Chelsea Manning, Kurdistan & Syria – Three protests in London on Saturday seventeenth December 2016.
Vigil on Chelsea Manning’s twenty ninth birthday – Trafalgar Sq.
A silent vigil on the steps of St Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Sq. marked the twenty ninth birthday of trans-gender whistleblower Chelsea (previously Bradley) Manning, jailed for 35 years in 2013, whose brave leaks revealed battle crimes by US, UK and different governments.
Working for the US Military as a specialist intelligence analyst as Bradley Manning she launched virtually 750,000 paperwork to Wikileaks in 2010 exhibiting the US, UK and different governments’ battle crimes and corruption in Afghanistan, Haiti, Iraq, Israel & the Palestinian Authority, Peru, Venezuela and elsewhere. Some have been categorised and lots of others have been extremely delicate and incriminating. In 2013 she was sentenced to 35 years and held within the most safety U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth.
The London vigil was part of a world day of motion for her launch. Since she got here out as a trans lady in 2013 she had been repeatedly harassed by the navy in jail and twice in 2016 had tried suicide. Protesters world wide referred to as on President Obama to launch her on the premise of the jail time she had already served earlier than he left workplace. The next month he commuted her sentence to round seven years and he or she was launched from jail. She spent an additional yr in 2019-2020 after she refused to testify to a grand jury investigating WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Vigil on Chelsea Manning’s twenty ninth birthday
Kurds protest for a Free Kurdistan – Downing St
Kurds, many carrying or waving the flag of Free Kurdistan referred to as on the civilised world to recognise the sacrifices made by the Peshmerga in combating for freedom and in opposition to Islamic extremism in Iraq and Syria.
The Peshmerga is the military of the Kurdistan Regional Authorities (KRG) in Iraq, first shaped in the18th century as border guards however extra lately combating for Kurdish autonomy, though it additionally contains Assyrian and Yazidi models. Iraqi Kurdistan is an autonomous area of Iraq, and underneath the Iraqi structure the Pershmerga is answerable for the safety of the area.
They performed a key position in US missions in opposition to al-Qaeda after 9/11and have been with different Kurdish forces now combating in opposition to ISIS with some help from the USA. However the USA was refusing to straight provide any weapons besides by way of the Iraqi authorities who have been failing to cross any on the the Pershmerga as they feared they’d be used to advertise an unbiased Kurdistan. And in London individuals seemd to be clearly calling for a free Kurdistan.
The results of this failure to cross on weapons is that the drive is poorly armed, primarily utilizing Soviet-era weapons they captured in earlier Iraq uprisings and now weapons captured from ISIS in 2014. This protest referred to as for better help to supply them with fashionable weapons and different help they lack together with ammunition, ambulances and navy communications gear.
Kurds protest for a Free Kurdistan
Docs & Nurses Die-in for Syria – Previous Palace Yard, Westminster
A brief stroll away in entrance of the Homes of Parliament Healthcare staff held a die-in at Parliament in solidarity with the Syrian individuals.
They referred to as for an finish to the bombing of civilians, hospitals and colleges by the Assad regime and for the UK authorities to place strain on the Syrian authorities to permit the supply of assist. They urged the UK to make airdrops of assist, present protected passage to all these trapped and grant asylum to refugees.
The protest was organised by Medact’s Arms and Militarisation (MAM) group together with Syria solidarity activist teams and people together with the Syrian British Medical Society.
Between 2014 and 2021 when the Syrian Susceptible Individuals Resettlement Scheme closed, the UK accepted round 20,000 Syrian refugees. When adjusted to mirror the inhabitants measurement of European nations this places the UK nicely down amongst European nations. For the whole variety of resettled refugees from 2008-20021 the UK comes fifth behind Germany, Sweden, Norway and France however adjusted for inhabitants measurement we’re in tenth place.
However together with the USA, Britain didn’t take any efficient motion in help of the Syrian revolution and the crimes in opposition to the individuals dedicated by the Assad regime, and have been severely outplayed by Russia who backed Assad.
Docs & Nurses Die-in for Syria
Flickr – Fb – My London Diary – Hull Photographs – Lea Valley – Paris
London’s Industrial Heritage – London Photographs
All images on this web page are copyright © Peter Marshall.
Contact me to purchase prints or licence to breed.
Tags: airstrikes, al-Qaeda, Assad regime, Assyrian, asylum seekers, bombing hospitals, Bradley Manning, Bruce Kent, Chelsea Manning, die-in, medical doctors, Free Kurdistan, healthcare staff, Homes of Parliament, Iraq, ISIS, Islamic extremism, Kurdistan, Kurdistan Regional Authorities, Kurds, London, nurses medical employees, Peshmerga, peter Marshall, Peter Tatchell, protest, refugees, silent vigil, solidarity, St Martin-in-the-Fields, Syria, Syrian individuals, Syrian refugees, Syrian revolution, Trafalgar Sq., trans-gender, battle crimes, whistleblower, Yazidi
You possibly can depart a response, or trackback from your individual website.
