Custody Deaths, Kurds, Abortion, Zombies & Extra: Saturday 27 October 2007 was an unusually busy day for me and the prolonged write-up on My London Diary displays this. The primary occasion as on each final Saturday of October this century was the annual rally by the United Households and Pals of those that have died in custody who meet in Trafalgar Sq. for a sluggish march down Whitehall to a rally outdoors Downing Road – and I hope to publish one thing about yesterday’s occasion shortly.
However the tales and photos from 2007 are a bit of arduous to seek out on the backside of a protracted internet web page, so right here I’ll republish the publish – with the same old minor corrections and adjustments with hyperlinks to the photographs I took.
Then on Saturday, the whole lot was occurring. I needed to run round to begin with to gather my unsold photos from the Metropolis Folks present on the Juggler in Hoxton. [Although this web site is stilll on line, that organisation is long since gone dissolved the following year.} Fortunately I’d sold one of my four pictures, so that made them easier to carry, but it was a rush to be back in the centre of London.
Pro-referendum on Europe Rally – Yard, Westminster
Campaigners were just leaving as I arrived and I more or less missed the demonstrators who wanted a referendum on the changes to the European Union.
Protest Against Custody Deaths – Trafalgar Square & Whitehall
Instead I really started at Trafalgar Square, where the annual event remembering those who have died in custody was taking place, organised by the families and friends of those concerned.
Its an occasion that always shocks me by the sheer number of people who have died in such disgraceful or suspicious circumstances, in police cells, in prisons and elsewhere. It’s an event i sometimes find it hard to photograph, both emotionally and physically – thankfully autofocus works even when your eyes are filling with tears.
[I returned to this protest later outside Downing Street – more below]
Kurds Demand – Cease Turkey – Trafalgar Sq.,
Whereas the United Households protest is preparing, a big crowd of Kurds swarms into Trafalgar Sq. and holds a brief rally, protesting towards the Turkish governments approval of incursions into northern Iraq to assault the PKK there. Each the Kurds and the Armenians have suffered tremendously by the hands of the Turks (who in flip have been fairly screwed by the EU over Cyprus,
It’s a usually exuberant efficiency, and one which I get pleasure from photographing, however fairly a distraction from the household and associates occasion.
Anti-Abortion (Professional-Life) Rally – Outdated Palace Yard, Westminster
There appears to be hiatus at this level, so I catch a bus down Whitehall. Strolling alongside to Outdated Palace Yard I move a couple of of the pro-referendum demonstrators, although some others have stayed to affix within the anti-abortion protest.
That is fairly smaller than I’d anticipated, maybe round 500 individuals, though it’s the solely occasion that makes the BBC information bulletins I hear when i get dwelling later within the day.
Lloyd George – Parliament Sq.
I pay attention a bit of to the anti-abortion speeches however then go to parliament sq. to check out the brand new statue of Lloyd George – which fails to 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 in some way I really feel the statue trivialises him, trying fairly like an enlarged model of a plastic determine you may discover in a field of cornflakes fairly than a statue.
Peace Prepare – Parliament Sq.,
The peace prepare is starting to type a protest in Parliament Sq. and I’m going alongside to speak to them and take a couple of photos.
Extra from Protest In opposition to Custody Deaths
I rejoin the ‘Households And Pals’ march by now making a substantial protest reverse Downing Road, the place a delegation has permission to ship a letter to the Prime Minister’s residence at no 10.
For some purpose the police resolve to not permit these with press playing cards into the road within the regular method. I don’t like moving into – the safety checks are a nuisance and being restricted to a pen on the opposite facet of the road is generally hopeless. However I believe as a matter of precept that entry shouldn’t be unreasonably prevented – even when personally I don’t wish to benefit from it.
By the point the delegation emerge, the temper is getting fairly offended. one younger policeman is getting surrounded and insulted and is making an attempt arduous 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 individuals. 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, usually because of masking up or a scarcity of diligence in investigation by their colleagues. If it weren’t so, there can be no demonstrations like this one. However there are additionally officers who do their finest to hold out a troublesome and essential job in an honest, cheap and even-handed method – although 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 should not essentially the responsible.
Crawl of the Lifeless IV – Metropolis and Southwark
It’s time for me to go away and make my strategy to the Metropolis, the place this yr the zombies are beginning their stroll at a pub on Ludgate Hill. I’m going into the pub and speak to a few of them and take images, and am gratified to seek out that fairly a couple of have seen my photos of them from round Oxford Road the earlier yr.
By the point they emerge from the pub it’s getting darkish, and my flash by now’s refusing to work in any respect. I’ve to make do both with out there gentle (and there isn’t loads) or the beautiful ineffective flash constructed into my digicam, however I nonetheless handle to get a couple of first rate photos, although some are fairly noisier than I’d like.
There are fairly a couple of individuals round as we go over the Millennium Bridge, and extra in entrance of Tate Trendy, the place zombies resolve to play useless for some time. Then we go to the well-known crack within the Turbine Corridor, popping out in the direction of the Founder’s Arms, the place I made my goodbyes and turned for dwelling.
Many extra photos on My London Diary
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Tags: annual rally, anti-abortion, Metropolis of London, Metropolis Folks, crack, Crawl of the Lifeless, custody deaths, custody murders, Kurds, Lloyd George, London, march, Millennium bridge, Peace Prepare, peter Marshall, police, police killing, pro-life, protest, Tate Trendy, Turkey, Turkish assaults, UFFC
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