Considered one of my busier days in London was Saturday twenty seventh October 2007, after I started with a visit to Hoxton to gather and take house some footage from a bunch exhibition, then travelled again into the centre of London for a variety of occasions. The principle protest I coated was the annual UFFC march towards deaths in custody, however there have been additionally Kurds protesting towards Turkish military assaults on them in Northern Iraq, campaigners calling for a Brexit referendum, an anti-abortion rally and peace protesters round Parliament the place I additionally photographed a brand new statue in Parliament Sq.. I ended my working day with a Halloween Zombie Crawl.
Right here’s what I wrote again in 2007, with minor corrections together with regular capitalisation and a few modifications of tense – and I’ve included some headings and footage. As traditional there are a lot of extra footage for those who comply with the hyperlinks to My London Diary.
On saturday, every thing was occurring. I needed to run round to begin with to gather my unsold footage from the Metropolis Folks present on the Juggler in Hoxton. Luckily I’d bought considered one of my 4 footage, in order that made them simpler to hold, however it was a rush to be again within the centre of London and I needed to kind of miss the demonstrators who wished a referendum on leaving the European Union.
Protest In opposition to Custody Deaths – Trafalgar Sq. & Whitehall, Saturday 27 Oct, 2007
As an alternative I began at Trafalgar Sq., the place the annual occasion remembering those that have died in custody was going down, organised by the UFFC, households and associates of these killed.
It’s an event that at all times shocks me by the sheer quantity of people that have died in such disgraceful or suspicious circumstances, in police cells, in prisons and elsewhere. It’s an occasion I generally discover it laborious to {photograph}, each emotionally and bodily – fortunately autofocus works even when your eyes are filling with tears.
extra footage
Kurds Demand – Cease Turkey – Trafalgar Sq., London. 27 October 2007
Whereas that demo was on the brink of march, a big crowd of Kurds swarmed into Trafalgar Sq. and held a brief rally, protesting towards the Turkish authorities’s approval of incursions into Northern Iraq to assault the PKK there. Each the Kurds and the Armenians have suffered vastly by the hands of the Turks (who in flip have been relatively screwed by the EU over Cyprus.)
It was a sometimes exuberant efficiency, and one which I loved photographing, however relatively a distraction from the household and associates occasion.
extra footage
Professional-referendum on Europe Rally – Previous Palace Yard, Westminster. 27 October 2007
There appears to be hiatus within the UFFC demonstration, so I caught a bus down Whitehall. Strolling alongside to Previous Palace Yard I handed a number of of the pro-referendum demonstrators, although some others had stayed to affix within the anti-abortion protest.
a few footage
Anti-Abortion (Professional-Life) Rally – Previous Palace Yard, Westminster. Saturday 27 October, 2007
This was relatively smaller than I’d anticipated, maybe round 500 folks, though it was the one occasion that made the BBC information bulletins I heard after I received house later within the day.
extra footage
Lloyd George – Parliament Sq., London. Saturday October 27, 2007
I listened just a little to the speeches, however then went to Parliament Sq. to check out the brand new statue of Lloyd George – which didn’t impress me. In fact he was lengthy earlier than my time – though I did have a landlady as a pupil in Manchester who had labored as a secretary for him – however one way or the other I really feel the statue trivialises him, trying relatively like an enlarged model of a plastic determine you would possibly discover in a field of cornflakes relatively than a statue of a Prime Minister.
one other image
Peace Prepare – Parliament Sq., Westminster. Saturday October 27, 2007
The Peace Prepare is starting to type a protest in Parliament Sq. and I am going alongside to speak to them and take a number of footage.
I rejoin the ‘Famiilies and Pals’ march now making a substantial protest reverse Downing Avenue, the place a delegation has permission to ship a letter to the prime minister’s residence at No 10. It takes a whole lot of argument earlier than the police allow them to in regardless of this.
For some motive the police determine to not permit these with press playing cards into the road within the regular manner. I don’t like moving into – the safety checks are a nuisance and being restricted to a pen on the opposite aspect of the road is generally hopeless, however I believe its a matter of precept that entry shouldn’t be unreasonably prevented – because it was for this occasion, even when personally I don’t significantly need to reap the benefits of it.
By the point the deputation emerge, the temper on the road is getting relatively offended. One younger policeman is getting surrounded and insulted and is making an attempt laborious to disregard it. A couple of minutes later a motor-cyclist foolishly stays within the route of the march, and is quickly surrounded by offended folks. He must be rescued by his colleagues.
There are police who’re racist, who’re thugs, who’re bullies. Too many who have gotten away with homicide, typically because of masking up or a scarcity of diligence in investigation by their colleagues. If it weren’t so, there could be no demonstration. However there are additionally officers who do their greatest to hold out a tough and vital job in a good, cheap and even-handed manner – though they could generally get disciplined for doing so. Those that bear the brunt of appreciable and comprehensible hate directed towards the police at a demo like this usually are not essentially the responsible.
extra footage
Crawl of the Useless IV – Metropolis and Southwark, London. Saturday October 27, 2007
It’s time for me to depart and make my solution to the Metropolis of London, the place this 12 months the zombies are beginning their stroll at a pub on Ludgate Hill. I am going into the pub and discuss to a few of them and take pictures, and am gratified to search out that fairly a number of have seen my footage from round Oxford Avenue final 12 months.
By the point they emerge from the pub it’s getting darkish, and my flash by now could be refusing to work in any respect. I’ve to make do both with out there gentle (and there isn’t quite a bit) or the beautiful ineffective digicam in-built flash, however I nonetheless handle to get a number of respectable footage, though some are relatively noisier than I’d like.
There are fairly a number of folks round as we go over the Millennium bridge, and extra in entrance of Tate Trendy, the place zombies determine to play lifeless for some time. Then we go to the well-known crack within the turbine corridor, popping out in direction of the Founder’s arms, the place I made my goodbyes and turned for house.
Extra footage on all these on My London Diary:
towards deaths in custody
kurds demand – cease turkey
for a euro-referendum
anti-abortion (pro-life) rally
lloyd george statue
peace prepare
crawl of the lifeless iv
Tags: anti-abortion, assaults, Brexiteers, Metropolis of London, Crawl of the Useless, custody deaths, Kurds, Lloyd George, London, Ludgate Hill, march, Millenium Bridge, northern Iraq, Previous Palace Yard, parliament sq., peace protesters, Peace Prepare, peter Marshall, PKK, police, pro-Referendum, protest, racist, statue, Tate Trendy, Trafalgar Sq., UFFC, United Households and Pals Marketing campaign, United Pals and Households, Westminster, zombies
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