Israeli Attacks on Lebanon & Brazilian Carnival: Twenty years ago on July 22nd 2006 I photographed a large protest march calling on Israel to end its attacks on Lebanon, going on to take pictures of a Brazilian carnival at Sadlers Wells. It could have been last weekend, though the Israeli attacks have been far more serious this year. Here’s what I wrote in 2006 and a few of the pictures.
Lebanon: Ceasefire Now!
Downing St to Hyde Park
Many marchers carried Lebanese flags
Although the demonstration was called at the last minute, there was an urgent response and between 10,000 and 20,000 (my estimate) demonstrators turned up to march through London, calling for an immediate stop the the attacks on Lebanon and Palestine, although some like me will have given up before reaching Hyde Park. [Most of my pictures were taken at Downing Street and on Whitehall.]
French radio put the number of marchers at 700, and UK establishment figures were around 7000. The organisers figure of 30,000 was probably slightly on the high side, though not impossibly so.
The many Palestinian supporters made their views clear. “From the River to the Sea, Palestine must be free!”.
Those attending called for an immediate end to the indiscriminate bombing by Israel in Lebanon which is killing so many civilians, especially children, and for our government to take a stand against this crime against humanity.
The Israeli response has been quite disproportionate – as the BBC point out, they have killed over 360 Lebanese, many of them civilians, while Israeli casualties from Hezbollah rocket attacks are thought to be 17, with around the same number killed in fighting.
Later in the day I went along to one of the Dance Week events, a Brazilian Carnival at Sadlers Wells.
Carnival performers mixed with the crowds outside Sadlers Wells despite the light rain that was falling
Having had a week or more of drought it was rather disappointing to find that the afternoon was dull, with light rain falling. Hardly enough to water the gardens that need it, hardly enough to be worth putting an umbrella up, but enough to put a damper on things, and enough to get in my 18-200mm lens and create some nasty blurs on pictures until it dried out. I’m a bit annoyed to find that now I have a reasonably weatherproof camera, this Nikon lens seems so susceptible to moisture in the air. I can (and do) wipe off the front filter, but there isn’t anyway to wipe water off the inside elements.
It was pretty humid and I soon got tired, coming home before the main fun started, although I’d photographed most of those in costumes. It seemed likely to be too crowded to do much more in any case.
End Austerity Now & Class War: On Saturday 20th June 2015 I sent to photograph the march organised by the People’s Assembly Against Austerity from the Bank of England to Parliament Square. Class War came to protest calling for direct action rather than marches which changed nothing and after photographing them in the City I went with them to Downing Street – and they paused for a brief protest at the Savoy on the way.
End Austerity Now at Bank
Bank
Large crowds gathered around the Bank of England for the start of a massive march against austerity organised by the People’s Assembly Against Austerity and supported by many groups including CND, the Green Party, People’s March for the NHS, Global Women’s Strike, Basic Income, Revolutionary Communist Group, Clapton Ultras and many other groups and individuals from around the country.
Clapton Ultras -“Football for all. Good times, good songs and Polish lager. Always antifascist.”
So many were being affected by the cuts which had forced down incomes, cut benefits and the welfare state, cut education, destroyed youth services, made massive cuts to the NHS and public services while supporting the bankers whose actions had led to the crisis.
Austerity is a Con – Westmonster Banksters sponsored by Rothschild
The programme of austerity introduced by the coalition government and continued under the Tories had seriously harmed the country and slowed its recovery from the financial crisis and seemed to be a punishment for the crimes of others, which had been made possible by the changes to the banking system introduced under Thatcher in 1986.
As usual estimates of the number of marchers varied hugely, with the organisers claiming a quarter of a million, while the BBC contented itself with ‘”thousands”. From the time it took and the density of the crowds I think it was at least a hundred thousand. Parliament Square was well filled with others still arriving, but like many others I went home rather than listen to the speeches.
Class War held their banner on a footway overlooking the march
Class War had come to the protest to call for end of A to B marches to rallies and call for direct action. They succeeded in diverting several hundred of the marchers to make their way to protest at a squatted pub near the Elephant which Foxtons want to open as an estate agents.
Class War had brought several banners including the ‘Political Leaders’, a new version of that seized by police at a ‘Poor Doors’ protest, the ‘Lucy Parsons banner with its quote “We must devastate the avenues where the wealthy live” and ‘We have found new homes for the rich‘, with its rows of crosses on graves extending into the distance which police were then still pressing charges against Lisa McKenzie over.
Lisa McKenzieAdam Clifford
Lisa was there along with the others including Adam Clifford who stood for Class War in the Westminster constituency, today wearing a top with fake exposed breasts and holding a fairly lifelike looking baby. As well as those above the protest others protested on the side of the street below.
Many marchers raised fists and shouted in solidarity with Class War as they passed, though some shook their heads, while others tried to ignore them. This wasn’t easy as they made a fair amount of noise and let off several smoke flares.
Around 30 police gathered around them at one point and it looked very much if they were going into action, but after a discussion between several senior officers on the scene, most rapidly walked away.
I stayed in the area either with them above the march or down below on the densely crowded wide street for around an hour, making many pictures both of Class War and the marchers.
They sit in the pub and police wait for them outside
When the end of the march appeared to reach them they joined in for a couple of hundred yards then peeled off to go to the Olde London pub on Ludgate Hill
Class War insist on the right to protest outside the Savoy
After a rest in the pub Class War walked down towards Westminster with their police escort to carry out more protests.
Approaching the Savoy Hotel some broke out into a run to get ahead of their escorts but found that there were more police already waiting there.
But they unrolled their banners again and briefly blocked the entrance with ‘New Homes for the Rich’ and ‘Lucy Parsons’ banners. After minor scuffles and arguments with police they marched on.
A woman talks to Adam Clifford of Class War holding a baby and a banner outside the gates of Downing St
Class War continued their protests in Whitehall, displaying their banners, setting off flares and dancing with others to a sound system which joined them briefly.
They then moved off towards Downing Street where they posed for photographs with all three banners – and threw a flare over the gate.
Their protest continued there with short speeches and more dancing. People were still coming down the street to join the People’s Assembly Against Austerity protest in Parliament Square and some stopped briefly to join in.
Eventually Class War decided it was time to roll up the banners and leave before police intervened – and it was time to go to the pub again. But for me it was time to go home.
End Child Detention, Gaza Flotilla Atrocity: I covered two protests on Saturday 5th June 2010, a carnival against the holding of children in immigration detention centres, and rallies and a march following the killing by Israel of on 31st May of peace protesters who were on a flotilla attempting to break the illegal blockade of Gaza, carrying humanitarian aid and construction materials. As last month, the ships were illegally intercepted in international waters, A UNHRC report on the incident concluded Israel acted with “an unacceptable level of brutality“. Nine protesters were killed and 30 seriously injured, with another dying later from his wounds.
Gaza Flotilla Atrocity Protest
Whitehall – Israeli Embassy
Around 20,000 people flooded Whitehall for a rally at Downing Street before marching to protest close to the Israeli Embassy following the murder days earlier of peace protesters by Israeli forces. They called for international action against Israel and an end to the illegal blockade.
The protest called by Stop the War Coalition, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, British Muslim Initiative, CND, Friends of Al-Aqsa, Viva Palestina and Palestinian Forum of Britain had the official support of the trade union movement.
Tony Benn
There were speeches from politicians, activists and flotilla survivors both in Whitehall and after the march on Kensington High Street – and I name many and posted their pictures on My London Diary.
Although independent media reports had made clear that some of those killed had been shot multiple times in the head at close range in what appeared to be more or less random executions, the BBC had been broadcasting again and again the same lies from the same Israeli apologist defending their killings.
George Galloway
On the evening news they did mention this protest but reported that only 2,000 people took part, when clearly the actual number was at least five or ten times as many. As I commented “This is not an isolated error – there is a consistent policy by the BBC to play down the scale of protest.”
We have seen this playing down of pro-Palestine protests in particular in recent years, as well as a continuing and academically well-documented pro-Israel bias in their overall reporting. At least now there are now some interviewers who do try to question the Israeli spokespeople despite the overall editorial imbalance – but also allow them to keep repeating their lies.
SOAS Detainee Support Group had organised the ‘Release Carnival’ which called for an end to the practice of holding families and children in immigration detention centres.
The Children’s Commissioner for England, Sir Al Aynsley-Green had stated “Detention is harmful to children and therefore never likely to be in their best interests” and he argued “that detention of children for immigration control should cease“.
Although the UK Border’s Agency claimed “treating children with care and compassion is a priority for the UK Border Agency. Whenever we take decisions involving children their welfare comes first” the reality was very different, as you can read in many publications including the highly detailed report ‘State Sponsored Cruelty‘.
Detention centres are run by private contractors such as Serco and G4 whose main concern is profit, with little or no proper monitoring. Official inspections as well as many media investigations have made clear the real lack of proper care and maltreatment of detainees.
The March Against Monsanto on Saturday 25 May 2013 attracted rather more attention than in some years partly because Bianca Jagger was to speak.
It had been intended to hold a static rally on the pavement in front of Parliament Square which is controlled by Westminster Council, but there were more people than could fit on this.
One of many pictaures of Bianca Jagger
The protest began to spill over on to the grass of the square where the authorities are particularly sensitive about protests after it was occupied by the Democracy Village peace camp in 2010.
Police suggested to the organisers that they move to Old Palace Yard, where there is more space for the rally, and they did so.
The London rally was one of many taking place around the world as an annual global ‘March Against Monsanto’.
Bianca Jagger has a long history of working for human rights and environmental causes – receiving for the latter the Green Globe Award from the Rainbow Alliance in 1997, and the United Nations Earth Day Award in 1994. Among over events I photographed her at several protests against mining company Vedanta.
Say Yes to BeesMonsanto GMOs Destroy Agricultural Diversity
She was followed by a number of other speakers stressing the danger of GM foods and biofuels and calling for some more organised action against them.
Hare Krishna had come and were providing free food for all who wanted it – but as usual I had brought my own sandwiches – always safer for a long-term diabetic. At the end of the rally their bike-hauled band with drum kit, amps and speakers arrived.
The event had been planned as a static rally, but soon the band was leading most of those present in a march around Parliament Square and up Whitehall where they stopped for a brief protest at the gates of Downing Street.
The march continued up Whitehall to Trafalgar Square where I left them – the band was returning to its base in Soho.
On My London Diary there is a very brief account of the problems of GMO foods and the particular dangers posed by Monsanto and their relationship with the US Food and Drugs Administration, as well as many more pictures: March Against Monsanto.
May Day 2000 – Anti-capitalist celebrations: May Day has been celebrated in Europe since ancient times as the beginning of Summer, with festivities, dancing and more, but also became International Workers’ Day following the 1889 International Workers Congress, the date marking the start of a general strike in the USA in 1886 which lead to the Haymarket affair three days later.
May 1st is a public holiday in many countries, but only occasionally in the UK when the first Monday in May happens to be on 1st May. The Labour government that eventually brought in the early May Bank Holiday in 1978 chickened out from making it actually May Day. So one of the many advantages of leaving full-time teaching to become a freelance writer and photographer was that I was for the first time able to able to go every year to the May Day events in London.
As it happens, the first May Day after that was Monday May 1st 2000 and the big London event on that day was an anti-capitalist celebration that combined elements of both the traditional events and International Workers Day, beginning with partying and ‘guerrilla gardening’ in the sun in Parliament Square.
I went with the protesters up Whitehall towards Trafalgar Square, and was outside McDonald’s when a handful of protesters began smashing the windows there. Most of the people at the protest stood back and watched. I was a few yards away and the crowd was too dense for me to get close enough to take pictures.
Police clearly made no effort to protect the McDonald’s though it was an obvious target, but stood waiting around the corner until after the damage took place before charging into the protest, herding them into Trafalgar Square where they were kettled for some hours and around 95 people were arrested. It looked as if police had they had planned to let protesters attack the fast-food outlet to justify the use of violence against the large crowd of peaceful protesters.
The BBC report began “Hundreds of demonstrators have been fighting running battles with police during anti-capitalist protests in London” but failed to say that these ‘battles’ were the result of police attacks on largely peaceful protesters – and they also wrongly said the McDonald’s was “in The Strand“. They used the term “defaced‘ for the decoration of Churchill’s statue with a turf ‘Mohican’ which considerably overstated the event, but was also the main preoccupation of the rest of the media. Reading their account I very much get the impression that it was written by someone not there when things were happening.
As you can see from my account at the time below, I was there until I saw the riot police charging the protesters, batoning clearly peaceful protesters offering them flowers, before deciding to go home rather than face possible police violence and detention.
May Day 2000 – Anti-capitalist Celebrations
May in London must mean May Day, and we made the most of this one, dancing around Parliament Square.
I was more or less next to Macdonalds on Whitehall when demonstrators started to break windows and generally smash it up. It was obvious it was going to happen some time before, and the police made no attempt to prevent it, standing back and letting things happen, although they were massed down a nearby side-street.
I could only conclude they wanted some damage to be able to justify their actions that were to follow, as well as the dire warnings their superior officers had spent some time giving on the media.
The damage could easily have been prevented; action by a handful of police would have been enough to have led the demonstrators on into Trafalgar Square.
A woman harangues demonstrator’s from behind police lines
When I saw they were letting it happen, I drew back, making my way through the police lines as they prepared for a massive charge. I watched the first few waves go in and belatedly take up positions. They were hyped up for action and one or two stepped out of line to attack a demonstrator who was offering them flowers with their sticks, knocking him flying and leaving blood pouring from his head. I was just too far away on the wrong side of the charging police to get the picture.
One or two photographers who got close to the police received similar treatment. At this point I decided to leave the scene before I was trapped in by the police or assaulted – I had other things I needed to do that evening. If I had left it a few minutes later I would have been among the several thousand confined for hours for little reason in Trafalgar Square. Perhaps I would have got more pictures, but equally likely I would have suffered gratuitous violence. I wasn’t commissioned to be there and decided not to stay.
There are just a few more pictures on My London Diary but quite a few more that I’ve never posted on-line, both black and white and colour. I hope to digitise more later.
Kung Hei Fat Choi & Regicide: On 25th January 2004 I went with many thousands to celebrate the Chinese New Year in Trafalgar Square and Chinatown. In 2001 I had commented on My London Diary “there are too many people and too many photographers at the Chinese New Year celebrations in Soho, but somehow I keep on going” but for various reasons I think the next time I photographed it was in 2004. I was back again in 2005, 2006, 2007 and in 2008 for I think the last time.
Several things finally decided me to give the celebrations a miss. First was simply the crowds with more and more people coming to watch the event which made it difficult or impossible to move around and take pictures.
Then more and more people were photographing – mainly with their phones – and largely lacking any courtesy in doing so, coming to stand in front of me as I was trying to take pictures.
And, like many events, it had become more and more organised, with crowds being controlled and held behind barriers for the more official parts of the celebration.
But I suppose the main reasons were that my interests had changed and that I thought I had done enough on this event; my pictures each year were looking increasingly the same and I needed to do something different.
Also taking place on 25th January 2004 was a parade by reenactors of the execution of King Charles I. While I’m not a puritan (as I think many of my ancestors were) I am increasingly a Republican and while I might not be calling for the public execution of our current monarchy, I do think it is well past time we got rid of them and their privilege – as well as the rest of the aristocracy.
Of course it isn’t just the monarchy I would like to see go, but our whole class system of which they are the leading edge. Its real basis is the seizure of land following the Norman conquest in 1066 and my revolution would call for land reform, with the complete ending of private ownership of land (and water) which would become community resources, with no land ownership but instead could be held in trust to the community. But of course it’s a utopia which won’t happen.
Here’s the short text – with minor corrections – which I wrote in 2004.
The Chinese New Year was celebrated in Westminster on 25th Jan, with speeches in Trafalgar Square, fireworks in Leicester Square and immense crowding in and around Soho’s Chinatown, especially where the police sealed off some of the streets.
Fortunately the speeches were short, and the main point of most was to say ‘kung hei fat choi’, with various degrees of ethnic feel.
Also on the 25th, was a parade commemorating the execution of King Charles 1, who went from St James Palace to the Banqueting House in Whitehall to be beheaded on 30th Jan 1649. It’s an event that brings out the Republican in me!
It was a rather mournful procession, drab and silent, in complete contrast to the lively scenes a few yards to the north.
An Icy Day in Westminster, Drums for Sudan: Saturday 10th January 2010 was an icy day in Westminster with snow still lying on grassy areas and though it was bright with a little wintry sun there was a chill north-east wind and the temperature stayed around zero. But despite the weather there were a number of protests taking place and I had wrapped up well to cover them. Though the rather thin gloves I needed to let me operate my cameras failed to keep my hands warm, though I could keep them gloved in my pockets when not taking pictures.
I began by walking from Waterloo across Westminster Bridge to Parliament Square where there were a few tents of the Brian Haw’s Peace Camp, continuing since June 2001, but the protesters were sensibly keeping inside.
Next to them were the banners and box of the Peace Strike, then drawing attention to the killing of Tamils in Sri Lanka and calling for a boycott of Sri Lankan made garments and holidays in the country.
I didn’t disturb the protesters sheltering inside their tents but “walked up Whitehall past the government offices and the gathering demonstration over Sudan.” On my way I took a few pictures including of the 1861 former Colonial office – now the Foreign and Commonwealth Offices – “an imposing reminder of the Victorian era when Britain ruled much of the world (and then and later produced much of the mess it is now in.)”
Thick ice covered the fountains in the square, with lumps of ice broken from the edges and thrown across now covering it. But despite the cold there were at least two groups of protesters on the North Terrace.
One was a regular Quaker vigil for peace in the Middle East which I didn’t photograph on this occasion. But I did take some pictures of the Iran Solidarity group who have organised daily acts of solidarity in Trafalgar Square and in other cities since Monday July 27 2009 over the killing of Iranian student Neda Agha-Soltan at a protest in Tehran, Iran on June 20, 2010.
I was in a hurry to get back to the Drums for the start of the Sudan protest opposite Downing Street. This was the start of a year of the global Sudan365 campaign by a coalition of groups including the Aegis Trust, Amnesty International, Arab Coalition for Darfur, Darfur Consortium, FIDH, Human Rights Watch, Refugees International and the Save Darfur Coalition leading up to the 2011 Sudanese referendum in January 2011.
Around 200 people, mainly Sudanese, including a large contingent from Coventry, had turned up for a couple of hours of noisy drumming and some speeches, including one by Sudanese Archbishop Daniel Deng who was in London for meetings with Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Archbishop Rowan William on the following Monday.
The protesters called for peace, human rights and development for all in all regions of Sudan, with safety and security for all, as well as protection for Darfur and women’s rights. They supported the 2011 peace agreement which had called for a referendum over independence to be held in Southern Sudan in January 2011, and demanded free and fair elections in the country.
“The Sudan365 campaign’s ‘Drum for Peace’ has attracted support from some of the most famous drummers from around the world, including Phil Selway of Radiohead, Stewart Copeland of The Police and Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason, who are taking part in a film in which the drum beat for peace, starting in Sudan is passed to drummers around the world, including in Brazil, Mexico, US (New York and San Francisco), UK, France, Spain, Senegal, South Africa, Ghana, Egypt, Mali, UAE, Japan, Russia and Australia.”
The 2011 referendum had over a 97.5% turnout by registered voters and over 98% of these voted in favour of independence. South Sudan became an independent state on 9 July 2011, but this was followed by seven years of civil war in 2013-20. The peace agreement called for elections in 2023, but these have been twice postponed and are due to take place in December 2026. Fighting broke out again in 2025.
12 Days of Christmas -some of my favourite pictures from those I made in December 2025.
Various minor problems prevented me from working much in December and with other committments all these pictures are from a single day, 13th December.
London, UK. 13th Dec 2025. Hundreds of riders took part in the 11th BMX Life Santa Cruise London dressed as Santas (with a few elves, snowmen, Christmas trees and reindeer), a charity ride to raise money for the Evelina Children’s Heart Organisation. So far BMX Life have raised over £200,000 through their rides. They stopped for lunch on Horse Guards Parade. Peter Marshall.London, UK. 13th Dec 2025. Anti-racist campaigners came to Downing Street in a protest called by Stand up to Racism and Care 4 Calais to oppose Tommy Robinson and his extreme right supporters and remind us at Christmas that Jesus was a refugee and state that we are one community of love against hate and will not let the far right divide us. They say Jesus preached love not hate. Peter MarshallLondon, UK. 13th Dec 2025. People sang and some danced. Anti-racist campaigners came to Downing Street in a protest called by Stand up to Racism and Care 4 Calais to oppose Tommy Robinson and his extreme right supporters and remind us at Christmas that Jesus was a refugee and state that we are one community of love against hate and will not let the far right divide us. They say Jesus preached love not hate. Peter MarshallLondon, UK. 13th Dec 2025. You can’t be a good Christian IF… Anti-racist campaigners came to Downing Street in a protest called by Stand up to Racism and Care 4 Calais to oppose Tommy Robinson and his extreme right supporters and remind us at Christmas that Jesus was a refugee and state that we are one community of love against hate and will not let the far right divide us. They say Jesus preached love not hate. Peter MarshallLondon, UK. 13 Dec 2025. A large rally in Whitehall opposes the current government’s intention to introduce digital ID. People from across the whole political spectrum say it is an attack on our rights and our autonomy, and that it could be used as an Orwellian system of total control. It would turn us into a highly controlled checkpoint society, would be open to abuse by hackers and foreign powers and discriminate against those with less access to online services. Peter MarshallLondon, UK. 13 Dec 2025. A large rally in Whitehall opposes the current government’s intention to introduce digital ID. People from across the whole political spectrum say it is an attack on our rights and our autonomy, and that it could be used as an Orwellian system of total control. It would turn us into a highly controlled checkpoint society, would be open to abuse by hackers and foreign powers and discriminate against those with less access to online services. Peter MarshallLondon, UK. 13 Dec 2025. A large rally in Whitehall opposes the current government’s intention to introduce digital ID. People from across the whole political spectrum say it is an attack on our rights and our autonomy, and that it could be used as an Orwellian system of total control. It would turn us into a highly controlled checkpoint society, would be open to abuse by hackers and foreign powers and discriminate against those with less access to online services. Peter Marshall
So this is the end of a little look at my photographs from 2025. If I went though them again I would quite likely come up with many difference choices. I’ve made this selection entirely from the events I’ve covered to submit work to an agency and there are also some interesting images from outings with friends and family.
All of those featured were made with either Fuji-X or an Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III camera. I like the Fuji-X system, but every now and then get frustrated with the cameras which seem to develop random faults. Mostly this year I’ve gone back to using the Fujifilm X-T1 rather than the XT-30, usually with the Fuji 12-24mm. If I need anything wider I do have a fisheye in my bag, but it’s become a little tricky to de-fish images since Fisheye-Hemi went out of business and their plugin no longer works.
You can still do the job – converting from a circular perspective to a Panini (Vedutismo) one – and its even possible but rather tricky event in Photograph, but it lacks the one-click simplicity of the old plugin.
24mm on the Fuji is equivalent to 36mm on full-frame. The reason for carrying the Olympus is the 14-150mm Olympus lens – equvalent to a 28-300 on full frame. It’s a remarkably small and light lens for its specifications and while not wide aperture (f4.6-5) it’s good enough when you can work digitally at higher ISO.
I seldom use very long lenses but hen I first got this lens I was about to go on a job where I knew I neede at least a 300mm. I tested this against a Nikkor lens more than twices a big and probably three times as heavy – and would give me 450mm in DX mode. Rather to my surprise it gave sharper and more detailed results than the Nikkor, and since then as been my choice for longer focal lengths.
The Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III camera is also perhaps the best camera I’ve ever used. It came out in 2019 and I bought it to replace the very similar Mark II which had suffered an unfortunate impact with a pavement putting it beyond economic repair. I was going to buy a secondhand version, but found a grey import cheaper than the local secondhand price. They are still sold secondhad for only a little less than I paid.
It’s also my holiday camera – with a few other lenses to go with it, depending on exactly how light I want to travel.
Don’t Bomb Syria – a woman listens to the speeches at the rally
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.
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.
Kaya Mar had brought 3 paintings
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.
Martyrdom of Ali, Save Fallujah: I had a fairly long and busy day on Sunday 7th November 2004, beginning with the annual London celebration of the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Ali, the first Imam of Shi’ite Islam. From Park Lane I walked to Parliament Square where a protest demanded that the troops were withdrawn from Iraq.
This was the day when US and UK troops began the bloody offensive of the Second Battle of Fallujah, codenamed ‘Operation Phantom Fury’, fighting against Iraqis in militia of all stripes including both Sunni and Shia, united in opposition to the US-imposed Shia-dominated government.
Finally I went to Trafalgar Square and took a few pictures of the Diwali celebrations taking place there, although I didn’t post any of these at the time on My London Diary.
In this post I’ll reproduce (with minor corrections) what I wrote in 2004, along with some of the pictures I took. These were made with the first digital DSLR camera I owned, the 6Mp Nikon D100, and most were made with a Nikon 24-85mm lens (36-127mm equivalent), though I had recently got a second lens, a Sigma 12-24mm (18-36 equivalent.) The Sigma wideangle was rather slow and working at f5.6 in low light was difficult as the D100 which did not have the high ISO capabilities of more modern cameras.
Muslims mourn in London
Hyde Park and Park Lane
Talks and prayers before the procession started in Hyde Park
Sunday saw Muslims on the street for a religious event, a Jaloos & Matam on the Martyrdom anniversary of Imam Ali, organised by Hub-e-Ali, making its way from Hyde Park down Park Lane carrying a taboot or ceremonial coffin.
A small boy carries burning incense sticks, while elders shoulder the heavy load of the taboot.
The event started with prayers, addresses and a mourning ceremony.
The weight took a strain as bare-footed bearers carried the heavy black taboot with its red roses slowly along Park Lane
The banners carried included texts from the ‘purified five‘ members of the prophet’s family, but particularly Hasan Bin Ali Bin Abu Talib, the cousin and first believer in the prophet.
There was some impressive chanting and much beating of breasts (matam or seena-zani) by the men, chanting and sticks of incense being burnt. The women followed quietly behind.
The women followed, their black-clad quiet dignity contrasting with the frenzied chest-beating of the men
Withdraw the Troops from Iraq – Save Fallujah From Destruction
Parliament Square and Whitehall
Code Pink activists carry a coffin “How many children will cease to play” in front of the Houses of Parliament.
I met Dave at the procession on Park Lane and walked with him to Parliament Square where a demonstration was to be held demanding the withdrawal of troops from the cities of Iraq. From the news that morning it seemed the Americans were about to storm Fallujah. [They did – see below *]
The large anti-war organisations seemed to be keeping strangely quiet, and there were only a hundred or two demonstrators here.
Among them of course was Brian Haw, now almost two and a half years into his permanent protest in the square, which seems likely to lead MPs to pass a bill specially to make such protests illegal.
I admire him for making such a stand, even if I don’t entirely share his views, and feel it will be a very sorry day for civil liberties in this country if such activities are banned.
There were a few placards and banners, and some people who had come with white flowers as requested.
There were few takers for the ‘open mike’ and nothing much was happening until a group of ‘Code Pink’ supporters intervened theatrically parading a black-dressed cortège around the square. The effect was literally dramatic.
There were a few more speeches, including a moving one by Iraqi exile Haifa Zangana.
It was getting dark (or rather darker, as it had been dull and overcast, with the odd spot of rain all day) as we moved off up Whitehall towards the Cenotaph, where the funeral wreath was laid on the monument.
Police tried (although it is impossible to see why) to restrict the number of those putting flowers on the monument to an arbitrary five, but those who had brought flowers were not to be so easily diverted.
People wait for police to allow them to lay their flowers at the Cenotaph
They ignored police orders and walked across the empty roadway to lay their flowers, and around 50 of the protesters staged a sit-down on the road.
Eventually the police warned them they would be removed forcibly if they did not get up, and then started to do so.
Police drag demonstrator away as peace protestor Brian Haw holds a placard “War Kills the Innocent” in front of Cenotaph and Code Pink wreath, “How Many Will Die in Iraq Today?”.
For the most part the police used minimum force, but there were one or two unnecessarily unpleasant incidents.
The protesters were then corralled for a few minutes on the pavement before being allowed to continue the demonstration in the pen opposite Downing Street.
Nothing much seemed to be happening, so I went home [via the Diwali celebrations in Trafalgar Square] when police refused to let me photograph from in front of the barriers.
It seemed an arbitrary and unnecessary decision, but this time I couldn’t be bothered to argue. I think they were just upset because I had taken pictures during the violence a few minutes earlier.
*More about Fallujah
The Second Battle of Fallujah lasted about six weeks and probably resulted in around 2,000 fighters dead and many wounded, mostly Iraqis, with just 107 of the coalition forces killed. Another roughly 1,500 Iraqis were captured.
US forces had stopped all men between 15 and 50 from leaving the city, and treated all those left inside as insurgents. Civilian deaths were later estimated at between 4,000 and 6,000. Civilians who were able to fled the city and around 200,000 became displaced across Iraq. Around a sixth of the city’s buildings were destroyed and roughly two thirds suffered significant damage.
The US forces were heavily criticised for their direct use of white phosphorus in the battle against both combatants and civilians. Highly radioactive epleted uranium shell were also used and a survey in 2009 reported “a high level of cancer, birth defects and infant mortality” in the city.”
