Uganda | >Re-PHOTO

Uganda, Green Belt, Olympic Site – 2008

Uganda, Green Belt, Olympic Site: Thursday 9th October 2008 was Uganda Independence Day and I began work at a protest at the Ugandan Embassy in Trafalgar Square against the persecution of gays in that country. In Parliament Square I met protesters who had come from Dorset to bring a petition against a proposed new town on Green Belt land on the outskirts of Bournemouth and Poole. Then as I had a few hours before a meeting it was an opportunity to take another walk to see what I could by then of the fenced off Olympic site.

Demonstration Against Ugandan Human Rights Abuse

Ugandan Embassy, Trafalgar Square

*Peter Tatchell of Outrage! and Davis Makyala of Changing Attitudes in the demo outside Uganda House*

As I wrote in 2008, “October 9 is Uganda Independence Day, but for gay Ugandans in particular there is little to celebrate… “Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda and the penalty can be imprisonment for life, and gay rights campaigners have been imprisoned and subjected to torture. The Ugandan Anglican church is a leading force in anti-gay campaigns.”

The Ugandan government intimidates and tortures gay people and excludes them from healthcare. British arms exports have been used against protests there, killing at least three demonstrators by 2008.

*Kizza Musinguzi who was jailed and tortured in Uganda receives the 2008 Sappho in Paradise book prize*

Ugandans fleeing the country because of persecution and seeking asylum in the UK were among those forcibly sent back to the country without proper consideration of their cases under our “fast-track” process which was later declared unlawful.

*Emma Ginn of https://medicaljustice.org.uk/ Medical Justice*

The LGBTQ rights situation in Uganda is now even worse following the passage of ‘the Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023, which prescribes up to twenty years in prison for “promotion of homosexuality”, life imprisonment for “homosexual acts”, and the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality“.’

More on My London Diary at Ugandan Human Rights Abuse.

Green Belt Protest Rally

Westminster

People from villages on the outskirts of Bournemouth and Poole had come to protest against the proposed Lychett New Town on Green Belt land in Dorset.

Apparently Hazel Blears, Secretary of State, had told Dorset County Council it must build a New Town at Lytchett Minster with over 7,250 houses in the Green Belt around Poole & Bournemouth, and local residents had set up a campaign about it.

Octavia Hill had first proposed the idea of green belts in 1875 but it was the 1947 Town and Country Planning Act which allowed local authorities to set them up and they were further encouraged to do so by Tory Housing Minister Duncan Sandys in 1955. The idea was to put an end to the unplanned sprawl of ribbon development along major roads leading out from all our cities and provide areas for local food growing, forestry and outdoor leisure.

As I commented, “it has made a valuable contribution to improving the quality of life in our towns and villages and to conserving the countryside.” But as I also wrote, “Many of us feel that the whole of the current planning structure works against sensible and ecological development, but the answer to this is not to relax planning controls but to bring in improved – and in some respects tighter – controls.”

Unfortunately the changes announced by Labour in 2024 which include some Green Belt being re-classified as ‘Grey Belt’ seem largely intended to make things easier and more profitable for developers.

Consultations took place in 2025 over proposals for Lytchett Minster & Upton in the Dorset local plan which lists opportunity sites for over 5000 new homes – and a new petition was set up opposing them.

Green Belt Protest Rally

Stratford Marsh (Olympic Site) & Hackney Wick

*Looking towards the main stadium in left half of picture, along what was once Marshgate Lane.*

“It has always been an interesting walk through Stratford marsh on top of the Northern Outfall sewer, although rather more so in the past when there were so many places one could leave it to explore further rather than coming up against the big blue fence.”

*Bridge over City Mill River from the Greenway*

I commented back then of my annoyance at the statements made by the Olympic authorities that after the Olympics they would be opening up the previously inaccessible area to the public. In fact they were destroying the area where it had always been interesting to wander along the various largely riverside footpaths – many of which had been cleared to make them easier to walk in the 1990s.

*Work by Hackney Wick’s most prolific artist*

You can see many pictures that I took in the area on my Lea Valley website And as a replacement we now have a park which seems rather arid. Perhaps by 2112 it might look better.

In 2008 most of the Olympic area was fenced off, but I enjoyed the walk along the ‘Greenway’ on top of the Northern Outfall Sewer to Hackney Wick where I dound much to interest me and “taking the train back from Hackney Wick to Stratford there were many signs of fairly frenzied activity visible.”

*Wanted – Laura Norder – $5oo Reward – advertising an art fair at Decima Gallery in Hackney Wick*

Many more pictures, particularly around Hackney Wick at Stratford Marsh (Olympic Site) & Hackney Wick.

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Junior Doctors, Uganda & Benefit Sanctions – 2016

Junior Doctors, Uganda & Benefit Sanctions: On Wednesday 9th March 2016 Junior Doctors held a one-day strike over their claims for a better deal from the NHS and I joined a rally outside University College Hospital where health workers and trade unionists showed support and called for an end to the creeping privatisation of the NHS. Later in Trafalgar Square Ugandans were protesting the rigged presidential elections. Finally I went to the Dept of Work & Pensions to cover a National Day of Action against Benefit Sanctions, which often leave people with no means of support for sometimes trivial reasons and were by then known to have led to at least 95 deaths.

UCH rally for Junior Doctors Strike – Euston Rd

Junior Doctors, Uganda & Benefit Sanctions - 2016

Trade unionists, medical staff at all levels and other supporters joined the Junior Doctors picket line outside University College Hospital to show their support.

They then held a rally across the road from the hospital, one of London’s largest on the busy Euston Road.

Junior doctors are fully trained doctors in postgraduate training and gaining clinical experience to become members of the appropriate Royal College of Medicine. They may remain as junior doctors for around 8-20 years and are the largest group of doctors working in our hospitals.

In 2023 the he British Medical Association (BMA) decided it would no longer use the term “junior doctor” as it failed to indicate their high level of skills. In 2024 and as a part of the settlement of their dispute which came finally after the election of a Labour government they were renamed “resident doctors.”

On My London Diary I gave a long list of some of the speakers which indicate the huge range of support for the junior doctors and their fight against a Tory government that was determined to wreck the NHS so that it could be fully privatised for the benefit of largely US-based health care companies in which many of them had a financial interest.

Their aim was move towards a US-style insurance-based system – which would lead to many of us being unable to afford appropriate treatment and to face enormous bills – healthcare is by far the largest cause of bankruptcy in the USA. It seems likely that Labour under Starmer will continue to move in the the same direction.

Personally I would be unable to get insurance for my existing long-term health conditions. The NHS has for over 22 years enabled me to lead a normal life without charge to me and at a relatively low cost to the nation, whereas in the USA my continuing treatment would by now have cost me well over a quarter of a million dollars.

UCH rally for Junior Doctors Strike

Ugandans protest rigged Presidential Election – Uganda High Commission

Many Ugandans believe that February 2016 elections that re-elecated Museeveni as president were rigged and protesters outside the High Commission in Trafalgar Square demanded an independent audit of the results and called for the immediate release of opposition candidate Dr Besigye and other political prisoners, as well as action against those responsible for torture.

The protest was organised by the Uganda Diaspora P10 UK, and FDC UK Chapter and was supported by the African LGBTI Out & Proud Diamond Group and Peter Tatchell Foundation.

Yoweri Museveni has been in power since 1986, but international observers widely reported widespread fraud and irregularities, with many voters being unable to vote and the declared results from many polling stations being very different from the actual votes. Opposition candidates were repeatedly arrested and voters were intimidated.

I arrived almost at the end of an hour-long protest in front of the High Commission and then photographed them marching down Whitehall behind a Nigerian flag towards Downing St where I left them.

Many more pictures at Ugandans protest rigged Presidential Election.

Unite against Benefit Sanctions – DWP, Caxton House

*Didi Rossi from Global Women’s Strike accuses the Tories of deliberately targeting and killing the poor*

Unite Community members had come to hold a protest outside the DWP headquarters in Westminster as a part of their National Day of Action against Benefit Sanctions. There were other protests at job centres in over 70 towns and cities.

Benefit sanctions – periods where claimants lose their benefits – are often imposed for trivial reasons and those beyond the power of claimants. They may be sanctioned for arriving late after buses were cancelled or for not turning up when letters calling them to an appointment have not arrived in time or have been lost in the post.

*Winvisble and Global Womens’s Strike members were there in support*

As I commented, “Despite government denials, at least 95 deaths are known to have been as a result of sanctions which leave people destitute and starving. Some, like David Clapson, have actually starved to death while others have been so desperate that they have killed themselves. Without the efforts of the many food banks the figure would be much higher.“

There was anger when a Unite Community speaker said that the DWP’s policies had failed. Didi Rossi of Global Women’s Strike retorted that the DWP had been extremely successful in their attacks on the unemployed and disabled, and that the deaths were the clear intention behind the policies of Iain Duncan Smith.

Staff working for the DWP were being given incentives and targets for giving sanctions. And the faulty tests administered for “fitness for work” and being stripped of benefits were leading to many deaths. Over 80 people a month were dying shortly after this, most while appealing against the decision. More than 2,500 sick and disabled benefit claimants are known to have died after being found ‘fit for work’ in just 2 years.

More at Unite against Benefit Sanctions.

David Clapson – Sanctioned to Death – DWP, Caxton House

One of those taking part in the protest at the DWP was Gill Thompson, the sister of David Clapson, a diabetic ex-soldier who died starving and destitute because he was penalised by the Job Centre for missing a meeting.

She had come to hand in a petition to the DWP over his death and this was handed to a DWP representative together with another petition with over 200,000 signatures between them calling for an inquest into his death and an end to unfair benefit sanctions that leave claimants without support.

David Clapson – Sanctioned to Death

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Uganda Anti-gay Law & Guantanamo – 2014

Uganda Anti-gay Law & Guantanamo: Wednesday 8th January 2014 I photographed two protests in central London, the first in front of Uganda House in Trafalgar Square against the Anti-Homosexuality Act which had been passed by the Ugandan parliament but was awaiting signature by the President, and the second in Parliament Square calling for the closure of the illegal Guantanamo torture camp and the release of UK Resident Shaker Aamer.

Against Uganda’s Anti-Gay Law – Uganda House

A crowd filled the pavement outside Uganda House on Trafalgar Square in a protest organised by the African LGBTI Out & Proud Diamond Group and Peter Tatchell Foundation and supported by other groups including Queer Strike, Movement for Justice, Lesbian Gay Christians, Rainbows Across Borders, the RMT, Nigerian LGBTIs and Women of Colour.

They called on President Museveni not to sign the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, (often referred to as the ‘Kill the Gays’ Bill.) Originally the Bill had called for the death penalty for what it described as “aggravated homosexuality”, but this was reduced to life imprisonment when it was passed by an inquorate Ugandan Parliament in December despite not being on the day’s order of business.

Museveni eventually signed and the Act became law on 24th February 2014. The bill, under consideration by the Ugandan parliament since 2009 had provoked a huge amount of international condemnation and in June 2014 the US announced various sanctions against Uganda.

This Act was annulled by Uganda’s Constitutional Court in August 2014 as it had been passed without the necessary parliamentary quorum.

But in 2023, the Ugandan Parliament passed a new Anti-Homosexuality Act. Museveni passed it back to them for reconsideration when it was passed with minor amendments by a vote of 348 to 1 and he then signed it into law. It provided life imprisonment for homosexual acts and the death penalty for acts involving various groups of vulnerable people including those under 18 or over 75, disabled or mentally ill and repeat offenders or acts which transmit serious infectious diseases.

In 2024, the Constitutional Court upheld the 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Act, making a few minor changes, asserting “In defiance of international law, the judges ruled that the act does not violate fundamental rights to equality and nondiscrimination, privacy, freedom of expression, or the right to work for LGBT people.”

More about the 2014 protest at Against Uganda’s Anti-Gay Law.

Free Shaker Aamer Vigil – Parliament Square

The Save Shaker Aamer campaign mounted its first vigil in 2014 opposite Parliament calling for the Londoner’s urgent release. Held there without charge of trial since Feb 14, 2002 he was first cleared for release in 2007.

A dozen protesters in orange Guantanamo-style jump suits and black hoods lined the pavement opposite Parliament with posters and banners, occasionally walking slowly up and down to remind MPs of the need to press the US for his release. Although there has never been any evidence against him, his release and evidence of his continuing torture and the complicity in this of the British security service MI6 would greatly embarrass both the UK and US

You can read more about his case in my account on My London Diary. Eventually after years of public pressure and protests such as this he was finally released to the UK on 30 October 2015.

Free Shaker Aamer Vigil

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Fracking, Congo & Caste 2013

Fracking, Congo & Caste: On Saturday 19th October 2013 I began work at a protest calling on the former boss of BP to resign from the House of Lords because of his vested interest in fracking, then photographed a protest against the atrocities being committed in the battles for mineral wealth in the DRC, Uganda and Rwanda before covering a march bringing a petition to Downing Street against the continuing delays in making caste discrimination illegal in the UK.

Global Frackdown: Lord Browne resign! Mayfair

Campaigners went to the offices of private equity firm Riverstone Holdings to call on its managing director Lord Brown of Madingley, a former boss of BP, to resign his seat in the House of Lords because of his vested interests in fracking.

John Browne joined BP in 1966 and worked his way up the company to become CEO in 1995. Knighted in 1998, he joined the House of Lords as Baron Browne of Madingley. in 2001 while still being BP CEO. In 2007 he resigned from BP when accused of perjury in atempting to stop newspapers publishing details of a former homosexual relationship and of alleged misuse of company funds.

In his time at BP he was responsible for a ruthless programme of cost-cutting that many feel compromised safety and contributed to the 2005 Texas City Refinery explosion and in 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

In 2013, Browne was Managing Director and Managing Partner (Europe) of Riverstone Holdings LLC, and more significantly for today’s protest the chairman of Britain’s only shale gas driller Cuadrilla Resources.

The protest outside Riverstone was a part of a day of a ‘Global Frackdown’ with protests against fracking in 26 countries and in other cities in the UK.

Friends of the Earth activists met on Oxford Street and walked to the office in Burlington Gardens, where after a brief speech about Lord Browne’s involvement in fracking people were invited to write messages and put them in a small brown rubbish bin which would be left at the offices for him.

People wrote messages and posed with them calling for an end to fracking at Balombe and elsewhere in the UK as well as showing support for the Elsipogtog First Nation who had a few days earlier been attacked by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police with live ammunition and tear gas while protesting against fracking in New Brunswick, Canada.

Fortunately police in London merely came to ask the protesters what they intended to do before saying ‘Fine, no problem’ though they did later ask them to ensure there was a free path along the pavement and remind them and photographers of the danger from the slow moving traffic.

The activists point out that fracking contaminates huge volumes of water with sand and toxic chemicals and also that any fossil fuel production should be avoided as using fossil fuels increases the climate crisis.

Global Frackdown: Lord Browne resign!

Don’t Be Blind to DR Congo Murders – Piccadilly Circus

Continuing battles over the mineral wealth of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and Rwanda have led to the murder of more than 8 million people and over 500,000 men, women and children have been raped by the various armies funded by various European and African multinational companies.

Gold, diamonds, coltan, tungsten, tin and other ores should make these countries rich, but have led to huge devastation. Coltan, containing both niobium and tantalum is vital for the mobile phones, computers, missiles and other modern technology on which we rely. The fight for it has been the main incentive behind the genocidal wars that have waged in the area.

Despite various protests over the years by Congolese in London there has been little publicity to the atrocities and no action by our government. The ‘Don’t be Blind This Time’ campaigners came to Piccadilly Circus to raise public awareness, some posing in blindfolds and others handing out a thousand free flowers, with the message that that we need to demand justice and an end to the impunity and cover up around this conflict.

The wars continue in 2024 and have recently intensified. China now also being increasing involved as US companies have since 2013 sold their mines to Chinese companies who now own most of the mines in the DRC.

I don’t remember seeing any mention of this protest in the media, and we see few reports of the terrible situation continuing in the area. British editors seldom seem to regard this or conflicts in other areas of Africa such as Sudan as news.

Don’t Be Blind to DR Congo Murders

Make Caste Discrimination Illegal Now – Hyde Park to Whitehall

Negative discrimination on the basis of caste, long a traditional part of Indian society, was banned by law there in 1948 and is a part of the 1950 constitution, though it still continues. In the UK The Equality Act 2010 passed under New Labour in 2010 gave our government the power to make caste discrimination illegal but they lost the election before doing so.

The incoming coalition government was reluctant to action, but pressure continued and in 2013 the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 mandated this to be done; instead the government set up a two year consultation, apparently as a result of lobbying by the Alliance of Hindu Organisations, (AHO) a body set up to oppose what they call “the threat posed by this proposed amendment to the Equality Act 2010.”

The consultation appears also to be only with established groups dominated by upper caste interests, and its length entirely unnecessary. It isn’t clear why a simple elimination of a clearly discriminatory practice should be regarded as a threat.

A report on the consultation was finally published in 2018. In it the government rejected the idea of a law against caste discrimination and instead concluded:

Having given careful and detailed consideration to the findings of the consultation, Government believes that the best way to provide the necessary protection against unlawful discrimination because of caste is by relying on emerging case-law as developed by courts and tribunals. In particular, we feel this is the more proportionate approach given the extremely low numbers of cases involved and the clearly controversial nature of introducing “caste”, as a self-standing element, into British domestic law.

They also state that any law would “as divisive as legislating for “class” to become a protected characteristic would be across British society more widely.” I don’t think this comparison has any merit. Not to act seems to me to be accepting a foreign practice, illegal in its country of origin, into British society, and the low number of cases they comment on surely means that case-law will only emerge at a snail’s pace. Our new Labour government should follow the example begun by New Labour in 2010 and make caste discrimination illegal in the UK.

Make Caste Discrimination Illegal Now

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Shaker, Uganda, Legal Aid & Gay Marriage

Shaker, Uganda, Legal Aid & Gay Marriage: Tuesday 4th June 2013 saw quite a mixture of protests around Westminster with a regular daily protest during the Parliamentary session calling for the return of Shake Aamer and in solidarity with Guantanamo hunger strikers, a protest at the Home Office against the deportation of gay asylum seekers to Uganda, at the Ministry of Justice against privatisation of legal aid and protesters for and against outside the House of Lords were debating the gay marriage bill.

Bring Shaker Aamer Home Vigil – Parliament Square

Protesters were keeping up their daily vigil opposite the Houses of Parliament to remind MPs that British resident Shaker Aamer was still held in Guantanamo despite being cleared twice for release. They called on the UK government to urge President Obama to release him and close down the illegal prison camp.

The Guantanamo hunger strike was now putting the lives of the hunger strikers in danger, with over 40 of more than a hundred taking part now being forcibly fed, including ‘prisoner 239’, Shaker Aamer from Battersea.

Although today the daily protest was small it drew attention to itself with large bright orange banners and those taking part all in black hoods and orange jumpsuits, and one wearing ‘chains’ around hands and feet.

Bring Shaker Aamer Home Vigil

Stop Deporting Lesbians to Uganda – Home Office, Marsham St

A few days ago on 30th May 2023, Uganda’s President Museveni signed the Anti-Homosexuality Act which is said to be among the harshest anti-LGBTQ laws in the world. It imposes the death penalty for some so-called aggravated cases and largely repeats a similar 2014 law which was declared unconstitutional by Uganda’s constitutional court.

Uganda was a British protectorate from 1894 to 1962 and inherited anti-gay laws from colonial penal code, which have been widened since independence. Wikipedia puts it clearly “Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in Uganda face severe legal challenges, active discrimination, state persecution and stigmatisation not experienced by non-LGBT residents.” It goes on to state “Violent and brutal attacks against LGBT people are common, often performed by state officials.“

Despite the dangers the Home Office was continuing to deport gay people who had fled Uganda because of the danger and often violence they had suffered because of their sexuality back to where they faced persecution and probably death.

The protest came after lesbian Jackie Nanyonjo died following injuries inflicted on her during her forced deportation by thugs contracted to the UKBA in March, and a day before flights were due to return ‘Linda N’ on Qatar Airways and ‘Josephine’ by Royal Air Maroc.

Linda N, a known lesbian activist and member of the Movement for Justice was dealt with under a ‘fast track’ procedure designed to prevent proper consideration of cases, and despite a great deal of evidence was told she had not done enough to prove that she was gay. Josephine, a woman aged 62 with family in the UK, came here for sanctuary after refusing to carry out female genital mutilation (FGM). If returned she will be subjected to punishment beatings for her refusal and possibly killed.

The protesters called for an end to racist immigration policies and the release of these women and others held in Yarls Wood and an end to deportations still taking place to Uganda and other unsafe countries including Afghanistan.

Stop Deporting Lesbians to Uganda

Save Legal Aid & British Justice – Ministry of Justice, Petty France

Around a thousand people including many lawyers and other campaigners for justice blocked the road in front of the Ministry of Justice for a lengthy rally against proposed changes to the legal aid system which would mean that instead of people being defended by lawyers with the relevant expertise they would be assigned to the company who had made the cheapest bid. Large companies with little legal connection including Eddie Stobart and Tesco were expected to bid for the work, putting the many small specialist law firms which currently exist out of business.

As speakers pointed out these changes threaten the very heart of our legal system, severely reducing the chances of those who are not rich to get justice.

The changes were being proposed without proper consultation and regulations to bring them were tocome into effect within 3 months, without any pilot scheme, without an debate in the Houses of Parliament and with no proper examination of the evidence.

Among the speakers were several QCs, including Dinah Rose, Geoffrey Robertson and Michael Fordham, representatives of human rights organisations and charities, MPs David Lammy, Jeremy Corbyn, shadow justice minister Andy Slaughter and Bianca Jagger.

Many more pictures including those of most of the speakers at Save Legal Aid & British Justice.

For and against Gay Marriage – Old Palace Yard

Two groups of protesters were in Old Palace Yard. Stonewall had come with posters, t-shirts and vuvuzelas along with other LGBT protesters including Peter Tatchell and there were others including one in drag waving a rainbow flag.

A short distance to the side were a similar sized group organised by Christian Concern, an evangelical organisation who prayed and sang, murdering ‘Amazing Grace’ several times while I was there. At there centre were a black couple dressed as a bride and groom standing on a base resembling a wedding cake.

As well as these two groups which carefully avoided any direct conflict – one woman from ‘Christian Concern’ who came and began to tell the LGBT protesters that she was praying for them was quickly dragged away by one of their organisers – there were also a number of religious extremists also wandering around the area and protesting much of the day, some holding up large print posters of Bible texts, others standing still and preaching – though as I pointed out there there seemed to be nobody listening to their amplified sermonising.

I think the real debate is not about marriage but about having an established church which has made marriage both a civil and a religious contract. The law should clearly separate the two and religious bodies can now outside the established church do so should they chose. Some Christians would have no problems with having religious ceremonies for gay marriages, but others would not be forced to do so.

My elder son and his bride had two ceremonies some weeks apart, one a religious one with an Imam officiating and the other, some weeks later, with an official registrar present. Marriage law is essentially about the civil contract and I can see no reason against this applying to any couple whatever their genders – nor did the House of Lords.

More pictures at For and against Gay Marriage.

Climate Revolution Fracked Future Carnival 2014

The Climate Revolution is an organisation set up by the late fashion designer Vivienne Westwood (1941-2022) at the London Paralympics closing ceremony in 2012 and she spent the last years of her life campaigning to halt climate change, stop war and defend human rights and protesting against capitalism. Her work is now continued by the not-for-profit organisation she set up, the Vivienne Foundation.

Climate Revolution Fracked Future Carnival

I’m not a follower of fashion, as those who know me will have noticed. But Westwood’s activism reached a rather different and wider audience than the more usual campaigning groups, gaining publicity across the whole world of fashion and at times attracting the kind of mass media attention that follows celebrities, rather than issues, now attract.

Protests taking place in the UK seldom seem to be news – last Wednesday striking workers brought much of London to a standstill and possibly 100,000 people marched through the streets and protested in various places but when I came home and searched on the BBC news site in the early evening there was not a mention of it, though there may have been a little coverage later.

Others did rather better, but it needs something else for a protest to be news for our media. It can be that it happens abroad and particularly if it is against some regime unpopular with our (and the US) government. But it can also be if it is violent or particularly quirky or involves a major celebrity such as Dame Vivienne Westwood – and those protests she organised and her designs were always rather quirky too.

Although Westwood very much did her own thing, she was also great at cooperating with other groups working in the same area – such as the anti-fracking ‘Nanas from Nanashire’ who came down to London for this protest.

The protest was arranged to take place outside the Shale Gas Forum, where the CEOs of IGas, Cuadrilla and various government officials were plotting new ways to bring fracking to the UK, and to change our to allow this to happen. In particular they want to stop people being able to prevent dangerous mining beneath their properties which could cause dangerous and damaging subsidence. Their proposals would allowed companies to proceed without proper concern for safety and environmental consequences and give them some indemnity against damages and government would promise to pay a high price for the gas.

The Forum had been scheduled to take place at an expensive hotel in Belgravia, but after arrangements had been made for protest carnival to take place outside, it was moved to a ‘secret’ location elsewhere in London. Climate Revolution obviously had friends in high places who leaked the details to them.

It was Budget Day, but rather than going to take pictures around Westminster I decided it was more important to cover the protest against fracking. I met Westwood and her supporters, mainly fashion students, outside the Royal College of Arts Battersea location just south of Battersea Bridge and marched with them to the Jumeirah Carlton Tower hotel in Cadogan Place which had been the original venue for the frackers.

We knew the event had been relocated and their was some confusion at the end of the march as to whether it should entrain immediately at Knightsbridge station or go to the hotel. Eventually this was resolved and there was a rally outside the hotel with speakers including Vivienne Westwood and Vanessa Vine of BIFF (Britain & Ireland Frack Free).

The new location was still a secret as we followed the Rhythms of Resistance samba band to Knightsbridge station, where more protesters were waiting and took the underground to Old Street.

People were slow to arrive at Old Street, with some stopping off to buy coffee or sandwiches and others getting lost on the way, but eventually we were on the march again, on our way to the rear gates of the Territorial Army Centre on Bunhill Row, guarded by a few police.

Outside the event, people danced to Rhythms of Resistance, and there were speeches by Vivienne Westwood, Tina Louise from Residents Action on Fylde Fracking, Vanessa Vine, Frack Free Bristol, and others, some of whom had also spoken at Knightsbridge.

Some of us then walked through Bunhill Fields cemetery to City Road to protest on the other side of the military centre, and later most of the other protesters followed for a further rally at the main gates.

The protest was beginning to wind down and people were leaving and I left too, going to cover a protest by The African LGBTI Out & Proud Diamond Group and Peter Tatchell Foundation held a noisy protest at Uganda House calling for the repeal of Uganda’s draconian anti-gay laws.

And from there I went on to Downing St, where the People’s Assembly were holding their Budget Day Protest before finally I could go home.

More on all these stories on My London Diary:

Climate Revolution March to Fracked Future Carnival
Fracked Future Carnival in Knightsbridge
Fracked Future Carnival at Shale Gas Forum

Protest over Uganda Gay Hate Laws
People’s Assembly Budget Day Protest

HP in Israel, Nurses bursaries, Hungary, Congo & Syria

HP in Israel, Nurses bursaries, Hungary, Congo & Syria – five protests that I photographed on
Saturday 4th June 2016.

Boycott HP against Israeli apartheid – PC World, Tottenham Court Road

A protest outside PC World on Tottenham Court Rd was one of around 20 actions around the UK held to raise awareness of Hewlett Packard’s heavy involvement the Israeli oppression of the Palestinian people and encourage a boycott of HP.

HP provides the biometric system used for ID cards used to control movement of Palestinians inside Israel and in the occupied Palestinian territory, technology for the Israeli military and supporting the illegal settlements.

Boycott HP against Israeli apartheid

March to save NHS student bursaries

NHS students and supporters marched from St Thomas’s Hospital to the Department of Health in Whitehall along a route over Waterloo Bridge where there was a brief sit-down, and along the Strand to Charing Cross, where they were joined by disabled protesters who went with them to a rally in front of the Dept of Health at Richmond House on Whitehall.

Student bursaries are essential for nursing students as they have to spend 50% of their course working in the NHS and unlike other students are unable to work part-time to support themselves. Their work as students is important in keeping the NHS running and the bursaries also allow mature entrants to the profession to train.

Our current nursing shortage is in part due to the ridiculous decision by Jeremy Hunt who ignored the nursing unions and almost everyone else in making the cut. He claimed that removing the bursary would mean that there would be up to 10,000 more training places. In fact the number accepting places on nursing courses in 2018 dropped to its lowest level for five years, 8% less than when bursaries were available. The maintenance grant was reinstated in 2020, leading to an increase in student numbers, particularly in those over 30, where the increase was around 40%.

March to save NHS student bursaries

Rally against axing NHS student bursaries

*Danielle Toplady (right) supports Helen Corry as her mother makes a passionate speech in support of nurses*

Rally against axing NHS student bursaries

Call for a Greater Hungary – Downing St

Hungarian nationalists marched to Downing St calling for the restoration of the pre-1920 borders of Hungary, including the Székely Land in Romania.

The right-wing Jobbik party or Movement for a Better Hungary has grown considerably in support and in 2018 became the second largest party in the National Assembly and is often accused of seeking the restoration of the borders before the 1920 Trianon Treaty. Around a quarter of ethnic Hungarians live outside of Hungary and many suffer discrimination because of their culture and language. But according to Wikipedia, “Jobbik has never suggested changing borders by force, and believes that the ultimate solution is territorial and cultural autonomy within a European Union framework of minority rights.“

Call for a Greater Hungary

Congo Massacre protest – Downing St

The Patrice Lumumba Coalition protested opposite Downing St after the massacre last month of 120 people in Beni, North Kivu, Congo. They say that since 2014, 1000 people have been horrifically murdered in the region, despite the presence of a UN army and the Congolese armed forces.

They blame the massacres in Congo which have resulted in over 10 million being killed on the US-backed overthrow of the Mobutu regime and the support by the US, UK, Belgium and Canada of President Museveni in Uganda and President Kagame in Rwanda, whose proxy armies and militia groups attack the Congolese. This war is driven by multinational corporations to provide the mineral reserves of the Congo, gold, oil, tin and particularly coltan, essential for the production of smart phones, laptops and other electronic gadgets.

The UK backs the genocide with around £500m a year in support of Congo’s President Kabila, and £90m to prop up the Rwandan regime. They want those responsible for backing the genocide – including Tony Blair and the Clintons as well as African leaders to be brought to justice.

Congo Massacre protest

Syrians demand break the siege of Alwaer – Downing St

Syrians at Downing St called on the UK and international community to take urgent action to end the siege of Alwaer and 50 other besieged towns in Syria. People are without electricity, drinking water, food, fuel, and medical care and are at risk of dying from malnutrition

Alwaer, a town of more than 100,000 people, has been under siege by Syrian government forces for over 3 years and many have been killed and others are suffering disease. Assad’s forces are carrying out a systematic and deliberate policy of starvation of civilians, a war crime in grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Syrians demand break the siege of Alwaer

Junior Doctors, Ugandan Election, Benefit Sanctions

Junior Doctors, Ugandan Election, Benefit Sanctions. Three protests I photographed on Wednesday 9th March 2016

*David Clapson, one of many victions of inhumane Tory policies*

UCH rally for Junior Doctors Strike

Junior doctors were on a one day strike against the imposition of unfair contracts which they say are unsafe and they were joined by other trade unionists on the picket line at University College Hospital on Euston Road.

Later in the morning came the rally opposite the hospital I photographed when other health workers and NHS activists came to support them, and also to oppose the axing for NHS student bursaries and the creeping privatisation of the NHS.

Ugandans protest rigged Presidential Election

Elections had been held in Uganda in February 2016, and international observers reported widespread fraud and irregularities with opposition politicians being arrested, voters intimidated and many polling stations reporting results very different to the actual votes cast.

The protesters called on the UK not to recognise Museveni as the legitimate President of Uganda and for the immediate release of Dr Besigye and other political prisoners, as well as action against those responsible for torture.

The protesters, who included the African LGBTI Out & Proud Diamond Group and Peter Tatchell Foundation were clear that Museveni had lost the election to his challenger Besigye, and having held a high-spirited protest outside the Ugandan High Commission on the corner of Trafalgar Square marched down to deliver a letter to Downing St.

Unite against Benefit Sanctions

Demonstrations were taking place at over 70 job centres across the country against the use of benefit sanctions. Many claimants lose benefits for trivial reasons and for events beyond their control and are left without support. Some are sanctioned for arriving a few minutes late because of traffic congestion or for missing appointments they have not been informed about. I photographed a protest called by Unite Community members outside the ministry responsible for the policy, the DWP in Caxton St, Westminster.

Sanctions mean people lose benefits and are left destitute. Despite government denials at least 95 deaths are known to have resulted from these sanctions and without the efforts of the many food banks the figure would be much higher.

Some campaigners see the use of sanctions as a deliberate and successful attack on the unemployed and disabled by minister Iain Duncan Smith who is responsible for those working for the DWP being given incentives and targets for causing maximum misery and they label him ‘Minister for Euthanasia’.

David Clapson – Sanctioned to Death

Among those at the protest at Caxton House was Gill Thompson, the sister of David Clapson, a diabetic ex-soldier who died starving and destitute because he was penalised by the Job Centre for missing a meeting. She delivered a petition calling for an inquest into his death and an end to unfair benefit sanctions which leave claimants without support. Over 200,000 people have signed this and a related petition.

What Future for Protest?

Wednesday 19th March was a busy day in London as it was Budget Day and also the day of the Fracked Future Carnival which had been planned to take place outside a meeting of the Shale Gas Forum in Kensington, and later at the Territorial Army base on Old St where that meeting had moved to in order to avoid the protest. And there was also a a protest calling from the repeal of Uganda’s draconian anti-gay laws.

What all these protests had in common was that they would all have been illegal for various reasons had the current Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill been law. It will seriously restrict the right to hold protests, restrict their length and set noise limits and allow police to enforce restrictions even if protesters have not been told about them.

Public outcry followed the attack by police last Saturday on a peaceful vigil on Clapham Common – where the police had been ordered by the Home Secretary to take action (and she later expressed her concern when she saw the outrage it had caused.) Thousands went to protest the police actions the following day at New Scotland Yard, the Met Police HQ, and later in Parliament Square. And thousands turned up again to Parliament Square on Monday when the PCSC bill was being debated in Parliament.

Protests such as these – even in the absence of Covid – would be clearly illegal under PCSC – and police could shut down even a single person coming to protest. Only protests that are well-behaved, entirely ineffectual and preferably out of sight are likely to be legal.

On March 19th 2014 I began my day at Battersea Bridge, marching across it with designer Vivienne Westwood and around a hundred supporters, mainly her students to the protest against fracking.

Although the Shale Gas Forum had made a last minute change of plans, moving their meeting to a secret location, the rally outside the Jumeirah Carlton Tower hotel in Cadogan Place went ahead as planned -as agreed with the police. There would have been much tighter restrictions under PCSC, and the police could have limited numbers and prevented the use of the public address system.

After several speeches the organises cut the rally short and told those at the protest to take the tube to Old Street station from where they would march to the ‘secret location’, which turned out to be the Territorial Army Centre in the Honourable Artillery Company’s grounds between Bunhill Row and Old St.

We arrived there and the protesters made a great deal of noise outside the gates in Bunhill Row, and then walked through Bunhill Fields to protest outside the Old St Gates.

From Old St I took the tube to Charing Cross and walked the short distance to Trafalgar Square, where the African LGBTI Out & Proud Diamond Group and Peter Tatchell Foundation were filling the relatively narrow pavement outside Uganda House with a great deal of loud chanting, drumming and dancing calling for an end to anti-gay laws in Uganda.

Later I joined Budget Day protesters around Parliament, and later at a rally called by the People’s Assembly opposite Downing St

Many more pictures on My London Diary:
People’s Assembly Budget Day Protest
Protest over Uganda Gay Hate Laws
Fracked Future Carnival at Shale Gas Forum
Fracked Future Carnival in Knightsbridge
Climate Revolution March to Fracked Future Carnival

All photographs on this and my other sites, unless otherwise stated, are taken by and copyright of Peter Marshall, and are available for reproduction or can be bought as prints.