Cable Automotive, Victoria Dock, Olympic Website & Torture: I used to be coming to London to {photograph} the ‘Say No to Torture‘ protest on the night of Wednesday twenty sixth June, however because it was a pleasant day and I got here up just a few hours earlier to take a trip on London’s cable automotive after which to take just a few footage round Victoria Dock and Silvertown earlier than making fast go to to the Greenway to see what progress was being made in opening up the previous Olympic website.
Emirates ‘Airline’ – Arab Dangleway – North Greenwich – Victoria Dock.
Now recognized formally since 2022 because the IFS Cloud Cable Automotive, the dangleway was by no means a viable transport system, with longer journey time and costing greater than different routes on nearly each conceivable journey.
It doesn’t fairly join up with the remainder of Transport for London’s system, the south terminal being a brief and barely complicated stroll from North Greenwich Jubilee and bus station, and one other pretty quick stroll on the North financial institution to Royal Victoria DLR. Accomplished in June 2012 its value of £60m made it the costliest cable automotive system ever constructed.
As I famous “it needs to be promoted as one among London’s cheaper and extra attention-grabbing vacationer sights” giving nice views alongside the River Thames, though the journey is a comparatively quick on at 7-10 minutes. with London within the distance, Canary Wharf and the Olympic website a bit nearer and Bow Creek, Silvertown and the Dome each practically beneath.
To my shock, 11 years later the service remains to be working and TfL say that with the sponsorship offers it really makes a revenue.
Emirates ‘Airline’ – Arab Dangleway
Victoria Dock and Silvertown
I feel the extra attention-grabbing components of the Thames shoreline right here will not be but publicly accessible, however you may – at the least more often than not – stroll alongside by Royal Victoria Dock and throughout the excessive degree bridge for some extra attention-grabbing views. The realm and bridge get closed off when they’re flogging unlawful arms on the Excel Centre gala’s (when you signify a despotic authorities you’ll have a ticket to that anyway.)
A lot of the footage right here have been taken from that prime degree walkway throughout the dock, however I feel I walked on to the stations on the DLR line to Woolwich (then solely to North Woolwich) that are elevated and in addition give some attention-grabbing views.
Stratford Greenway Olympic Revisit – Stratford Marsh
I took the DLR to Canning City, modified to the JUbilee to Stratford then again to the DLR for the quick trip to Puddling Mill Lane, and walked up onto the Greenway, the place I’d photogaphed many instances previously.
Progress in releasing the Olympic website to the general public seemed to be very sluggish and there sre nonetheless routes closed off in 2024.
Stratford Greenway Olympic Revisit
Say No To Torture – Trafalgar Sq.
It was the ‘Worldwide Day in Assist of Victims of Torture‘, the anniversary of the UN Conference In opposition to Torture on 26 June 1987, and the London Guantanamo Marketing campaign had organised a protest in Trafalgar Sq..
The London Guantanamo Marketing campaign had been lively in calling for the closure of Guantanamo and different torture prisons together with Bagram in Afghanistan since 2006. Particularly the protest was to attract consideration to Shaker Aamer, one of many 166 prisoners nonetheless held in Guantanamo. A London resident he was captured by bandits in Afghanistan the place he was working for a medical charity and offered to the American forces, who tortured him – with the cooperation of the British Secret Service in Bagram, earlier than illegally rendering him to Guantanamo the place he continues to be tortured regardless of having been cleared for launch.
In 2013 he was in very poor well being having been – together with the vast majority of the opposite prisoners there – on starvation strike for 141 days. It was not till 30 October 2015 that he was lastly launched to the UK.
The US response to the starvation strike had been common beatings, preserving these collaborating in solitary confinement in naked cells and to make use of forcible feeding, strapping them right into a particular chair and forcing a feeding tube up a nostril and down into their abdomen. The process is extraordinarily painful and each this and the sensory deprivation of solitary confinement in naked cells additionally represent torture below the UN definitions.
A lot of these collaborating wore orange Guanatanamo-style soar fits and black hoods and so they held up banners an placards saying ‘No To Torture‘ in 30 languages. A few of these collaborating have been common protesters with the ‘Save Shaker Aamer Marketing campaign‘ which has been holding each day lunchtime vigils reverse the Home of Commons to place stress on the UK authorities to launch him. Many assume his continued imprisonment is as a result of his testimony would embarrass each the UK and US safety companies who have been clearly concerned in his torture.
Others have been additionally protesting in opposition to torture, with Balochs in Pakistan being topic to arrests and different human rights violations together with torture by the Pakistan authorities for campaigning for independence. The protesters held footage of plenty of Baloch activists who’ve merely disappeared, believed to be held or probably killed by Pakistani forces.
And protesters additionally drew consideration to the US remedy of award-winning British poet and translator Talha Ahsan who suffers from Aspergers syndrome. He was extradited from the UK and was at present awaiting trial in solitary confinement in a high-security state jail in Connecticut due to alleged affiliation with an Islamic website online and publishing home mentioned to have hyperlinks with terrorism. He was ultimately launched after 8 years following a plea cut price in December 2013 when time already served within the UK and US prisons was ‘time already served.’
Flickr – Fb – My London Diary – Hull Images – Lea Valley – Paris
London’s Industrial Heritage – London Images
All images on this web page are copyright © Peter Marshall.
Contact me to purchase prints or licence to breed.
Tags: 2013, Arab Dangleway, Asperger’s syndrome, Balochs, Bruce Kent, cable automotive, dangleway, Emirates ‘Airline, force-feeding, excessive degree walkway, IFS Cloud Cable Automotive, June 2013, London, London cable automotive, London Guantanamo Marketing campaign, London Images, NO to torture, North Greenwich, Olympic website, peter Marshall, plea cut price, protest, Puddling Mill Lane, Stratford Marsh, TfL, torture, vacationer attraction, victims of Torture, Victoria Dock
You possibly can depart a response, or trackback from your individual website.
