Wet night at Poor Doors

One Commercial St, London. Wed 29 Oct 2014

A man stops in the rain to read the flyer about next week's Bonfire Night Poor Doors protest

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Most of the police present sat or stood inside the 'rich' area of One Commercial St as Class War protested noisily outside for the 15th week running. Aided by the drumming of Rhythms of Resistance, the protesters ignored the continuous light rain.
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Biofuel picket Green Investment Bank Birthday

King Edward Street, London. Tue 28 Oct 2014
'Our Precious Forests Aren't Cheap Fuel - #usewoodwisely'
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Protesters from Biofuelwatch and London Biomassive, some dressed as wise owls, picketed the second birthday celebrations of the Green Investment Bank at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in London against their funding of environmentally disastrous biomass and incineration projects.

The protesters oppose these large-scale projects the Green Investment Bank is heavily backing as they say they are a huge and dangerous false solution, "worse than coal." The urged the GIB to finance "low carbon sustainable solutions" instead of these "high-carbon destructive delusions."

A number of those going on to the bank's grounds for the celebrations took leaflets, and some stopped to talk with the protesters about their objections to these schemes, a few at some length. There was also live music at the protest, as well as some speeches and a couple of birthday cakes for the GIB, one edible and the other rather larger with two 'oil palms' on top and a banner with the message 'GIB No Biomass' strung between them.
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Kobane - Unite against Isis Drawing

Trafalgar Square, London. Tue 28 Oct 2014
Kurds gather around the nearly completed drawing for a protest
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Kurds chanted slogans against ISIS and in support of the defenders of Kobane around a giant pavement chalk drawing based on an agonised Statue of Liberty in front of London's National Gallery in Trafalgar Square.
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Fair Fares Petition

Westminster, London. Tue 28 Oct 2014
Rail Minister Claire Perry MP meets campaigners to receive their petition
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The Campaign for Better Transport, including their director Stephen Joseph OBE protested at the Dept of Transport before walking to Portcullis Hous to hand a petition with over 4000 signatures to Rail Minister Claire Perry MP calling on the recent increase in Northern Rail evening peak rail fares to be scrapped.

Bringing in these evening peak time fares has meant a 167% increase for some travellers, and they particularly hit shift and part-time workers who work irregular hours. The Campaign for Better Transport as well as protesting the unfairness of these price hikes, also think that they might be found to be illegal because of their complexity and the unprecedented restrictions they place upon passengers.

Claire Perry came out from the parliamentary offices in Portcullis House and spent some time talking with the protesters, appearing to be sympathetic to their claims, before taking the box containing the petition with 4,000 signatures.

 

 

Democracy Camp Saturday

Parliament Square, London. Sat 25 Oct 2014


A woman holds up a sign 'Westminster Paedophile Ring - This Way' pointing at the Houses of Parliament
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Despite continued harassment by GLA private security 'Heritage Wardens', Occupy Democracy has continued its presence in Parliament Square for over a week. On the last Saturday, as well as a visit from the EDL - who were stopped by police and never quite made it - there were a number of workshops, including by energy boss Jeremy Leggett, Donnachadh McCarthy and MP Michael Meacher.
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EDL Visit Democracy Camp

Parliament Square, London. Sat 25 Oct 2014

The EDL make gestures towards the Democracy camp but police stopped them and led them away
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A few EDL members came to the Occupy Democracy site, but were stopped by police who escorted them towards Victoria station. George Barda of Occupy tried to talk to one EDL member who walked around police, suggesting that there were many issues on which they shared views, but was told that the only thing the EDL member was interested in was the problem of immigration - though he phrased it more forcefully before a police officer led him away.
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Acid Attacks on Women in Iran

Downing St, London. Sat 25 Oct 2014

Protesters put red roses on a picture of Rayhaneh Jabbari, hung at dawn in Iran a man who tried to rape her
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The protest opposite Downing St organised by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) called for the UK to condemn the attacks by regime-organised acid attacks on women who are not veiled in Iran, followed similar protests in Isfahan and Tehran and condemned Iran's hanging at dawn of Rayhaneh Jabbari.

The NCRI, formed in France in 1981 is one of two Iranian 'parliaments in exile' and includes five groups but is dominated by the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK) who fled to Iraq after falling out with other groups during the Iran-Iraq ware and were given refuge by Saddam Hussein. When the US invaded Iraq, they agreed to give up their tanks and other heavy weapons and were confined in a camp in Iran. Since the US left they have been the subject of various attacks by Iraqi forces.

The protesters had a framed portrait of Jabbari, hung earlier at dawn that morning in Iran for stabbing a former Iranian intelligence official who tried to rape her; she was the 967th person to be executed since Hassan Rouhani became Iran's president.

Women on the street in Iran who have not covered their faces risk being accosted by groups of thugs, ecnouraged by the regime, who throw acid in their faces, causing horrific injuries and often blinding them. The protesters held up pictures of some of these women showing their terribly scarred faces.
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United Friends & Families March & Rally

Trafalgar Square to Downing St, London. Sat 25 Oct 2014
Marcia Rigg holds the list of over 3,000 who died in custody between 1969 and 2011.
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Families and friends of people killed by police or in prisons made their annual march at a funereal pace from Trafalgar Square to Downing St, to a rally with speakers including those from the families of Mark Duggan, Sean Rigg & Ricky Bishop.

As in previous years, this was a moving event, with many family members who had lost sons or brothers or daughters speaking. Most of those who are killed in custody are young men, with young black men over-represented, but among those speaking today was Myrna Simpson, the mother of Joy Gardner, killed by police restraining her with a body belt around her head at her home in 1987.

Other speakers included Marcia Rigg, whose brother Sean Rigg was killed by Brixton police in 2008, Doreen Bishop, whose son Ricky Bishop was also killed in Brixton Police Station in 2001, Ajibola Lewis, the mother of Olaseni Lewis who died when restrained by police called to a Croydon hospital, Jo Orchard, whose brother Thomas Orchard was killed by police illegally restraining him in Exeter, Stephanie Lightfoot-Bennet, whose twin brother Leon Paterson was killed by police in Manchester in 1992, and Carole Duggan whose nephew Mark Duggan was shot by police in Tottenham in 2011.

After gathering on the edge of Trafalgar Square, the procession formed up for itws slow march down Whitehall. There seemed to be rather fewer banners than in previous years, and fewer people. It stopped at Downing St, and then moved to the side of the road opposite for the rally.

Speakers demanded an end to deaths in custody and killings by police, and for prompt and full investigation of these deaths. In every case police have failed to properly investigate and have tried to cover up, the IPCC have also failed completely and the CPC and judiciary have dragged their feet, with the result that none of the killers have been successfully prosecuted and few have even faced any action at all.
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Democracy Camp a Week Old

Parliament Square, London. Fri 24 Oct 2014

Resting before the evening session at Democracy Camp
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A week after the initial rally in Parliament Square, Democracy Camp, now also called #tarpaulinrevolution, was still continuing at one side of Parliament Square despite fencing and continued harassment by police, egged on by the GLA's private security force, the so-called Heritage Wardens.

I visited the camp briefly in mid-afternoon on my way to the City, and then later on my way home from Finsbury Square. People were then mainly sitting around a resting ready for the evening programme of speakers and workshops. Along the roadside people were greeting motorists, many of whom sounded their horns in support of the various banners, including 'We Didn't Vote For Fracking', 'We Didn't Vote For NHS Sell Off' 'We Didn't Vote For TTIP', 'We Didn't Vote For Endless War' and 'Democracy Now'.
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Cleaners protest at Bloomberg

Finsbury Square, London. Fri 24 Oct 2014

Alberto Durango leads the IWGB protesters out from the Bloomberg offices where they had held a short protest
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Cleaners briefly occupied inside Bloomberg and then protested on the pavement outside over not being allowed sick pay or statutory holidays, a demeaning uniform, increased workload, pay cuts and being treated as second class citizens.

The cleaners ran across the road and into the main door of Bloomberg taking the security there by surprise and briefly occupied the main foyer, banging drums, waving flags and with IWGB union leader Alberto Durango using a portable sound system to make their demands clear. The cleaners belong to the IWGB, a small independent grass-roots trade union, listed officially as the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain.

According to the cleaners, employers OCS, backed by Bloomberg are actually refusing the workers their rights under UK employment law. The majority owner of Bloomberg L P is Mike Bloomberg, a former Mayor of New York and the 11th richest man in USA.

A class action against Bloomberg in New York taken by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2007 over discrimination against women taking maternity leave was rejected on the grounds that the EEOC provided insufficient evidence. The same judge rejected a similar claim on behalf of on behalf of 29 pregnant employees in 2013.

Security men asked them to leave, and after a short protest inside they did so, continuing to protest on the pavement outside. There were a few minor incidents, with one security man attacking a photographer and a little unnecessary pushing and shoving by them, including a small moment of farce when one man tried to prevent the protesters from leaving.

The police were called and tried briefly to persuade the protesters to stop before standing back and watching, with a line of police across the Bloomberg doorway. The protest outside lasted for just over half an hour before the IWGB decided to finish. A police officer then approached Alberto and suggested that he might meet with someone from OCS (Outsourced Client Solutions) who employ the cleaners who work at Bloomberg, but it soon became clear that OCS were not prepared for any discussion of substance at this time, and the cleaners dispersed.
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Palestine - protest again at HP

Wood St, London. Fri 24 Oct 2014

Protesters get ready to lift a tall pole with three Palestinian flags on the pavement opposite HP
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The Palestinian Prisoners Campaign continued their campaign against Hewlett-Packard, which boasts of 'a massive presence' in Israel and are the IT backbone for the Israeli war machine with a picket outside their offices in the City of London.

There were large posters condemning HP for supplying Israel with the computers and software to run their prisons and military and detailing some of the human rights abuses that take place in Israeli prisons including the torture and solitary confinement of children, there were also banners for 'Spurs Fans Against Apartheid' and 'Gooners Against Apartheid' and quite a few Palestinian flags on the pavement opposite the landmark building which Hewlett Packard occupies. One or two protesters also flewl Palestinian flags and handed out flyers on the narrower pavement directly outside the offices.
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Musical Poor Doors

One Commercial St, London. Wed 22 Oct 2014
Rhythms of Resistance, police and Class War protesters enjoy a small carnival outside the rich door.
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Class War's 14th weekly protest at the 'rich door' of Redrow's One Commercial St flats was a lively affair, with the banners dancing to the music of Rhythms of Resistance, a poetic performance and some rousing speeches against social apartheid.

Despite the strong police presence there was no trouble, with a carnival atmosphere and banners dancing up and down the wide pavement in front of the rich door. Most of the police appeared to be enjoying the event too.
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Democracy Camp - Poet Arrested

Parliament Square, London. Wed 22 Oct 2014
Poet Martin Powell recites his poem 'The Missing Peace' as police officers take him away for throwing food to 'plinth guy' Danny
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Although police and 'heritage wardens' have fenced off the main grass area, Occupy Democracy continued to protest on the square, with workshops, Danny on the Churchill statue over 24 hrs and activist poet Martin Powell arrested for throwing him food.

Democracy campers were making themselves at home in Parliament Square with a number of well-known people coming to lead workshops or speak in support later in the day. One man hung a framed print of Venice by Canaletto on a tree, but within a minute or so a Heritage Warden came across and made him take it down.

Rather to my surprise, Danny was still up on the plinth with Churchill, and there were cheers when he completed 24 hours there. Apparently another protester had been arrested earlier for throwing him a bottle of water, and while I was there, performance poet and activist Martin Powell arrived with a plastic tub of food for him.

Police tried to stop him throwing it up to 'PlinthGuy', standing in front of him and warning him he would be arrested if he tried to do so. But Powell told them it could not possibly be a crime to feed a hungry person, stood back a little and threw the tub extremely accurately over their heads and into Danny's waiting hands.

Police immediately grabbed him, put on handcuffs and led him away. As they took him along two sides of Parliament Square towards a police van he loudly declaimed his poem 'The Missing Peace'.

When I returned at around 5pm, Plinthguy was still up there, but police had called in their climbing team. I listened while its leader talked with him, and Danny made it clear that he would not try to resist arrest if they came to take him down peacefully. I hung around for as long as I could, but had to leave for elsewhere before they came to do so.
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Canary Wharf & Westminster Tube

London. Wed 22 Oct 2014

Piranesi inside Westminster Tube Station
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I took the tube from Westiminster to Canary Wharf to visit the Bridges exhibition at the Museum of London Docklands. I found the show a little disappointing, though it was good to see the original panorama, a print, 'London from the Roof of the Albion Mills' (1792-1793), engraved by Frederick Birnie from the original drawings of Robert Barker, the inventor of the panorama.

I made a few panoramic images (shown here in 3:2 format with a horizontal angle of view of 146 degrees and vertical of around 100 degrees rather than in panoramic format) on my way to and from Canary Wharf, with perhaps the most interesting being those taken inside Westminster Staton.

The beams and buttresses, designed by Hopkins Architects and completed in 1999 for the opening of the Jubilee Line are also the foundations of the block of parliamentary offices above the station, Portcullis House, and were deliberately Piranesian, though sometimes I get more of the feeling of Escher as you seem to walk endlessly up escalators and around the interior.
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End UK shame over Shaker Aamer

Parliament Square, London. Wed 22 Oct 2014
Protesters opposite Parliament in orange jumpsuits call for the release of Londoner Shaker Aamer.
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Protesters continue regular vigils opposite Parliament for Shaker Aamer, imprisoned and tortured for over 12 years and cleared for release in 2007. They believe he is still held because his testimony would embarrass MI6 as well as the US.
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DPAC High Court Vigil for ILF

Royal Courts of Justice, London. Wed 22 Oct 2014
Protesters, mainly in wheelchairs, blocked The Strand outside the court at the end of their vigil
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When disabled people won a court case over withdrawal of the Independent Living Fund, but the government simply put back the closure. Today's protest supported a second case against the closure and ended with the protesters blocking the road.

Despite the problems of travel disabled people still face in London, particularly with so few tube stations having disabled access, a surprising number of people turned up for the vigil outside the court where the second court case against the closure of the Independent Living Fund was being heard.

The protest was supported by people from Inclusion London, Norfolk and Suffolk DPAC local DPACs, the Greater Manchester Coalition of Disabled People, Transport for All, Winvisable, PCS Union, the TUC, and other organisations,and there was even a simultaneous vigil in Toronto, Canada. Three MPs, John McDonnell, Andy Slaughter and Jeremy Corbyn, came to give their support, and there were speeches by campaigners including Paula Peters and Andy Greene, with John Kelly singing. Towards the end of the protest, after a report on proceedings inside from a member of the legal team, many others joined in the singing of a specially written song about benefit cuts.

At the end of the vigil, many of those present took part in a short direct action, going out onto the pedestrian crossing in front of the courts and blocking The Strand in both directions for around ten minutes.
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Candlelit vigil for Justice for Ricky Reel

New Scotland Yard, London. Tue 21 Oct 2014

MP John McDonnell talks with Ricky Reel's mother Sukhdev Reel at the protest
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The mother of Ricky Reel, an Asian student whose body was found in the Thames at Kingston after a racist attack in 1997, called for an apology by police for spending time spying on the family rather than looking for his killers and a public inquiry.

The protest took place on the 17th anniversary of Ricky Reel's body being found in the River Thames 17 years ago. The recent evidence that police spent time and resources on undercover agents investigating Ricky Reel's family while failing at first to treat his disappearance seriously and then, after the body was found, failing to treat him as the victim of a racist attack has shocked many. Over 77,000 have signed a petition calling on Met Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe to formally apologise and for a robust independent and transparent Public Inquiry into police spying on family campaigns.

Speakers at the rally also talked about other cases of police spying, and failures of justice. The speakers included Sukhdev Reel, John McDonnell MP, Stafford Scott of Tottenham Rights, Suresh Grover of The Monitoring Group, Helen Steel, a speaker from the speaker from Newham Monitoring Project, and Liz Fekete of the Institute of Race Relations.
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Democracy Camp Fenced Out

Parliament Square, London. Tue 21 Oct 2014


A protester on the plinth of Churchill's statue in Parliament Square
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The main grassed area of Parliament Square had been surrounded by fencing , and as I arrived on Tuesday afternoon, police were arresting a few individuals who had got onto the grass inside it.

But one protester had climbed up onto the plinth of Churchill's statue around half an hour earlier and was standing there with a large poster with the message 'The Revolution Will Not Be Confiscated'. By now the Democracy camp had gained the name 'Tarpaulin Revolution' (#tarpaulinrevolution) after a number of battles between police and protesters over squares of blue plastic tarpaulin they had been sitting on on the wet grass and mud of the square. The police actions there had noticeably churned up parts of the grass on the square damaging the already rather patchy grass.

The Occupy protesters were now on the pavement in front of the fence and on the path and raised grass area at the east side of the square, but the programme of evening talks and workshops was continuing.

We all expected that the police would take Plinth guy Dan down at any moment, but he had already been up their for two hours when I had to leave for another protest. On my way home I checked again and was surprised that he was still up there, around four hours after he began his protest there.
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Staines march for flood victim Zane

Staines, Spelthorne. Tue 21 Oct 2014

Spelthorne Council Chief Executive Roberto Tamborini with the petition stands next to Zane's parents
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On what would have been Zane Gbangbola's eighth birthday, a protest at Spelthorne Council offices demanded they test the landfill site next to his home. His family believe he died from hydrogen cyanide gas generated there when it was flooded.

The protesters with the 38Degrees petition met outside Staines Leisure Centre where Zane's father and mother were interviewed by a couple of TV crews before the short march to Spelthorne Council Offices. Spelthorne Council Chief Executive Roberto Tamborini and another officer came out from the offices and talked with Zane's father Kye Gbangbola and mother Nicola Lawler before the petition was handed over.

Zane's parents were both also affected by the gas, and needed hospital treatment, with Kye being left a paraplegic. A pathologist's report on Zane was at first unable to reach a conclusion, but later put his death down to carbon monoxide poisoning from a pump used to clear floodwater from the house, close to Chertsey Bridge on the Middlesex side of the Thames. But Zane's parents say that the petrol-driven pump was never used in the house and cannot be linked to the death.

Although the Spelthorne Chief Executive expressed his sympathy with Zane's parents and the council's wish to determine its cause, he failed to give an assurance that proper tests would be carried out on the landfill site, or measures taken to avoid similar releases of toxic gases in the next floods. Surrey Police are reported to have submitted information regarding the faulty pump and the hire company which supplied it to the Crown Prosecution Service.
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Poor Doors Saturday Night Special

One Commercial St, Aldgate, London. Sat 18 Oct 2014

Class War block Whitechapel High Street outside One Commercial St
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Class War held a special protest against the separate doors for rich and poor residents at One Commercial St, Aldgate, with a large group of protesters from the nearby Anarchist Book Fair. They ended by briefly blocking the busy Whitechapel High St.

There were rather more police too for this protest, with a surprising group of seven down the dark alley in front of the poor door, as well as the larger numbers guarding the interests of the rich.

It was harder to photograph than usual because it was rather more crowded, and some anarchists are keen not to be photographed, especially as unlike the usual Class War protesters they have no idea who I am. When someone let off a green flare I was not in a good position to take photographs, and it wasn't possible to move quickly enough.

It was a lively protest, with samba from Rhythms of Revolution and some songs from Cosmo, as well as some rousing speeches and towards the end of the event, protesters decided to move into the road and block the traffic, standing behind their banners in front of what quickly became a very long queue of traffic on the east-bound lanes of the busy road. Their headlights provided some lighting for photography, but it was mainly at knee level and below. After around ten minutes, when police appeared to be getting edgy, the protesters walked back onto the pavement and dispersed, and I caught the Tube on the start of my way home.
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Procession of the Blessed Sacrament

Westminster Cathedral to Southwark, London. Sat 18 Oct 2014
The front of the procession on Lambeth Bridge with the Houses of Parliament in the background
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After a brief blessing inside Westminster Cathedral, the Blessed Sacrament was carried in a procession of around a thousand people led by Bishop Nicholas Hudson across Lambeth Bridge to a Benediction in St George's Cathedral Southwark.

The two cathedrals are only a short walk apart, on opposite sides of the River Thames, which at this point runs roughly from south to north. Westminster Cathedral, north of the river, actually lies slightly to the south of its south London neighbour. The procession spread out through the back streets of Westminster, walking on the pavements and seldom more than two or three deep, singing hymns and prayers as they walked.

At the 'south' side of Lambeth Bridge, when the procession moved from Westminster to Lambeth and from Westminster to Southwark diocese I photographed as the sacrament was handed over from Auxiliary Bishop Rt Rev Nicholas Hudson of Westminster to Auxiliary Bishop Paul Hendricks.

At the crossing in front of Lambeth Palace, there were crowds waiting to cross the road at the traffic lights rather than bringing the traffic to a halt. I spent a few minutes photographing these before leaving to walk back to the Democracy Village as the procession continued to a benediction at St Georges.
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Britain Needs A Pay Rise

Embankment, London. Sat 18 Oct 2014

Nurses, midwives and other NHS staff were a very visible and audible part of the protest march
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Over 80,000 marchers called for workers to share in the economic recovery where company chief executives now earn 175 times the average worker, and nurses, teachers and others in the public and private sector are £50 a week worse off than in 2007.

I walked along the Embankment where the march was gathering a couple of hours before it was due to start, and then returned later just in time for the end of the photocall with Frances O'Grady in front of a bus covered with a green banner with the message 'Britain Needs a Pay Rise' and people holding large white numbers 1,7 and 5 - for the 175 times the wage of the average worker that the average UK company chief executive takes.

Later as the TUC leaders posed behind the banner at the start of the march, Unite's Len McClusky stood beside her and brought out a flyer for Socialism 2014, joking with her. I couldn't hear what he said, but a bit more socialism would certainly be a good idea both for the TUC and the Labour Party - though perhaps the unions are backing an unlikely (or unwilling) horse there.

After the march moved off, I moved slowly back through the marchers as they came up to the start taking pictures. At the front were the major unions, the health workers and the teachers, the firefighters and more, a reminder of how much we still depend on unionised workers despite the largely successful attacks by Thatcher and later governments which have almost eliminated the unions in many areas.

Further back the marchers were more varied, and I met rather more people I knew, including those with CND, Focus E15, Occupy London and other radical movements. The march had started promptly at noon, and an hour and a quarter later I was with people still a quarter of a mile before the start at the tail of the march.

I'd taken more than enough pictures, and decided not to go on to Hyde Park for the rally at the end of the march - there were other things to photograph.
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Democracy Camp takes the Square

Parliament Square, London. Sat 18 Oct 2014

Democracy camp activists rush onto Parliament Square and erect a tower with the message 'DEMOCRACY'
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When I dropped in at Occupy Democracy on Saturday morning, most of the people who had stayed overnight in Parliament Square had already left to join the TUC 'Britain Needs A Pay Rise' march that was gathering on the Embankment. The few that remained were on the pavement opposite the Houses of Parliament, with a fairly large police presence, along with the private security 'Heritage Wardens' making sure they kept off the GLA grass - the pavement is the responsibility of Westminster Council.

When I returned in mid-afternoon, there were more people, and groups were arriving who had been on the TUC march. One from UK Uncut came into the square dancing to the sound of a music centre on a shopping trolley. As they danced on the pavement in front of the statue of Churchill, Westminster Council officials prompted police into action and together with one of the Heritage Wardens the police moved to attempt to seize the sound system.

Democracy campers linked arms to make it difficult for the warden and police to reach the system, but eventually the police ran onto the grass of the square and around the campers who were on the pavement and surrounded the small group taking the system away. There Martin Tuohy showed his ID as Senior Westminster Warden at Westminster City Council and together with another employee grabbed the system with police looking on.

Some tense argument followed, and eventually the UK Uncut protesters were allowed to leave with their equipment with the warning that they had to take it away from Parliament Square or it would be taken from them.

Not long after, a larger group came from the TUC march, where they had been carrying two large wood and fabric towers, one with the words POWER and OCCUPY and the other the word DEMOCRACY. Together with other protesters they ran onto the grass square and raised the towers. By now there was an impressive array of police vans around the square, but police and wardens were able to do little immediately to stop them. The long 'Real Democracy Now' banner was carried into the middle of the grass and shortly after a rally began.

There was now a crowd of several hundred on Parliament Square, where they were welcomed in a speech by Labour MP John McDonnell. Among the other speakers were occupy's George Barda, environmentalist Donnachadh McCarthy and Russell Brand, who after speaking posed for photographs together with many of those present.

Police were now massing around the square in blocks of around 20, obviously posed in a military looking formations ready to run onto the square, with perhaps a couple of hundred of them. Reinforcements arrived with two larger groups of blue-capped TSGs obviously spoiling for a fight.

Then the police suddenly started to disappear. Perhaps someone had realised that with Russell Brand talking, any attack on the protesters would have generated massive and largely negative media coverage. Much better to come back late at night and do it after the mass media had left (which they did.)
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Democracy Camp starts with rally

Parliament Square, London. Fri 17 Oct 2014

Police attempted to take bags and packs from the protesters who argued and resisted
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Many police occupied Parliament Square along with a few Heritage Wardens, determined that Occupy Democracy should not camp in Parliament Square. People gathered for the camp, many with sleeping bags, and held a rally which was continuing as I left.

Police met the gathering protesters and handed out a notice pointing out that camping and the use of amplified noise equipment is prohibited in Parliament Square at the start of the first evening of the Occupy democracy event planned to last for 9 days.

There were some angry arguments after police attempted to seize property from some of the protesters, who claimed that they were carrying rucksacks and packs because they intended to sleep elsewhere in London and not for the purpose of camping in Parliament Square. Eventually the police, who were being urged to take the action by the 'Heritage Wardens' backed off.

The so-called Heritage Wardens were established by the Mayor of London in 2000 to patrol areas including Parliament Square and Trafalgar Square and, according to the GLA, are there to "help and give information to visitors on local attractions and the square's heritage and provide assistance during events." In practice their main function seems to be to prevent protests and harass photographers, and since May 2011 have been provided by a private company, AOS Security.

Occupy Democracy came to occupy Parliament Square "for 9 days in October, to broadcast and demand the solutions we already know exist, to inspire people to be the active citizens required to take back democracy from powerful economic interests."

The GLA had put signs on the grass area of the square, asking people to keep off the grass, which they had just realised needed to be 'Closed for repair' on just the day Occupy Democracy intended to use it. It was hardly convincing, and most of the grass seemed in pretty good shape, except for a small bare rectangle in the northwest corner that they had failed to do anything about.

The Occupy Democracy rally took place on the paved area at the north end of the square, and there were some fine speeches. John Hilary, Executive Director of War on Want and author of The Poverty of Capitalism made a penetrating analysis of the problems of our current system. Robin from the Radical Housing Network spoke about the tremendous opposition to this week's MIPIM conference aimed at selling London property to rich overseas investors. Mansfield vicar Keith Hebden caught everyone's attention; earlier in the year he fasted for 40 days as a part of the End Hunger Fast campaign, and there were many other contributions to the rally which was still continuing as I left the square.
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Spoof shock U-turn by Boris on Housing

Parliament Square, London. Fri 17 Oct 2014

The Lidl bags contain copies of the spoof 'London Standard Evening' which were handed out at tube stations

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Thousands of copies of a spoof edition of the 'London Standard Evening' newspaper were handed out at tube stations, announcing a U-turn by Boris saying "its time to put the social back into housing" and features about London housing scandals.

The edition was produced for the final day of the world’s largest property fair, known as MIPIM, which had taken place over three days at Olympia, with protests outside it and a day of workshops on housing issues.

MIPIM is attended by property developers, investors, financiers and politicians from around the world and they were welcomed there by London Mayor Boris Johnson keen to have them build more large blocks for sale to overseas investors.

These developments feed the boom in house prices and rents in London and so exacerbate our increasingly serious housing problem, with a desperate shortage of social housing. Ten of thousands of London families are on council house waiting lists, and communities across the city face eviction and displacement at the hands of the profiteering developers Johnson welcomed to the city with open arms.

A small group of protesters from the Radical Housing Network met at Parliament Square armed with large bags of the freshly printed newspapers. After handing them out there they split up to take them to key tube stations around London to hand out there.
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Ban on Family visits to Palestinian Prisoners

Wilton Road, London. Fri 17 Oct 2014

The fences around Crossrail works at Victoria made good places for banners
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Protesters at the new offices of the G4S CEO called for an end to the bans on family visits to Palestinians in Israeli jails, which G4S helps to run. Since July all visits from Gaza and those to prisoners who took part in hunger strikes have been denied.

The offices of the Chief Executive Officer of G4S are on the top floor of Peak HOuse, a new office building opposite the front of Victoria station. Most of the area around the station is now covered by building works for the new Crossrail station there, and I was able to see the protest across the road several minutes before I could actually get there. But there was a steady stream of pedestrians walking past, many trying to get to Victoria Station.

A surprising number of them walking past took the leaflets that were proffered, and a few stopped to talk and express their sympathy with the protest. While I was there there were also two people with adverse comments. On man restricted himself to a shouted comment, but another grabbed hold of the lowest of three Palestinian flags of a long pole held by one of the female demonstrators. She held on to the pole, and others rushed to her assistance and the man hurried away. I wasn't looking in the right direction and missed the pictures.

The protesters state that Israel is denying Palestinian families the right to visit their loved ones in prison, in contravention of Article 116 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

They say:

Following the 2006 election victory of Hamas, Israel collectively punished the population of Gaza by denying family visits to all Palestinians from Gaza. One of the main demands of the April 2014 hunger strike by administrative detainees was for Israel to reinstate family visits to Gaza prisoners and whilst Israel agreed to resume the visits on conclusion of the strike it soon reneged on its promise and since July all visits from Gaza are banned. Also vindictively Israel punished the 125 administrative detainees who participated in the hunger strike by banning their families from visiting for 4 months.

Now Israel has started to issue 3 month banning orders on family visits, to the families of prisoners with links to organisations opposing the occupation. On September 14th 2014, Ahmad Sa'adat, Member of Palestinian Parliament and Secretary General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, received orders banning his family from visiting for 3 months. Hundreds of other prisoners, especially those affiliated with Hamas, Islamic Jihad and PFLP, have similarly received banning orders against family visits.

Today's protest raised the case of Palestinian woman university lecturer Mona Qa'adan who has been held in jail since November 2012, and not been allowed a single family visit in 2 years.

Her entire family - four sisters and three brothers, have all been labelled a "security threat" and prevented from talking to her for even a single minute in two years. Mona's illegal detention has been extended 16 consecutive times since her abduction without any trial. In the meantime she her health is suffering with problems in her gallbladder, stomach and high blood pressure.

She is caged at the notorious G4S secured HaSharon women's prison. At HaSharon prison Palestinian women prisoners have to endure beatings, insults, threats, sexually explicit harassment and sexual violence, and humiliation at the hands of Israeli guards. They are often forced to undergo degrading strip searches during the middle of the night - forced to squat naked and subjected to intrusive internal body searches, for no reason other than as a punitive measure. Women have been beaten and left tied to their bed for a day and a half and not allowed to go to the toilet as punishment for spilling water. The cells at HaSharon prison are overcrowded, dirty and infected with rodents and cockroaches. There is a total absence of basic hygiene, ... the heat is unbearable, the windows are closed and covered so that hardly any air or daylight can enter. The food is insufficient, and of inferior quality & dirty, often containing insects & worms, at times there are not enough portions for all the women.

I left while the protest was still continuing, though in danger of running out of leaflets because of the large numbers of pedestrians passing.
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Art Not Oil Rembrandt Against Shell

National Gallery, London. Thu 16 Oct 2014

'Art for People - Not Profit' and not to sanitise companies like Shell, G4S, BP and Serco
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After their gate-crashing performance at the press launch of the National Gallery's Rembrandt exhibition against oil sponsorship of the arts and privatisation of gallery staffing, the Art Not Oil coalition returned to repeat their protest outside a gala evening for special guests and highly ranked staff.

The exhibition is being guarded by a private security firm - not the gallery's own staff - at a time when the gallery is making plans to privatise up to two thirds of the gallery staff, many of whom were on strike the previous day as PCS members protesting with other gallery and museum staff.

Art Not Oil state:

The presence of unethical sponsors like Shell and the contracting of external security firms shows the growing influence the private sector is having over our arts and culture. With its meagre contribution to the gallery, Shell is buying social legitimacy for its dodgy deeds worldwide, including:

- its failure to clean up its multiple spills in the Niger Delta
- its reckless plans to drill in the Arctic for yet more oil
- its tar sands projects in Canada that are undermining Indigenous    people's rights

As well as holding banners and placards and handing out flyers against the sponsorship by Shell, the protesters sang a number of specially written songs and performed the short playlet they had previously given inside the gallery during the press launch, although with some changes in cast.
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Bermondsey Thames Panoramas

City Hall to Angel Wharf, London. Thu Oct 16 2014

Dramatic lighting on St Saviour's Dock, Bermondsey
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I had time before going to another event to take a short walk along the Thames Path, starting at the gardens around City Hall, close to the Southwark Council offices I had been photographing at, and making my way very slowly east.

Just past Tower Bridge I went down the stairs onto the foreshore, as the tide was very low, and walked around a little before coming back up to Shad Thames, a painful pastiche of its former industrial past. Quickly I made my way to the path beside the river and walked on, to be halted as usual at the footbridge across St Saviour's Dock.

I'd decided to take a walk rather than go and sit in a café or pub partly because of the changeable weather with sunny periods and showers and some interesting clouds and lighting. Perhaps here it became a little too interesting, giving the pictures an unreal quality, like some 'special effect' produced in software, but here it really was like this.

Eventually I tore myself away and continued my wander, realising when I got to West Lane that I was in danger of arriving late at Trafalgar Square and running down to the bus stop on Jamaica Road.
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CPOs for Southwark Councillors

Elephant to Southwark Council Offices, London. Thu Oct 16 2014

A fine 'Social Housing Not Social Cleansing' banner with bulldozer and elephant
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Protesters marched to Southwark Council Offices to serve 'People's Compulsory Purchase Orders' on the homes of the Council leader and other councillors who they say have accepted gifts from developers to sell off council estates at knockdown prices.

Mismanagement of their misconceived policies is costing the people of Southwark dear. Not only has the demolition of over 1200 homes in and close to the well-designed and largely popular Heygate estate caused suffering and loss to the families concerned, the costs of the 'decanting' of the tenants were apparently considerably greater than the proceeds of the sale to developers, despite the fact that leaseholders were only offered around half the true market value of property in the area. Most have been forced to move some way out into the suburbs to buy property in far less convenient areas giving them long and expensive work journeys.

The development of the estate as 'Elephant Park' means the loss of over a thousand social housing units. The new properties on the site have already been advertised to overseas buyers in Singapore and elsewhere as second homes, investment properties, homes for wealthy overseas students studying here, buy-to-let etc. There may be a small number of so-called affordable units at 80% of market rates, still well above what most Londoners can actually afford.

Other developments in Southwark also offer little to the largely low-income population of the borough. One The Elephant, currently going up close to where the protesters met is a 44 storey block of luxury flats with no social housing, and is being sold abroad, with 'studio flats' starting at around £320,000 or 640,000 Singapore dollars.

The protesters met at the base of the Strata Tower (one of London's uglier new towers, with an entirely greenwash three wind turbines on its roof, making it look like an ugly electric razor. They produce no electricity as running them produces excessive vibration in flats at the top of the building.

The Southwark campaigners were joined by members of the Focus E15 Mums Housing for All campaign. From Strata they marched first to the Elephant Park Sales Office on the Walworth Rd for a brief protest, then walked on the road through the now demolished Heygate estate, turning north to walk through some of the 1930s and later council estates to the north of the New Kent Road. All the estates around Falmouth Road, Rockingham St and Bath Terrace are attractive targets for developers. Getting rid of the council tenants, demolishing the social housing and replacing it with higher density high price 'luxury' flats would generate huge profits and without some drastic change in the council seems inevitable.

The march went on to an area around Long Lane and Tennis St, where again similar changes - gentrification labelled as regeneration - seem bound to take place, before making its way through Guy's Hospital and London Bridge Station to Tooley St and the Council Offices. Security stopped the marchers from entering the Council Offices to deliver the letters for Southwark Council Leader Peter John and two other councillors containing 'People's Compulsory Purchase Orders' for their homes, but after much argument and the presence of police Liliana Dmitrovic of the 'People's Republic of Southwark' and another protester were allowed in. As Southwark residents they had a right to enter the council offices.

They went to the reception desk asking to see the John and the two councillors to had over the letters, and were told to take a seat and wait. They waited. Eventually Stephen Douglas from Southwark Council came to tell them that all of the three councillors named on the letters are currently in meetings and unavailable, but promising that if the letters were given to him he would personally deliver them to the councillors. The letters were handed over and the protesters left.
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Class War Poor Doors Week 12

One Commercial St, Aldgate, London. Wed Oct 15 2014

Rhythms of Resistance samba band plays outside the rich door
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Heavy rain didn't stop the 12th weekly protest on the pavement at One Commercial St over different doors for rich and poor tenants of the prestige block, although numbers were a little down on last week, but the samba band kept the spirits up.

But rain did make photography rather difficult, with flash lighting up the rain drops unless I stayed under the canopy extending out from the building - where most of the protesters including the band were.
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London Transport Museum Arms Protest

Covent Garden, London. Tue 14 Oct 2014

Campaign Against the Arms Trade protest because the museum is sponsored by Arms Maker Thales
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As darkness fell, a small group of protesters from London Campaign Against Arms Trade gathered outside the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden Piazza to protest against arms company Thales sponsoring the museum.

Protesters handed out leaflets to those entering the London Transport Museum where Kate Adie was speaking on how women's lives changed in World War One explaining why they were protesting. Thales is the eleventh largest arms company in the world, and supplies missiles, drones and other military products.

The sell arms to repressive regimes such as Saudi Arabia, Russia, Colombia, Kazakhstan and the UAE. London CAAT wants the museum to end their deal with Thales and to agree not to take money from arms companies in the future.
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Thorpe Walk

Thorpe, Surrey. Mon Oct 13 2014

Former gravel pit next to M25 at Thorpe
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Thorpe is a village now best-known for the theme park built around some nearby unfilled gravel pits, to which thousands make there way to stand in queues for the various rides. I've been twice, once when it was opening and they had a free day for those in the area,and another time when dragged along by some foreign visitors. Like Hell if less warm.

But Thorpe itself is a pleasant enough village, or would be but for the M25 and the theme park, with a picturesque centre with an ancient church, the area largely having been bought by an American school. Our walk didn't taken us to this part, though we dropped in for a brief look in the rain on our way home after a pub meal. And it was a very good pub meal.

This was one of our family walks, and I think the route came from the web - perhaps the pub web site. It was raining slightly, but not enough to stop us walking. After getting just a little lost on some footpaths in the village we came to a path on the village edge and found it was pretty overgrown, mainly with stinging nettles for the next quarter of a mile, before coming out onto a road, and across that to a footbridge across the M25. We then walked down roughly parallel to the motorway on a not very clear path which took us to a gravel pit.

Huge areas around the borders of Greater London have been dug up for gravel over the years, and it is cheaper to leave them full of water as recreational lakes than to fill them in. Look out south as you fly into Heathrow from the west and you will see a patchwork of reservoirs and disused gravel pits like this. Looking at the map reminds me of lace or a leaf that has suffered severe attacks by caterpillars. Of course during the floods earlier this year event more was under water.

This particular lake is called Longside Lake, and is around half a mile long, going down to Thorpe Green. For much of the way we had water on both sides of the strip a few yards wide we were walking on, with the lake on our left and a stream, covered in places with a bright green floating plant on our right. We could hear the M25, just a couple of hundred yards away across the lake, but there were a lot of trees by the lake edge, and only the occasional glimpse of the top of a lorry. There were a few fallen trees to walk round or clamber over, and a rather flimsy plank bridge across a channel with water flowing down from the stream to the lake. This went up and down several inches as I crossed, precipitating a panic attack and I felt myself fainting, but fortunately just managed to make it to solid ground and began to recover.

After that it was fortunately a fairly short and easy walk to the pub, though I did have to stop and rest a couple of times when I felt weak again. Things like this never used to worry me, but are often a problem now. Probably its part of getting old. And I revived quite well in The Red Lion, particularly with a good pub meal and a pint of beer or two.
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Support the Defenders of Kobane

Parliament Square, London. Sat Oct 11 2014
Ocalan's face appears on top of the placard 'Support Kobane, Support Democracy' in front of Big Ben
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Thousands came to Parliament Square to support the Kurdish fight against ISIS in Kobane, calling for support for the Kurdish fighters condemning Turkish support for ISIS. As they marched away, scuffles broke out and police grabbed several protesters and the march sat down in Whitehall.

Most of those attending the protest were Kurds or Turks and the event brought together many different groups, united in their support for those defending Kobane and the remarkable democracy of Rojava, which has a constitution giving equality to men, women and all ethnic and religious groups.

Everyone castigated Turkey for supporting the ISIS militants who many see as hiving been invented, trained and funded by the CIA and Mossad, as well as some Arab states including Qatar. Turkey is seen as hoping that ISIS will defeat the Kurds and thus ease Turkey's own problem of those living in Turkey who have long been fighting for greater autonomy, although in recent years peacefully.

There were strong calls for the lifting by the UK of the ban on the PKK, the Kurdish Workers Party, whose leader Abdullah Öcalan has been held in jail in Turkey since 1999. In recent years he has been attempting to negotiate a peaceful end to the conflict, declaring a ceasefire at the Kurdish New Year in March 2013.

Although most of the protesters at the rally were Kurds, there were many speakers from the mainstream UK community, including a number of trade unionists, London Green MEP Jean Lambert, and human rights lawyer Margaret Owen.

At the end of the rally, the march formed up and made its way up Parliament St towards Whitehall, intending to go on and march around the West End. After the first thousand or so had left the square, loud shouting came from the northeast corner and I rushed there to find a large group of protesters confronting police around the statue of Palmerston. The situation was very confused, with much pushing and shoving, and I got knocked off the low wall I had stood on to take pictures as a mass of police and protesters surged in my direction.

At one point police formed a corridor to carry out one man to a police van and I assumed he was being arrested. But a few minutes later I photographed him a little way down the street and minutes after that he was back joining in the fracas.

Apparently the trouble had started when police tried to stop and search some of the protesters and then tried to arrest one of them. Onlookers then joined in and the situation rapidly escalated. When the marchers heard of the arrest they sat down and blocked Whitehall. Police began negotiations but the road was still blocked when I returned from photographing the NoTTIP banner drop over half an hour later.

The march restarted shortly after when police had released one of those detained, but apparently two men where held in custody. Having been held up for so long there marchers gave up the planned march and instead returned to end their day in Parliament Square where they dispersed, by which time I was already on my train home.
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#NoTTIP - Hands off our democracy

Parliament Square, London. Sat 11 Oct 2014
The full banner read 'Hands off Democracy #noTTIP and was really too long for Parliament Square
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Protesters say the EU-US Trade Deal (TTIP) would let corporations sue governments, lock in privatisation of our schools and NHS, undermine protection for privacy, workers and the environment and allow fracking and other harmful activities.

After the Parliament Square rally, those present marched to Westminster Bridge for a 'banner drop'

#NoTTIP - Banner Drop

Westminster Bridge, London. Sat 11 Oct 2014

the #noTTIP Hands Off Democracy banners on Westminster Bridge
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The low sun made it difficult to get good pictures of the #noTTIP Hands Off Democracy banners on Westminster Bridge, and there also seemed to be no clear plan as to where they should be let down. There was also just enough breeze to occasionally lift up the banners and make them hard to read.

I'd rushed ahead to get to a suitable place to photograph the banner several hundred yards down the opposite bank where it was possible to get a good view of the Houses of Parliament behind it. But as soon as I started taking pictures, the banners were lifted up and carried further onto the bridge, probably at the phoned request of the rather lazier official photographer for the group.

And shortly after I'd started photographing them in their second position they were up and on the move again. I walked back towards the bridge for some final pictures in the third position.
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Global Frackdown at HSBC

London . Sat 11 Oct 2014
Frack Off London erect their fracking rig at the Regent St HSBC with a banner 'Fracking is a dirty business'
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Activists took a mock 'fracking rig' to two branches of HSBC in central London, the bank that supports Cuadrilla in the UK and fracking in Algeria and the US as their part of protests around the world, with participants from Romania and Algeria.

The London protest organised by Frack Off London was part of a Global Frackdown by communities around the world against this environmentally destructive industry which leaves a legacy of water contamination, air pollution and health problems. And as a dirty fossil fuel it deepens the climate crisis.

HSBC was targeted as it provides banking services for Cuadrilla, and funds fracking around the world. In Algeria, they are helping to bring this water intensive process to the Sahara and in the US, they underwrite the BG Group responsible for fracking in large parts of the country.

A small crowd of activists gathered in Golden Square, Soho watched by police, with police liaison officers desperately trying to find information about what the group intended, but with little success. Eventually the group packed up their mock fracking rig and marched out of the square to the nearby HSBC branch in Regent St. The bank had clearly been reading Facebook and presumably had received a warning from the police as the bank doors were being locked as we got within sight. Ont he pavement outside the rig was erected the rig and banners held up for a short rally with several speakers.

Then it was time to pack up and move on, marching at first along the pavement before taking to the street again. It seemed a long way to the next stop in the Strand and I think they missed a few HSBC branches. Again the rig was erected, and banners held up across the front of the locked bank. As well as speeches by the Algerian Solidarity Campaign and others there was a short piece of street theatre performed by Romanian anti-fracking activists.

The protesters made their presence heard by some loud drumming and blowing of whistles and plastic horns as they made their way down Whitehall to Parliament Square for a final short protest and photographs. In Parliament Square most of them intended to join in the protest against TTIP, which will hand over important aspects of democracy to the dictates of large corporations under the guise of free trade.
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Solidarity with the Umbrella Revolution

Chinese Embassy, London. Fri 10 Oct 2014

Protesters kept on the pavement in front of the Chinese Embassy and ignored police requests to move
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The National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts organised a protest at the Chinese Embassy in solidarity with the 'umbrella revolution' of the students and workers of Hong Kong in their fight for democracy. Many of the protesters carried umbrellas and others had small yellow paper umbrellas as well as their posters and placards.

The protesters who included a number of Chinese and some who had been at the protests in Hong Kong gathered across the road from the embassy, but after a short introductory speech they decided to go across the road and protest on the pavement outside the embassy door.

Police tried to persuade them to move back across the road, but Daniel Cooper and the others ignored officers who tried to talk to them and continued with the protest. Speakers called on the Chinese Government to honour the promises they had made about democracy in Hong Kong. In solidarity with the students and the workers of the HKCTU they called for the immediate release of all the arrested, an end to the suppression of peaceful assembly, replacing the "fake universal suffrage" formula with the genuine political reform workers have been demanding, and the resignation of Chief Executive Leung Chun Ying.
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Palestine protest at Hewlett Packard

Wood St, London. Fri 10 Oct 2014
Protesters with Free Palestine umbrellas hand out leaflets opposite HP
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The Palestinian Prisoners Campaign continued their campaign against Hewlett-Packard, which boasts of 'a massive presence' in Israel and are the IT backbone for the Israeli war machine with a picket outside their London offices.
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City Panoramas

City of London. Fri 10 Oct 2014

A cement mixer goes down Aldersgate St
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I had a little time to spare between events and took a short walk in the City, including along one of the remaining areas of 'highwalk' at the southwest of the Barbican site, part of the post-war plan to segregate pedestrians from traffic.

The rather ugly brickwork at the west end of London Wall had some strange characters on it, which were explained in a display above by the Museum of London, although fans of Sherlock Holmes may need no explanation.

At Wood St, the remaining highwalk overlooks a large building site which used to be an area of highwalk, but is now being developed to make much greater use of the land, doubtless for more offices.
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Free Ghoncheh Ghavami - SOAS action

SOAS, London. Fri 10 Oct 2014

Students hold posters showing the former student jailed in Iran for trying to watch a volleyball match

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Protesters called for the release of former SOAS Law student Ghoncheh Ghavami, held in prison for 104 days and on hunger strike for 10 days after being detained in Iran with other women after she went to watch a volleyball match. Among those who spoke at the protest was Ghavami's brother.

Among those present at the protest were a number of Iranian students, one who told us that she was unable to return to her country because she had been seen on television watching a volleyball game in Rome when the TV camera showed the audience reacting to a score.

The rally was supported by staff and the SOAS staff unions UCU and Unison, as well as by the SOAS Student Union. As well as the rally I photographed, some of the students were taking part in a day's hunger strike in solidarity with Ghavami, and there was a candlelit vigil in the evening.
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Solidarity for Care UK Strikers

Care UK, Southwark, London. Fri 10 Oct 2014
Protesters outside the offices in Great Guildford St with banners
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NSSN, TUSC and Southwark Unison protested at the Care UK offices in the nation-wide day of solidarity with Doncaster Care UK workers striking for 81 days after huge cuts in pay and services by a private equity company taking over a part of the NHS.

The protest here was one of many pickets and protests around the country outside Care UK offices and those of Bridgepoint, the private equity firm that owns Care UK, or at shops such as Fat Face and Pret a Manger also owned by Bridgepoint.

Their strike is not just about their own cuts in wages, but a stand against the principles involved and the whole idea of a values-based health service. The workers at Care UK are no longer able to proudly address the needs of those with learning disorders in their own community, but are simply required to meet minimum needs at the lowest possible cost - and the greatest profit to Bridgepoint and the company to which they will be sold on once the private equity company has slimmed services and pay to the bone.
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Deptford to Greenwich

Deptford and Greenwich, Thu 9 Oct 2014
The sun had gone and the heavens were about to open at Greenwich
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I was meeting a couple of photographers for lunch and a chat in Greenwich, and when I looked out of the window it was a fine day, so I grabbed my camera bag and took an early train, getting off a stop early at Deptford with a couple of hours to spare to wander along mainly on the Thames Path.

The forecast seemed ideal for making some panoramas, as the last thing you need for these in open locations like the wide views along the Thames are empty blue skies. The forecast promised sunny periods and showers later but wasn't entirely accurate, as a shower came almost as soon as I got out of the station.

A little rain is a good thing too, as the air over London is seldom too clean, with a combination of particulates and photochemical smog making the distance hazy. Rain scrubs the air, and after a good pour it can seem unnaturally clear.

The first pictures I took were actually during a shower, and the distance is hazy because of the rain in the air, but it soon stopped, leaving some clear views and dramatic skies as the rain cleared. Pictures taken in different directions within seconds of each other sometimes showed dramatic differences.

The sunny weather that followed was sometimes too sunny, and at times there was barely a cloud to disturb the boring blue. With panoramic images like those I was mainly making there can be quite a shift across the frame from deep blue to hard to keep within bounds white, which often looks odd in a photograph. Most of these images, though within the 'normal' 1.5:1 aspect ratio of the 35mm frame are panoramic in view, with a horizontal angle of view of over 145 degrees and a vertical view of almost a 100 degrees. Extreme angles of view such as this make it impossible to maintain rectilinear perspective and some straight lines appear curved.

1+I was particularly interested in the area around Deptford Creek which has changed so radically since I photographed it in the 1980s. The power station, the scrap metal and almost all of the industry has gone, replace by blocks of often expensive flats, Stowage, which always seemed to be a workshop on the fringes of hell hardly exists, and there is just one small area of Deptford Creek still at work,

I got engrossed and arrived at the pub rushing and a little late to enjoy a curry and a couple of pints of an excellent real ale. When I finally left, the weather had changed again, now dull and threatening, the clouds grey upon grey, and towards London an almost menacing dark, but with a bright light still making the river shine and lighting the tower blocks theatrically.

At first the rain was fairly light, but driven by a gusting wind that made holding an umbrella difficult. Then the rain became torrential. My umbrella was intruding uncontrollably into some of my pictures and I had to find some shelter. As soon as it slackened off a little I set out again, taking more pictures on my way to the DLR to Canary Wharf and the way home.
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Poor Doors Musical Protest

One Commercial St, Aldgate, London. Wed 8 Oct 2014

Cosmo plays and sings, the Class War banner and Marina dancing
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The 11th weekly protest on the pavement at One Commercial St over different doors for rich and poor tenants of the prestige block was the largest to date, with almost a hundred Class War activists dancing and singing to Cosmo and Different Moods.

The protests at the block next to Aldgate East station are continuing to grow, and this week's felt a powerful event with the a great atmosphere, with powerful contributions from the two groups and some stirring speeches. Cosmo, who had come from Cardiff to perform here was impressive - his web page calls him a one-man anarcho-folk-punk-hiphop phenomenon - and I think I heard him back in the 90s at some Reclaim the Streets events.

People meeting at a nearby pub before the protest had noticed there was a strong police presence, with around a dozen officers standing inside and outside the 'rich door' as well as Redrow's own staff. So they decided to start the protest on the opposite side of the road to One Commercial St, only coming across after a few minutes as the rain got heavier. One Commercial St has a wide glass porch which keeps the rain off the pavement immediately in front of the building, but unfortunately doesn't protect photographers who stand a little further out to take pictures.
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Unstone Grange & Chesterfield

Unstone and Chesterfield, Derbyshire. Sun 5 Oct 2014

Finally I came to something that really looked like it was a canal
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It had long been dark by the time we arrived at Unstone Grange, a small conference centre a few miles north of Chesterfield. We had actually missed most of the weekend conference, but Linda had some business to sort out and it was good to meet friends again.

I woke up early and went for a walk before in the half hour or so before breakfast, around the grounds and then up the lane into Apperrknowle before it was time to go back.

We got a lift into Chesterfield after lunch and arrived well over an hour before our train was due. We'd bought advance tickets at a small fraction of the full fare and they were only valid for that particular train. Chesterfield station isn't a great place to wait, so we took it in turns to go for a walk while one of us sat with the luggage in the station and read.

I took rather more than my share of the time, as I found the start of the Chesterfield canal and decided to have a quick explore. It turned out to take me rather longer than I expected, and I had to run most of the way back.
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Hull and Hornsea

Hull & Hornsea. Fri 3 & Sat 4 Oct 2014

Its a mistake to actually go to the Land of Green Ginger,so much better left in the imagination
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Part of the reason we'd come up to Hull early for the wedding was to meet some of the other wedding guests, more old friends who had come over from Germany for the event and were arriving on Friday morning. But before they came we said hello to Philip Larkin who was standing - looking rather bronzed - outside the hotel door and went for another walk around parts of the Old Town, including a visit to Holy Trinity, before meeting them to have coffee in the Ferens Gallery.

It really is a good gallery (and many years ago gave me my first solo show - which included many of the images in my book 'Still Occupied - A View of Hull' and it was a pity we didn't have time to look at the exhibitions there. But as well as Hull, we had to take a trip to Hornsea, and the buses are not too frequent and take over an hour each way.

There really isn't a lot to do in Hornsea but look at the sea. So we looked at it, walked along the front and then back and waited for another bus back to Hull, pausing briefly to look at the patch of grass where my wife's aunt had owned a small cottage. Every year her family had their holiday there, until the council made a compulsory purchase order on the long-condemned property. The development they intended for the site fell through, so it is now just a bit of grass and a flower bed or two.

We wanted to be back for a French film that was showing in the Hull Film Festival, a miniature event getting ready for a larger festival next year and of course working up to more for 2017 when it is the turn of Hull to be UK City of Culture. Like many other northern cities it has always been a city of culture - for those who wanted it.

On Saturday I took a few more pictures as we walked in the rain the mile and a half to the church for the wedding, which are also on line. I wasn't the official wedding photographer (they didn't want one, but the husband of the bride's sister, a retired photographer took some pictures as they signed the register) but had been asked if I would take some pictures of the guests at the short celebration at the church after the wedding and later at the reception in a hotel a few miles away. Which I enjoyed doing and it stopped me getting bored when I wasn't eating or drinking. But I won't post the pictures here.

The rain was a shame, as the hotel had what looked like some fine gardens, and the sun came out just as we had to leave to catch a bus and a train and then another bus to make our way to another event at Unstone Grange in the country between Sheffield and Chesterfield.
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Hull at Night

Hull. Thu 2 Oct 2014

The new bridge across the River Hull in the Old Town
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We travelled to Hull a couple of days early to attend the wedding of an old friend, who had been at primary school with my wife. As we travelled by train, the Royal Station Hotel was a convenient place to stay, with an entrance on the station forecourt.

After we'd settled into our hotel room overlooking Paragon Square we were getting hungry, and went to look for somewhere to eat. We walked along Princes Avenue looking at all the places before deciding to try a Malaysian restaurant, and it turned out to be an excellent choice, and by London standards very reasonably priced and a pleasant atmosphere.

By the time we left I was in a very good mood (the wine helped) and we took a long walk around the Old Town and a lot of pictures - all handheld.
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Class War Poor Doors Week 10

One Commercial St, Aldgate, London. Wed 1 Oct 2014

One of the two vases that Class War had brought to One Commercial St
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Over 60 people came to the 10th weekly protest at One Commercial St over separate doors for rich and poor tenants of the prestige block at Aldgate.

Class War brought with them two vases of flowers to replace the one broken during last week's protest, though they were perhaps a little plastic and tacky looking compared to the one that had been broken the previous week.

I wasn't entirely clear how the vase had been broken during the Class War occupation of the reception area behind the 'rich door'. Ian Bone had been standing next to the reception desk on which it was standing, and had been speaking and waving his walking stick around. Possibly he just meant to rest the stick on the desk, but somehow the vase was sent crashing to the floor, leading to his later arrest as he tried to leave the area.

Possibly too his action may have been recorded on CCTV as police claimed, and given the luxury nature of the Redrow block, they may even have CCTV with a high enough resolution to show what happened. But I understand that the replacement cost him 70 quid.

The two replacement vases brought to the protest looked rather cheaper, although I doubt if that is why the building manager refused to take either of them when first offered. But later, as he was letting in a resident through the rich door, one of the vases was thrust into his face and he took hold of it, probably by reflex. His face when he found himself holding it was interesting, and he quickly put it down, placing it on the desk in the reception area in the same place as the one knocked off last week, complete with its with a 'Toffs Out!' Class War card.
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my london diary index
 

Oct 2014

Wet night at Poor Doors
Biofuel picket Green Investment Bank Birthday
Kobane - Unite against Isis Drawing
Fair Fares Petition
Democracy Camp Saturday
EDL Visit Democracy Camp
Acid Attacks on Women in Iran
United Friends & Families March
Democracy Camp a Week Old
Cleaners protest at Bloomberg
Palestine - another HP protest
Musical Poor Doors
Democracy Camp - Poet Arrested
Canary Wharf & Westminster Tube
End UK shame over Shaker Aamer
DPAC High Court Vigil for ILF
Candlelit vigil for Justice for Ricky Reel
Democracy Camp Fenced Out
Staines march for flood victim Zane
Poor Doors Saturday Night Special
Procession of the Blessed Sacrament
Britain Needs A Pay Rise
Democracy Camp takes the Square
Democracy Camp starts with rally
Spoof shock U-turn by Boris on Housing
Ban on Family visits to Palestinian Prisoners
Art Not Oil Rembrandt Against Shell
Bermondsey Thames Panoramas
CPOs for Southwark Councillors
Class War Poor Doors Week 12
London Transport Museum Arms Protest
Thorpe Walk
Support the Defenders of Kobane
#NoTTIP - Hands off our democracy
#NoTTIP - Banner Drop
Global Frackdown at HSBC
Solidarity with the Umbrella Revolution
Palestine protest at Hewlett Packard
City Panoramas
Free Ghoncheh Ghavami - SOAS action
Solidarity for Care UK Strikers
Deptford to Greenwich
Poor Doors Musical Protest
Unstone Grange & Chesterfield
Hull and Hornsea
Hull at Night
Class War Poor Doors Week 10

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