carried out 85 strikes – and there have been others since.

Many more pictures on My London Diary:
Don’t Bomb Syria
Speakers at Don’t Bomb Syria
Don’t Bomb Syria Blocks Whitehall

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Naked Bodies, Acid Attacks, Revolution & Kobane – 2014

Naked Bodies, Acid Attacks, Revolution & Kobane: 1st November 2014 was apparently World Vegan Day and PETA celebrated the event, highlighting the 255 animals killed for food in the UK every second by a similar number of people lying near naked or nearly naked and smeared with fake blood on a tarpaulin in Trafalgar Square. A few yards away the 8th March Women’s Organisation (Iran – Afghanistan) protested against acid attacks on women who do not wear a veil in Iran. I walked onto Westminster Bridge to photograph the distant banner with the message ‘REVOLUTION’ held by ‘Anonymous‘ protesters, some in Guy Fawkes masks, on Waterloo Bridge – and later they brought it to Trafalgar Square where I was covering a rally supporting the Kurds defending Kobane, the capital of Rojava in northern Syria.

PETA World Vegan Day Naked Protest

Trafalgar Square

Naked Bodies, Acid Attacks, Revolution & Kobane - 2014

In 1994 Louise Wallis, then Chair of the UK Vegan Society which was celebrating its 50th anniversary, declared November 1st to be World Vegan Day and since then it has been adopted by vegans around the world. It comes at the start of World Vegan Month – which is November.

PETA believe “Animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, use for entertainment, or abuse in any other way“. They state than in the UK 255 animals are killed for food and they held a protest to dramatise this in Trafalgar Square with a similar number of near naked or nearly naked people smeared with fake blood on a tarpaulin.

Most of those taking part in the protest were women and a few held large posters with the message:

‘1 BILLION ANIMALS
KILLED
FOR FLESH
EACH YEAR
PETA’

Others held posters ‘CHOOSE LIFE: CHOSE VEGAN’. It was certainly a protest which attracted the interest of tourists and photographers.

I’m not a vegetarian or a vegan and I commented back in 2014:

“Nature isn’t vegetarian, and certainly not vegan, though of course some species are herbivores. But others are carnivorous or omnivores, and I can see no problem in our own species eating meat or fish though I would like to see all of the current cruel practices involved in producing food for us outlawed. Eating foie gras should definitely be made a crime!”

More pictures on My London Diary at PETA World Vegan Day Naked Protest.

Against acid attacks on Iranian women

Trafalgar Square

The 8th March Women’s Organisation (Iran – Afghanistan) protested in Trafalgar Square against acid attacks on women who do not wear a veil in Iran.

Attacks by gangs encouraged by the regime to enforce strict Islamic rules have left many women scarred and blinded.

Against acid attacks on Iranian women.

‘Anonymous’ Revolution Banner

Waterloo Bridge and Trafalgar Square

‘Anonymous’ protesters had brought a banner to hold up on Waterloo Bridge, with the message REVOLUTION but it was too small to really make an impact even using the longest lens I own and was rather dwarfed by the City backdrop.

Intended to publicise the Nov 5th ‘March Against Government Corruption’ in London it was rather more effective when they brought it to Trafalgar Square where a protest supporting Kobane was taking place.

Revolution Banner Drop

Global Solidarity With Kobane

Trafalgar Square

*Women with Kurdish Workers Party flags*

During the Syrian Revolution the government forces had abandoned Kobane to the Kurish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in July 2012 and it had became a centre of part of the autonomous Kurdish-led region of Rojava in north Syria.

From September 2014 to January 2015 Kobane was under siege by ISIS who managed to occupy much of the city. With the help of US air support and US forcing Turkey to allow Kurds from Iraqi Kurdistan to come to join the fight, Kobane was finally freed from ISIS in January 2015.

November 1st was also World Kobane Day, and thousands had come to Trafalgar Square on a Global day of solidarity calling for aid for the Kurdish fighters in the YPG (People’s Defence Units), the women of the YPJ and refugees from Kobane.

*A woman talks with Mark Thomas and Peter Tatchell*

They had also come to support Rojava, which many see as an important democratic development with its constitution which enshrines equality, pluralism, democratic participation and protection of fundamental human rights and liberties.

Many were critical of Turkey which was supporting ISIS and financing its fighting by allowing it to export its oil through Turkey as well as preventing Turkish Kurds from joining in the fight while allowing fighters across its border to join ISIS.

Turkey has long suppressed the Kurds and had tried to suppress the Kurdish language and culture, and the protesters called of the release of the Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan, kidnapped in Kenya in 1999 and held in a Turkish jail since then. Protesters also called for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party PKK to be removed from the list of proscribed organisations here and elsewhere.

On My London Diary you can read more about the rally and the speakers and there are many more pictures at Global Solidarity With Kobane.

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Divided Families, Gaza, Ghouta & Sri Lanka – 2014

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

Divided Families protest over cruelty – Downing St

Divided Families, Gaza, Ghouta & Sri Lanka - 2014

The Universal Declaration on Human Rights states:

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

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

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

More at Divided Families protest over cruelty

Gaza Protest – Stop Arming Israel – Downing St

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

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

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

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

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

More pictures at Gaza Protest – Stop Arming Israel.

Syria Chemical Massacre Anniversary – Trafalgar Square

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

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

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

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

Syria Chemical Massacre Anniversary

Tamils protest Sri Lankan rapes & killing – Downing St

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

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

Tamils protest Sri Lankan rapes & killing

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