Antifascist Action for Greece, Unite Against Fascism and other anti-fascist activists including many trade unionists arrived opposite the Greek Embassy and set up banners an hour before the Golden Dawn supporters were due to arrive.
There were some speeches before the fascists were due, and I left when some police and black-clad young anti-fascists moved away towards the Underground station. When I arrived there, a group of twenty or thirty people were in a close group outside, with Golden Dawn and Polish ultra-right flags and a 'White Pride' banner with the message 'We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.'
Police protected around 30 neo-Nazis at the Greek Embassy supporting the fascist Golden Dawn, calling for the release of its leaders. Harassed on their way there by anti-fascists, police prevented a much larger UAF group reaching them.
The protest was organised by New Dawn, and Polish group NOP Division England and Nacjonalista.pl and was in support of the Greek neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party of which 50 leading members are currently on trial in Athens for violent attacks, firearms and other offences. New Dawn was set up a year ago in the UK after two members of Golden Dawn were shot dead in front of the party's Athens offices on November 1st, 2013.
Police held the marchers there while they stopped the anti-fascists who had come to meet the New Dawn marchers and had been kept on the other side of the road. There were shouted exchanges of insults and threats, and I and other photographers were also threatened by some of the New Dawn marchers - and by a officer driving one of the police vans. The neo-Nazis also came with a man with a video camera, who spent rather a lot of his time there and later recording me and the couple of other photographers present.
Eventually the marchers were escorted by police the long way round to the Greek embassy so as to avoid going past the anti-fascists. They grew impatient when they were held for around half an hour just out of sight before the turn into the street leading to the embassy while police brought in reinforcements and drew up a couple of vans across the street between the areas alloted to the two groups.
Eventually police allowed them to march towards the embassy and into the pen set up for them and the rally began. A couple of protesters made an attempt to prevent me taking pictures of one of the speakers by holding their flags in front of my camera, but otherwise there were no problems.
After a while the anti-fascists began to drift away, and I followed them.
Some were hoping to confront the neo-Nazis when they came back to the station,
but I decided not to wait, and made my way elsewhere.
more pictures
Students in Britain demonstrated at the Mexican Embassy of the dissapearance and probable massacre of 43 college students in Iguala on 26 September who appear to have been arrested by police and handed over to a local crime syndicate to be murdered. Although some of those protesting had posters calling for them to be found, there would appear to be very little real chance they are still alive.
These students, who had been preparing to protest are only the latest of many Mexicans to be killed. In the search for them, a mass grave with 11 partially burned bodies of young adults, some decapitated, was found in southwestern Mexico, not far from where they disappeared, but it seems these are from another outrage.
The embassy is in one of the darkest streets in Mayfair (the street lighting
probably affected by Crossrail works) and was on a narrow pavement, making
it difficult for protesters and photographers. There were speeches in Spanish
and English, and a letter was handed in to the embassy; after some delay a
man and a woman came out to receive it, listening to the protest continuing
for a few minutes before going back inside. I left
shortly after.
more pictures
For the 'UK Stop Arming Israel' day of action, the Palestinian Prisoners Campaign protested outside the City offices of Hewlett Packard whose computers and software power the Israeli prisons and war machine, with an informative display, flags and flyers. The protest took place the day before the day of action as the offices are closed on Saturdays.
HP, one of the top 20 armament companies in the US with arms sales worth $3 billion in 2011 has a $6 billion investment in Israel, providing the IT backbone for the entire Israeli war machine - from the army, to the navy, to the Ministry of Defense. They also provide services for the prisons and Israeli intelligence services, backing up the repression, imprisonment and torture of Palestinians.
A small group of protesters set up on the pavement opposite the prestige
office building with posters, banners and flags and handed out flyers about
HP's activities as well as shouting for the company to end its support for
Israeli war crimes and playing some evocative Palestinian music.
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Pensioners, Fuel Poverty Action and No Dash for Gas protested against Energy UK, the lobbying organisation of the Big Six Energy companies over the 10,000 preventable deaths, mainly of the elderly and disabled, of those unable to afford energy.
The official statistics show that in the year 2012/2013 over 10,000 people died from fuel poverty, including thousands of people in London, and figures for last winter are likely to be higher.
Energy supply is a highly profitable business of the Big Six energy companies and there shareholders, who made £3.7bn in the same year, equal to £370,000 profit for every person who died.
Campaigners call for an 'Energy Bill of Rights':
Pensioners and their supporters met outside Charing Cross Station, where one campaigner, Obi (Lorenzo Abadinas) from Occupy who was live-streaming the event stripped to the waist for the protest which certainly made me feel cold, and though there was a weak winter sun, there was also a quite biting wind, and the rest of us were glad to be well wrapped up. He handed London Green MEP Jean Lambert of large felt pen for her to write a message across his chest with the Twitter address for the event, @fuelpovaction.
The pensioners then marched to the Institute of Directors in Pall Mall where they met other protesters for a short action there, with several speeches, before going on into Regent St and the office of Energy UK - the body who represent and defend the Big Six profiteers. It's head Angela Knight, previously used to appear on the media to defend the banks for their indefensible and irresponsible activities, certainly a woman who gives public relations a very bad name. The protesters called for her to come out and talk, but there was no response.
There was a quarter hour 'die-in' on the roadway outside the Energy UK offices,
by the end of which most present were happy to get up and continue with speeches
on the pavement in front of the doorway. But pensioner Terry Hutt, wearing
a t-shirt 'I'm not dead yet' and with a placard 'I want a fair deal before
I kick the bucket' continued the die-in for slightly over half an hour longer,
while the rally outside Energy UK continued. Police stood around protecting
him from the traffic which was diverted onto the opposite side of the one-way
road but otherwise did not interfere, and at the end of the protest carefully
helped him to stand, checking that he was OK.
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Over a thousand people, angry at the decision not to charge Darren Wilson with murder, attended a candlelit vigil at the US Embassy calling for justice and an end to the racism that allows police in the US and UK to shoot black people.
The 'Flood the Embassy - Justice for Michael Brown - Darren Wilson is GUILTY' solidarity with Ferguson vigil and rally was called by London Black Revolutionaries and NUS Black Students Campaign. Speakers include the Chair of London Campaign Against State & Police Violence, Malia Bouattia of NUS Black Students Campaign, Zita Holbourne of BARAC, Marcia Rigg, Carole Duggan, the RMT Paddington Branch Secretary, Wail Qaisim of Defend the Right to Protest and some from London Black Revs.
There was some ill-feeling between the organisers of this rally and the SWP
dominated 'Stand Up to Racism' campaign, who rather than taking part in this
rally organised a separate earlier event at the US embassy. But the two groups
did come to some kind of agreement that allowed this rally to use the sound
equpment from the previous event.
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After 19 weeks of protests, Class War met the new owner of One Commercial St who will hold talks with all concerned to discuss the ending of separate entrances. Class War celebrated this, and will stop protests here unless the talks fail.
The activists met to celebrate their victory, walking down as usual from outside Freedom Books to One Commercial St. It really does seem that the many weeks of protest have suceeded, and the owners of the block seem to want to find a solution.
It isn't just for this block, but a campaign that has raised awareness of what has been described as a growing social apartheid, an increasing gap in income between rich and poor being reflected in an increasing social separation. 'Poor Doors' protests at One Commercial St made the issue very visible, bringing it to a much wider consciousness, making a start to a different way of thinking for planners and developers. Class War's activities here caught the attention of the public and of some parts of the media.
When I photographed this event and first put it on-line, Marina Pepper, who
features prominently in these pictures (as she did at the protest) was the
Class War candidate for the parliamentary seat at Chingford, currently held
by Iain Duncan Smith. Unfortunately soon after this it became clear that her
attitude to private education was not compatible with being a Class War candidate,
and she was deselected. Class War don't seriously expect to win any seats,
but hope that by taking part in the election they can engage with a wider
public and put their ideas across.
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Homeless mother Candice who Newham wanted to rehouse in Liverpool was today offered a flat in Canning Town after several Focus E15 and FRFI members forced their way past security to accompany her to an interview at Newham's housing office.
A small group of Focus E15 Mums and their supporters, including some members of Figth Racism! Fight Imperialism! (FRFI) met at Stratford Station and walked the short distance down to the LB Newham housing office at Bridge House on Stratford High St. There they met with Candice and her daughter who had an appointment in the housing office, and wanted Jasmine and Same to go in with her and argue her case.
Candice had an appointment and was allowed in, but the security guards on the door refused to admit Jasmine and Sam. Another of the supporters had managed to slip past security and after a lot of arguing and some pushing Sam and Jasmine were allowed in, but security stopped others from following them, and there were some angry scenes.
I was left outside with most of the Focus E15 supporters and could only follow what was happening inside through the glass doors and the windows of the reception area. It was made a little more difficult as I wanted to respect the privacy of other clients of the housing office, which restricted my view further.
After a while Candice and her advisers were taken to one of the meeting rooms to talk about her case with one of the housing managers. From time to time Sam came out and across the waiting area to the windows to tell those of us outside what was happening.
The protesters outside put up banners around the door, which had now been locked by security who were refusing to admit even clients who came for interviews. One of the protesters eventually negotiated with them to get them to allow clients into the offices for interviews by the rear entrance.
It was cold in the wind outside, and the occasional burst of rain made it
feel even colder. After the meeting inside had been going on for well over
an hour I had to go home. When I arrived back and looked at Facebook I was
very pleased to find that thanks to the intervention of Focus E15, Candice
and her baby had been offered a flat in Canning Town.
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The 'We Stand With Shaker' campaign was launched at Parliament to bring Shaker Aamer home from Guantanamo. Never charged, he was cleared for release in 2007 and 2009, but remains imprisoned because his testimony to torture would embarass MI6.
Music legend Roger Waters, Pink Floyd’s chief songwriter, became involved in the campaign when he heard that Shaker Aamer recited some of his lyrics in his Guatanamo prison cell to help him keep sane in long spells of solitary confinement.
Others at the launch, as well as Joanne MacInnes and Andy Worthington of We Stand With Shaker, and a giant inflatable figure of Shaker Aamer included Clive Stafford Smith, the director of Reprieve, John McDonnell MP (Labour, Hayes and Harlington), Caroline Lucas MP (Green, Brighton Pavilion), comedian Jeremy Hardy and Peter Tatchell, as well as a number of people from the 'Free Shaker Aamer Campaign' who came in the orange jumpsuits and black hoods they have been protesting in week after week for Shaker's release.
One way the campaign is trying to increase public awareness is by getting
peole, particularly celebrities, to pose with the giant inflatable holding
the message I stand with Shaker.
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Ricky Bishop, a fit young black man, died from unexplained injuries hours after being taken to Brixton Police Station on 22 Nov 2001. Family and supporters call it a modern day lynching and march annually to remember him and call for justice.
The marchers met up at Windrush Square and then marched slowly through the centre of Brixton to the police station, where a tree outside has been adopted as a remembrance tree for Ricky Bishop and the others killed there by police.
At the tree there were speeches, including a detailed and forceful presentation by Marcia Rigg of the battle she and others faced to get any proper investigation into the death there of her brother Sean Rigg in August 2008. They persisted, despite the lies and failures of the police and the IPCC, finally getting an inquest verdict that said officers used unsuitable and unnecessary force in restraining him which resulted in his death.
As she was speaking there were shouts from the open windows of the police station accusing the family of lying about the police. Like everyone else there I was shocked and disgusted that some police still feel the killing people as they did Sean Rigg is defensible. Of course, the police and the justice system still cover up such crimes by officers, giving them almost total immunity from the consequences of their actions, by failing to properly investigate and interview, allowing collusion, holding up cases, disallowing evidence, misleading juries and other means. Although by no means all of the more than 3,000 who died in custody between 1969 and 2011 were killed by police or prison officers, it is truly shocking that not a single officer has been succesfully prosecuted, despite considerable evidence of wrongdoing.
Other speakers included Ricky Bishop's mother Doreen, Janet Williams, the mother of Aston Williams, killed by police in Reading earlier this year and Stephanie Lightfoot-Bennett, the twin sister of Leon Patterson, brutally murdered by Manchester police in 1992.
There was a period of silence in memory of those killed, and candles were
lit and flowers fixed to the memorial tree.
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Class War went to the £7m Fitzroy Square home of Griff Rhys Jones who said he would leave the country if Labour levied a mansion tax, telling him to "f**k off now", offering to pay the fare. Class War's election manifesto includes a 50% mansion tax.
There was no answer when Class War rang the bell at the house, though there was clearly someone in, as while they were outside someone came and removed the post that had been visible in the slot in the door. The protesters put hazard tape around the area outside the house before going for a walk around the square, pausing for another brief protest outside the home of Guy Ritchie, another millionaire objector to a mansion tax.
Further around the square, next to the house where both George Bernard Shaw
and later Virginia Woolf both lived, they came across the Magistrates Association
- who got another sticker, as did the locked gates into the private garden
in the centre of the square.
Having gone around the square they returned for a further few minutes of protest
outside Griff Rhys Jones's house, and a group photograph. I then rushed off
to another protest and they went to a nearby pub.
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Pakistani Christians and others called for justice for the brutal murder of Shahzad Masih and Shama Bibi, bonded labourers at a brick kiln, who were falsely accused of burning pages of the Quran, attacked by a Muslim mob, tortured and burnt alive.
Shahzad along with other relatives had moved from their Christian village to work at a brick kiln in a Muslim village 35 miles south-west of Lahore. There theywere trapped into bonded labour, and Gujjar their landlord and kiln owner was in dispute over payments made by Shahzad, who wanted to pay off his debts and leave, possibly because the landlord's accountant is alleged to have raped Shama a few days before the killings.
Shama had cleared out and burnt some of the effects of her father who died on 30 October 2014. These included some black magic amulets and written charms. The ashes were seen by a Muslim worker and he accused her of burning the Koran.
A large mob came from surrounding villages and attacked the couple, stripped them and tied them to a tractor, beating them as they were taken to the kiln. Some relatives say both of them were still alive when they were covered with petrol and thrown into the kiln, others say Shama was already dead. A van with armed police was present but made no attempt to disperse the mob by firing into the air, despite the pleas of relatives.
The police appear to be trying to cover up some details of the case and failing
to name family members as witnesses in the official report. The remains of
the two were buried by the authorities in secret to avoid the family organising
a funeral which might have been reported by the international press. But the
news did leak out, after which the federal government appointed a Christian
who is minister for Ports and Shipping, Kamran Michael, to co-ordinate the
case.
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Occupy Democracy activists who spent the night in front of the Supreme Court
were holding banners by the roadside and preparing for two days of workshops
there. The grass and paving in the centre of the square is all fenced and
guarded. Police stood around watching them.
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As MPs prepared to debate Gateshead MP Ian Mearns' bill on Zero Hours contracts the Fast Food Rights rally, supported by the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union, Youth Fight for Jobs and others called for £10 an hour minimum wage, no zero hours contracts and union rights.
Ian Mearns said that many zero hours contracts "demand total flexibility and commitment from individuals, but offer little in return. Employees agree to make themselves available for work but no guarantee of work is reciprocated".
"The Bill would put a duty on employers to offer their staff fixed and regular hours, to pay their staff for shifts cancelled at short notice and to pay overtime for those announced at the last moment, it would also outlaw exclusivity clauses that prevent the underemployed from earning in a second job."
Speaking at the rally as well as Ian Mearns were Ian Lavery MP,
John McDonnell MP, Sarah Wooley of the BFAWU, Christina
Payne from UCU, Helen Patterson of Youth Fight for Jobs and
Rob Williams of the National Shop Stewards Network, as well as several
young unemployed.
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A overnight vigil outside Parliament organised by the Save Lewisham Hospital campaign supported the private member's bill being debated today which would reverse the worst of the Coalition’s NHS privatisation drive and urged Labour to take a firmer stand. More protesters came to take part in a rally and were then going on to lobby MPs.
Speakers at the rally included a number of doctors and health professions including Louise Irvine of the Save Lewisham Hospital campaign and MPs John McDonnell and Diane Abbott. Several trade unionists who had come for another protest also cam and spoke.
As well as banners and placards, the protesters had also brought Jeremy the
Vulture, an impressive bird named after health minister Jeremy Hunt, perching
at a height above a ravaged NHS logo.
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The Movement Against Xenophobia (MAX), supported by over 100 organisations, began a series of what they intend to be weekly pickets at the Home Office calling on the government to support search and rescue operations for migrants travelling across the Mediterranean. The decision to stop rescuing them means that there will be many more tragedies with thousands of desperate migrants drowning between North Africa and Europe.
MAX and the other agencies say that the problem has to be tackled in a humane
way. The pressure for migration comes from the terrible conditions and threats
to existence in the countries people are so desperate to leave, often caused
by conflicts driven by western interests in the exploitation of natural resources.
There needs to be a fairer asylum system involving all European countries
which puts less burden on the countries closest to the problem.
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Class War celebrated Redrow's sale of One Commercial Street outside the 'rich door' and were joined by students from the earlier protest and campaigners from the New Era estate in Hoxton threatened with quadrupling of rent and eviction by their new US landlords.
I arrived early enough to meet up with some of the protesters in a nearby pub before the protest and to march down with them from outside Freedom Books. The protest was enlarged a little by a few students who had been protesting earlier in the day coming to join. It followed what is now the normal pattern, with the protesters trying to block the 'rich door' on Commercial St, and the police trying to keep the way clear, but after a while the extra numbers were too much for them.
Marina Pepper had brought with her a message of support for the protest from Hunt Saboteurs and a banner from their association, but the big news was that Redrow, part owners of the building had sold their interest in the building - which the protesters attributed to their continuing actions. And they had acquired and brought along a 'Redrow' banner to celebrate this.
Also Ian Bone announced that the campaign was being supported by another London housing campaign, the tenants from the New Era Estate in Hoxton, who were under threat of eviction, and had been protesting against billionaire MP Richard Benyon, one of the owners of the estate. He has now sold his interest in New Era to his US partners who intend to evict the current tenants, refurbish the flats and let them at around four times the current rents. Soon after he finished speaking, a group arrived from New Era and were given a warm welcome.
Shortly before the protest was due to end, a young Finnish woman who lives in one of the 'rich' flats with her partner came to talk with the protesters. Before the protests began she had no idea that there were the two separate doors and she agreed with the protesters that this was unacceptable. She offered to take one of the protesters inside to look at the flats, and I was invited to accompany them.
It wasn't easy to get through the rich door. Firstly because of all the protesters blocking it, then we had to get past the police who were reluctant to admit us. Redrow staff were courteous, as we were the guest of one of the rich residents. We went up in the lift, and were told that one of the more obvious differences between the rich and poor side was that the rich lifts were covered by mirrors - which I found a little off putting.
The corridors were a little different too, though basically the same, and with the same signage, though on the poor side there were some notices about not littering the corridors which were not duplicated for the rich. The carpets were a different colour - brown for the rich and blue for the poor - and the rich flats had wood finish doors while the poor ones were painted blue-grey.
The flat we were taken to had cost around £400,000 but was rather small and didn't seem to be particularly well fitted out when I looked at its fitted kitchen area of the living room and the bathroom. It was about half the size of the last flat I'd lived in, from one of our new town development corporations in the 1970s. I took some pictures but have decided not to publish them in respect of our guide's privacy. We weren't able to go in any of the flats on the 'poor' side to compare, but I think they were probably fairly similar, though probably with lower priced fittings, You can probably find images from 'One Commercial Street' and possibly 'Houblon Buildings' on estate agents listings.
Our guide, who was taking her dog out from the flat for a walk, told us that sometimes a door between the two sides on the stairs was open at 10th or 11th floor level, but today it was closed, and we had to go down to the ground floor. There we walked through a door and waited for a different lift on the poor side. On the 10th floor we were taken around to a locked door with a grille, though which residents on the poor side could look into the rich side.
Both rich and poor sides were confusing inside on a first visit - long empty
corridors with no windows. We went down again in the lift and made our way
to the empty corridor leading the the poor door - which for once this evening
was being staffed - by a Redrow employee and a security guard - as it was
being used by rich residents to avoid the protest. We thanked our guide, said
goodnight to the staff and left.
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Thousands of students marched through central London to Parliament Square, where some went to the official rally but others pulled down fences to meet on the square before going on a tour of government offices and other targets.
I joined with students at SOAS who were preparing to march to join the official start of the march in Malet St, behind a long row of people carrying large and fairly solid posters with the names and authors of books, including Animal Farm - George Orwell and The Second Sex - Simone de Beauvoir and other mainly well known works. Behind them were other protesters with placards and banners, including the Movement for Justice.
When we reached Malet St it was pretty crowded and the 'book bloc' made their way to meet with others close to the front of the march and I went there also to take pictures. Also near the front were a number of anarchist 'black bloc' protesters, and as the march left a couple of them set off flares.
The march was fairly uneventful on the way to Whitehall, though protesters did briefly surround a police van in Aldwych and rushed up to a MacDonald's on The Strand, but made no real attempt to enter. There were more flares set off in Whitehall, and a lot of shouting at Downing St, but nothing more.
Police had brought in a double row of barriers around Parliament Square and were standing behind these, but soon both students and photographers were climbing or vaulting over these into the square. Not feeling energetic, I waited a couple of minutes until some of them had opened up a gap I could walk through, joining the large crowd already there. Some of the protesters had walked through the square and on towards the site of the official rally in Old Palace Yard, but the majority flowed into the square. A speaker was calling for a campaign to make sure politicians kept their promises, with behind him a framed picture of Nick Clegg with the quote from the 2010 election "Say goodbye to broken promises", something which students will never forget after the Liberals voted with the Conservatives to cut EMA and raise University fees.
The samba band arrived and livened things up, but after a while I made my
way out and went to talk to the the Shaker Aamer protesters on my way to the
official student rally.
I didn't make it to the rally, as I saw the protesters from the square had
pushed over more of the fences and were walking up Victoria St and I hurried
after them as they rushed down Matthew Parker St to the Conservative Campaign
HQ. Police were waiting for them there, and there were some tense moments
with police batons raised (and people with phones getting in my way when a
rubbish bin was pushed towards the gates) before the students left to go a
long way round to the Dept of Business, Innovation and Skills.
There another flare was set off, but rather disappointingly it was very bright with relatively little smoke, not great for photography. People also threw paint up at the building, and although it didn't hit me directly, some got transferred from other people in the crowd onto me and my camera. The next target was a Starbucks, but by then I was a bit fed up.
I walked down past New Scotland Yard to the Ministry of Justice, and bit around there, but although I saw a lot of police, there was no sign of the protesters until a few minutes later when I went back to New Scotland Yard and found several hundred sitting in the road outside. Among those watching them was John McDonnell MP.
After I'd been photographing a couple of minutes there, I saw a small crowd of TSG officers arriving and went to photograph them. There was a long and bitter argument with a couple of students who complained that they had been stopped going away from the protest by police, who appeared at that moment to be trying to kettle the protesters. But there were few police at the other end of the road and I walked through a scattered line, and shortly afterwards those who had been sitting on the road got up and came the same way.
I walked with them back to Parliament Square, where they went back on to
the grass area, but it looked like the protest was drawing to an end and I
left for Aldgate.
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The regular vigil for Shaker Aamer coincided with the student protest which came to Parliament Square. Imprisoned and tortured for over 12 years and cleared for release in 2007 he is left to die in Guantanamo to avoid embarrassment to MI6 and the US.
Police had allowed the protesters onto the pavement along the front of the square as usual, though they were now behind a double row of barriers that were there to keep the students out. While I was there, Kate Hudson came to talk with Ray Silk, Secretary of Free Shaker Aamer campaign across the barrier.
I was still speaking to the protesters and taking photographs when I saw
the student protesters who had been on the central grass area were leaving
the square and had to rush away to follow them.
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Protesters with posters 'I am Arnold Abbott' supported the 90-year-old veteran
twice arrested in Florida for giving food to the homeless, and Jillian Pim
who began her hunger strike against the 'homeless hate laws' when he was charged
14 days ago.
This was the first in a series of weekly events in which protesters aimed
to give out food to the homeless after the protest. It had been arranged only
at the last minute and there were few people there, but they hope for more
as word gets out.
The way to cut down homelessness is not to persecute the homeless nor to criminalise those who respond humanely to their obvious distress and needs, but to provide paid jobs they can do and homes they can afford. The case of Arnold Abbott has rightly provoked repulsion and anger around the world, but we have seen similar things in London, where police in some areas have actually stolen sleeping bags from rough sleepers.
In London it took a sustained campaign in 2011 to stop Westminster Council
from bringing in a proposed new by-law making it a criminal offence to feed
homeless people and to criminalise sleeping on the street. Westminster's intention
wasn't to help people who are forced into sleeping rough, but simply to displace
them to other boroughs.
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Hundreds of cyclists and pedestrians marched behind a piper and a horse-drawn hearse through Oxford St to Marble Arch where a dignified commemoration of victims killed, maimed and poisoned by motor transport culminated in a die-in by cyclists.
Too many cyclists and pedestrians are killed and maimed on the streets of London and part of the problem is the lack of proper regard for the needs of non-motorists by Transport for London. We need a road system that is safe for all users, not one that is largely engineered for the convenience of motorised transport.
As well as actual deaths through actual road traffic incidents (most of which are not truly accidents as deliberate decisions on road and vehicle design play a large part in them) there are also thousands of premature deaths caused by air pollution from road traffic, with pollution levels in many places - such as Oxford St which this protest went along - being well above legal limits.
The protest made ten demands:
Environmental campaigner Donnachadh McCarthy walked at the head of the protest
which he organised and led the funeral ceremony at Marble Arch, where flowers
were placed on the coffin that had been brought from the horse-drawn hearse
by pall-bearers and placed in front of Marble Arch. There was singing, poetry
and speeches, and as I was leaving after a period of silence and a 'die-in'
as the trumpeter was sounding the 'Last Post'.
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The protest on the second anniversary of the case referral to the IPPC called for action to be taken by the IPPC. 39 pickets have been paid compensation for brutal assaults after the attack by police at Orgreave on 18 June 1984 but no police officers have been disciplined or charged.
Among the speakers at the event were NUM Yorkshire area chairman Chris Skidmore, Granville Williams of the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign & Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) National President Ian Hodson, Bridget Bell of Women against Pit Closures and RMT Senior Assistant General Secretary Steve Hedley.
Various union and other banners added colour to the event, especially the
splendid North Selby Branch banner, the last NUM banner to be produced, with
its graphic illustrations of the miner's strike. One police officer appeared
to have a personal problem with the 'Justice for the Shrewsbury Pickets' banner,
having a long argument with the man holding one end attempting to get the
banner moved away from by the side of the IPCC doorway. The banner was being
held out of the way, and just off the edge of the narrow pavement which the
officer claimed it was obstructing. Clearly neither the banner nor the two
men holding it were creating an obstruction, while equally clearly that officer
and several other police officers were standing on the pavement in a way that
did make it difficult for people to walk past. Those holding the banner refused
to move, and eventually the officer stepped back to block the pavement even
more while he made copious notes in his notebook.
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I feel a need to make it clear that I am not a member of Class War, since there seem to be so many posts about them here. I'm not even sure that anyone is a member or that is that formal a group, more a loose collection of largely like-minded individuals centred around Ian Bone, Martin Wright and a few others. If you share the key ideas you can join in - as it says on the Class War Party web site "Comrades whatever our yesterdays you are welcome now. Join in. Reject cynicism. Have fun."
The decision to stand candidates in next year's general election is not because there is any real expectation that Class War candidates will win any seats - or indeed save their deposits, but "to launch a furious and coordinated political offensive against the ruling class with the opportunity an election gives us to talk politics to our class." And they intend to "make ourselves central to the campaign in a funny, rumbustious combative and imaginative way."
With the campaign against separate doors for rich and poor they have shown how their kind of protests - a kind of agitprop or street theatre - can bring things to public attention and help to change the attitude of a much wider group to issues such as this.
While I'm not with them on everything, there are many issues on which I share their underlying points of view, even if I would not express them in the same way. In particular I share their opposition to the privileged private education that serves to maintain the class and income divisions in this country. As a student and later as a teacher I refused offers to work in the private sector and would like to see an end to private education (and private health services) because of their unfair and divisive nature. I worked in state education (full and later part-time) for over 30 years and my sons went to our local schools. Our state education system isn't perfect, but it didn't fail them.
When Class War went to Chingford it was to support Marina Pepper who had decided to stand as Class War candidate against Iain Duncan Smith, whose incompetence and discriminatory policies have made him a figure of hate among every disadvantaged group in Britain. He was supposed to be present at a job fair there, which some out of work people were being forced to travel to on threat of losing benefit - though of course many were keen to be there and to try and find jobs.
But rather than be there to meet the job seekers, IDS had called in and left long before the event was open to the public. Class War protested for a couple of hours outside the building - with a 'Wanted' poster for IDS, showing his picture as 'Wanted for Mass Murder' of the 10,600 people who died in 2011 after having been found fit for work by Atos administered tests; a statistic so damning that the Department for Work and Pensions stopped publishing any later figures.
They then went on a search of the streets of Chingford for IDS (who clearly wasn't going to be there), looking for his constituency office, which is not open on Fridays. Although they had the address it wasn't too easy to find, its doorway and small nameplate hidden from the road behind some rubbish bins.
Nobody was there, and certainly no one would have answered the bell to Class War, and after a few minutes and some photographs outside the door the group left, and I made my way to the station.
Not long afterwards it emerged that Marina Pepper had a connection with private
education that was clearly incompatible with her being a Class War candidate
- despite her other views and great record of campaigning on issues such as
fracking. It was news that I was sorry to hear.
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The Class War Women's Death Brigade wore red at the 18th weekly protest against Redrow's separate doors for rich and poor at One Commercial St. Bail conditions on Jane Nicholl, arrested wearing a red coat last week have removed her right to protest.
Class War had brought along their controversial posters from the last general election campaign, large portraits of the party leaders with Class War's verdict - the same on each of them - overprinted large, the word 'WANKER'. Shortly after I arrived these were handed out in what Ian Bone of Class War described as an attempt to get into the Guinness Book of Records for the largest number of 'Cameron wanker posters' ever displayed at a protest.
Although it almost certainly was a record, I think the chances of it being
recorded in that rather conservative publication are rather sub-zero. It's
a record you will probably only find recorded on this web site.
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I went with some of our family on a short walk along the bank of the River Thames from Jubilee Gardens to Lambeth Bridge and in the garden of St Mary-at-Lambeth, now the Garden Museum. In 1976 Rosemary Weekes, having been impressed by the ruins met the Archbishop of Canterbury at an event next door in Lambeth Palace and set up a campaign to save the church and the fine tomb of father and son John Tradescant, 17th century plant hunters and royal gardeners, buried in St Mary's in 1638 and 1662 as a museum of garden history. A plaque in the garden of the church commemorates the efforts by her and her husband, John and Rosemary Nicholson.
The Tradescant tomb is a replica of the original commissioned by Hester Tradescant, the widow of the son in 1662 and was re-carved for the second time in Lambeth in 1853 using limestone from Darley Dale in Derbyshire. Close to it is a memorial to Captain Bligh of the Bounty, whose ship was used by the Tradescants. The garden also contains a recreation of a 17th century Knot Garden, based on designs by the elder John for estates at Hatfield and Cranborne.
As well as introducing hundreds if not thousands of plants - including the Tradescantia - to England and running the biggest garden centre of the age at their Lambeth estate, which also included a huge collection of other artifacts brought back from their journeys abroad, the first museum in the country open to the public. Before he died, the younger John was tricked by a friend who worked with him, Elias Ashmole into signing the whole business over to him on the pretence that it would be jointly owned with John's widow, Hester. He later presented the collection to Oxford University, where it formed the Ashmolean museum; Hester threw herself into a pond on the estate and drowned in 1678.
We ate at the museum cafe - pleasant though I would have preferred a pub
lunch, but the Czech bottled beer was fine, before walking out and past a
bit of the Archbishop's place and across Archbishop's Park to Lambeth Palace
Rd, passing some topiary cyclists on the way. As we came onto York Road we
had a 20 minutes spare before our train was due and it was starting to rain,
so I led our group down Leake St to admire the graffiti and then up the steps
to Station Approach Road to the entrance to the station.
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Around a hundred supporters of Movement for Justice, including some former detainees, protested outside Harmondsworth IRC (now run together with neighbouring Colnbrook detention centre, and officially renamed Heathrow Immigration Removal Centre), condemning the UK's immigration detention centres as racist and abusive, calling for these immigration prisons and the unfair fast track system designed to deport asylum seekers before they have time to prepare their case to be abolished.
Many at the protest also expressed shock at the decision by the EU to stop rescuing immigrants crossing the Mediterranean, and a placard read 'Refusing to Rescue is Murder - End the "Let them Drown" policy'.
The two combined prisons are now run by Mitie, who have instructed police not to allow protests on the roadways around the side and back of the prison where they can be seen by some of those held inside from the upper floors. These are not public rights of way and are on Crown property.
After some negotiation, the protesters were confined to an area in front of the administrative block for today's protest. Although they were out of sight of the detainees, the protest could be heard inside the prison, as phone calls with some of the prisoners confirmed.
As well as the noisy shouting and dancing there were also a number of speeches,
including some by people who had been detained inside Harmondsworth and other
immigration prisons. They complained that although they had committed no crime
(and in most cases were victims of crimes in their own countries), in the
UK they were treated as criminals and locked away. They say Asylum detention
is worse than prison for detainees because they have no idea when it may come
to an end - some had been held for well over a year - and the detainees feel
under a constant threat of being forcibly returned to the country they fled
because they feared for their lives or had been tortured.
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When the IWGB protesters got back to Fleet St after their protest at Deloitte's offices, IWGB leader Alberto Durango surprised them by announcing that they would go on to make a brief surprise protest at the Royal Opera House.
The cleaners walked down Fleet St and across Aldwych, regrouping a short distance from the Royal Opera House for a short briefing by Alberto. They then moved quickly and quietly and rushed through the revolving door in the foyer of the Royal Opera House, pushing past and walking around a member of the security staff to hold short protest in the foyer over their dispute with cleaning contractors MITIE over victimisation, trade union recognition and working conditions. After around five minutes, they left quietly and dispersed.
The IWGB is a small, independent, grass roots union which is determined to
represent its members interests. Protests such as this would be unnecessary
if the employers recognised the rights of this officially registered trade
union to represent its members. Currently MITIE recognises another trade union
which has few if any members at this workplace - and our defective trade union
legislation enables it legally to do so. Relations would also be greatly improved
if the Royal Opera House employed its cleaners directly rather than using
a contracting firm.
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The Independent Workers of Great Britain trade union (IWGB) representing cleaners employed in Deloitte's City offices by services contractor SERCO held a noisy protest at four of their locations around Shoe Lane over the suspension two workers for taking part in protests and about working conditions and staff shortages which have results in many having back problems and suffering medically from stress.
The workers met on Fleet Street before marching to the first of the offices, hoping to take security there by surprise, but they were ready and waiting as the cleaners arrived, and they could only play their drums, blow their horns and whistles, shout slogans and wave their flags in the courtyard outside. The unfurled a large banner with the message 'Solidarity. We Are Performing a SercoExorcism'
Security just kept ahead of them as they went on to make their presence and their grievances felt and heard at the other three nearby Deloitte Offices. As they stood outside the third of these, with IWGB union leader Alberto Durango speaking, an officer from the City of London Police came and grabbed hold of him, attempting to stop him protesting. Durango twisted away and angry union members surrounded the two men, telling the officer that they had a right to lawful protest.
Eventually he backed down and the protest continued, going on to a fourth
office building, where after a few minutes the protest ended, with the union
members marching back to Fleet St.
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Mark Humphrey's brass 'Every Man Remembered' has a statue of a soldier standing on a block of Somme limestone in a perspex case, with poppies around his feet and in his arms; every 5 minutes poppies are blown in the air around him.
The sculpture was unveiled earlier in the day and is there for the Remembrance
Day activities on Sunday, and I assumed it was intended to remain their for
the actual Armistice Day the following Tuesday.
You can read some of my thoughts about this work with its bland and idealised
image of an unknown soldier in Remembering
the Dead on >Re:PHOTO. While the solders, sailors and airmen on some
of our better war memorials remind us that it was real people who fought and
died in what was essentially a family quarrel over the pride of European royalty,
this figure reminded me more of statues of the Buddha.
if we want to truly remember and honour the sacrifice then rather than statues
like this we might have those that show - in Seigfried Sassoon's words - 'Young
faces bleared with blood, Sucked down into the mud'. In the >Re:PHOTO
piece I linked to a fine
article by Paul Mason, on the almost completely ignored story of how the
First World War actually ended, when German sailors, soldiers and workers
refused to fight.
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A large protest at the Japanese embassy called on Japan to halt the annual slaughter of 20,000 dolphins, porpoises and small whales each year in Taiji Cove, which began around 40 years ago.
When I arrived, half an hour or so after the start of the long protest, there was a crowd of several hundred behind barriers on the narrow pavement on the opposite side of the road from the embassy. More were arriving all the time I was there, and by the time I left, they were on both sides of the road and on the wide central strip of pavement between the two carriageways.
As well as the large numbers involved, the protest was remarkable for the number of hand drawn posters and placards, as well as some 3D artworks. Many of those present accepted the offer of having their hands covered in red paint to represent the blood of the dolphins, which turns the water in the bay red during the slaughter.
Among those present was Ric O' Barry, founder of the Dolphin Project and
the maker of the film 'The Cove' which has shown the shocking reality of the
dolphin slaughter to audiences around the world. Many of those present came
to talk to him and to be photographed standing with him. Accompanying him
was a stilt-walker in Japanese costume long red scarves on each wrist, a dolphin
fan in one hand and a placard in the other.
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A small group of Japanese and English protesters handed out bi-lingual Japanese/English flyers outside the Japanese embassy in their regular weekly protest over Fukushima and the continuing danger from radioactive leaks from the site.
The want an end to the building of nuclear power stations worldwide because of the safety risks that Fukushima has highlighted, and for a proper investigation of the failures of TEPCO, the owners of the Fukushima power plant in running the plant and reporting and tackling the catastrophe.
As on other Fridays, after protesting for an hour or so outside the Japanese
embassy they left, on their way to carry out a further protest outside the
London offices of TEPCO in Berkeley Square.
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Protesters sat in the South Kilburn Housing Office calling for Brent to end selling properties to overseas investors while rehousing local residents outside the area. They accuse them of social cleansing and say people need to be put before profit.
A staff member came and asked the protesters to continue the protest outside as it was interfering with work, but the protesters told her they were not stopping anyone from coming to appointments or calling in at the office, and questioned her for supporting the council's policies which were failing to meet the needs of local people in favour of wealthy foreigners with no connection to Brent.
The few minutes of shouting slogans at the start of the protest might have made any interviews then taking place in the building difficult, but after that the protesters were holding a discussion of the issues which would have caused no problems. Several people who came in to see staff in the office came to talk with the protesters and expressed agreement with their views.
Two police officers arrived and talked with the office staff and then with the protesters. The room in which the protest was taking place was described on a board outside as a "Community Resource Centre" and they could see no problem with the way that is was currently being used by members of the community and so long as they behaved reasonably the police did not want to be involved.
I left after around an hour while the protest and discussion was still continuing,
with one or two more people coming to join it as I left.
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The world wide Million Mask March against austerity, the corporate takeover of government and the abuse of power in London set off from Trafalgar Square, marching to Parliament Square where I joined them.
The march of hundreds of people were met by a mass of barriers around the
square with large groups of riot police threatening them. The marchers called
on the massed riot police to put their batons away and join their Guy Fawkes
party without success. They marched around the square and then left in several
directions, some heading for Buckingham Palace. I decided I'd had enough of
taking pictures in the dark and went home.
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A guy with a Boris Johnson mask was set on fire at Class War's weekly protest outside the rich door to in Aldgate and several flares were set off. Police made an arrest, provoking a struggle between police and protesters and a second arrest.
Many of the protesters gathered in a nearby pub with an effigy of Boris Johnson
(BJ) before the protest, before going out onto the street at the mouth of
the alley leading to Freedom bookshop. They then got out banners and walked
along with BJ towards One Commercial St. On the way someone placed an orange
flare into BJ's top pocket which livened things up, but had come to an end
before we reached the rich door.
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Palestinian campaigners contested Hewlett-Packard's claim to create "a better future for everyone" at the Sustainable Brands conference which HP sponsor, because of their IT support for Israeli forces who killed 521 Palestinian children in the attack on Gaza.
HP's IT support also runs the Israeli prisons, where young Palestinian boys as well as other prisoners have been kept for long periods in solitary confinement and tortured. Many Palestinians are locked up in 'administrative confinement' without any proper charges or trial.
A group of protesters stood outside the hotel where the conference was
taking place, handing out flyers to people going in or out of the hotel as
well as those walking past, and several people spoke about the HP's deep involvement
in Israeli war crimes and persecution of Palestinian.
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Thousands came to a Trafalgar Square rally for the defenders of Kobane against ISIS and for the remarkable democratic revolution of Rojava, calling for aid for the Kurdish fighters and refugees, legitimisation of the PKK and the release of Ocalan. The protest was part of a Global day of solidarity with the YPG (People's Defense Units) and the women of the YPJ fighting against ISIS at Kobane.
The protest was organised by the Kurdish People’s Assembly and Peace in Kurdistan Campaign in cooperation with Kurdistan National Congress (KNK), Roj Women Assembly and Free Youth Movement and community organisations, and was also supported by some left and human rights groups. Among the speakers were Margaret Owen OBE, human rights lawyer and adviser to the Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP) and Peace in Kurdistan (PIK), Jean Lambert, Green Party MEP for London, Mark Thomas, Peter Tatchell and Father Joe Ryan, a Catholic priest from Haringey where many of London's Kurds live, as well as representatives of various Kurdish groups.
As well as speaking about the fight and the need to support the Kurds in their struggle, many speakers criticised Turkey for their support of ISIS, and their refusal to let Turkish Kurds join in the fight. Turkey is accused of letting fighters cross its border to join ISIS and also of facilitating the smuggling operations that support ISIS financially as a continuation of its long discrimination and attempts to subdue opposition from Kurds living in Turkey.
Many see the model constitution adopted in the Rojava, the de facto autonomous
Kurdish majority region in northern and north-eastern Syria as an important
democratic development, especially for its pluralism, democratic participation
and protection of fundamental human rights and liberties.
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Protesters from 'Anonymous' in Guy Fawkes masks held up a banner with the
message 'REVOLUTION' on Waterloo Bridge and the Kobane demonstration in Trafalgar
Square, handing out flyers for the Nov 5th 'March Against Government Corruption'
in London.
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A World Vegan Day protest by PETA dramatised the 255 animals killed for food in the UK every second by a similar number of people lying near naked or nearly naked and smeared with fake blood on a tarpaulin.
Many animals farmed for our consumption are kept in crowded and cruel conditions and are killed in painful and terrifying ways. Many are also treated with hormones, antibiotics and other chemicals that can be dangerous to both the animals and to those of us who eat them, and the overuse of antibiotics threatens to produce drug-resistant mutations that pose a threat to human life.
Some of the posters at this protest read 'Choose Life: Chose Vegan', but a vegan economy would have little place for animals. PETA believe "Animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, use for entertainment, or abuse in any other way". I'd be happier to see fewer animals being farmed and slaughtered in an ethical and humane manner - and be prepared to eat less meat and to pay a fair price for it.
Nature isn't vegetarian, and certainly not vegan, though of course some species
are herbivores. But others are carnivorous or omnivores, and I can see no
problem in our own species eating meat or fish though I would like to see
all of the current cruel practices involved in producing food for us outlawed.
Eating foie gras should definitely be made a crime!
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Neo-Nazi 'Free the Golden Dawn' Opposed
Solidarity with Mexican students
Stop Arming Israel protest at HP
No More Deaths from Fuel Poverty
Candlelit Vigil for Michael Brown
Class War Xmas Ceasefire Special
Focus E15 Support Homeless Mother
We Stand With Shaker
Still No Justice for Ricky Bishop
Class War Griff Rhys Jones Mansion Tax
Justice for Shahzad & Shama
Occupy Democracy at Supreme Court
Zero tolerance for Zero Hours
NHS Vigil for Efford Bill
Don't Let Them Drown!
'Bye Bye Redrow' Poor Doors Street Party
No fees, No cuts, No debt!
Shaker Aamer protests continue to shame UK
Feeding the Poor is not a Crime
Unknown Victim of Traffic Violence
Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign
Class War hunt Ian Duncan Smith
Class War Women in Red
Lambeth Walk
Shut Down Racist Immigration Prisons
IWGB protest at Royal Opera House
IWGB protest at Deloitte
Trafalgar Square Poppy Memorial
Taiji Dolphin slaughter protest
Fukushima Nuclear Protest
Brent Housing Sit-in
Guy Fawkes 'Anonymous' Million Mask March
Poor Doors Guy Fawkes burn Boris
Boycott Hewlett Packard - Sustainable Brands
Global Solidarity With Kobane
Revolution Banner Drop
Against acid attacks on Iranian women
PETA World Vegan Day Naked Protest
january |
Other sites with my pictures include
london pictures
londons industrial history
>Re:PHOTO My thoughts on photography