EDL No Show & Pride Celebrates Love and Marriage: I began my day with Unite Against Fascism activists who met at Speakers Corner to opposed a march by the EDL, but they didn’t turn up. After taking a few pictures as the UAF celebrated news of the arrests of the EDL leaders as they defied the Tower Hamlets ban I walked to where Pride was gathering in Baker Street.
UAF Oppose, EDL Don’t Come
On Saturday 29th June 2013 the English Defence League had been banned by police from entering Tower Hamlets and protesting by walking past the East London Mosque as well as from any assembly or procession in Woolwich. Instead they were allowed to march from Hyde Park to Parliament and UAF had been given permission to march in protest in the same area against them.
There were only 50 to 100 UAF supporters at Speakers Corner when I arrived, perhaps because it had become clear that the EDL seemed unlikely to accept the police compromise. While I was there the news came through that the EDL leaders Stephen Lennon (‘Tommy Robinson’) and Kevin Carroll had been arrested in Whitechapel as they tried to ignore the ban and was greeted with loud cheering.
I left shortly after to go to Pride.
More at UAF Oppose, EDL Don’t Come.
Pride Celebrates Love and Marriage – Baker St – Trafalgar Square
Pride 2013 celebrated the passage of the 2013 Marriage bill then going through the UK parliament – it became law as the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 the following month, though only came into force in March 2014. A similar Act in Scotland came into force later in 2014, but couples in Northern Ireland had to wait another six years.
As I commented, “Pride has for years become a celebration of gay lifestyle, with a large participation by corporates who profit from this, but at least this year the overall theme was related to a political event.”
I tried in my coverage of the parade to cover as many as I could of those taking part who were clearly celebrating that theme, as well as many of the other individuals and groups who provide the incredible diversity and colour of the event.
The parade was forming up on Baker Street and I arrived there a couple of hours before they all moved off, and most of my pictures were taken there, but I later went on to Trafalgar Sqaure, leaving when the end of the parade reached there. Here are just a few of the pictures I made – you can see many more on My London Diary.
There are many, many more pictures of people in the parade on My London Diary at Pride Celebrates Love and Marriage.
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All photographs on this page are copyright © Peter Marshall.
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