G4S Abuses, The Line & Barking Creek: My day on Thursday 4th June 2015 started with a protest outdoors the AGM of G4S on the UN Worldwide Day of Harmless Youngsters Victims of Aggression, after which I took a stroll across the Royal Victoria Dock trying on the three sculptures then on London’s meridian sculpture path earlier than going for an extended stroll round Barking Creek on this tremendous early summer time day.
G4S AGM Torture Protest, Excel Centre, Customized Home
I travelled out to the Royal Victoria Dock in Newham for a protest outdoors the Excel Centre the place G4S was holding its AGM. It was the UN Worldwide Day of Harmless Youngsters Victims of Aggression and protesters had been there as G4S runs the Israeli prisons the place Palestinian youngsters are held in small underground cells in solitary confinement, typically for a lot of days.
An Avaaz petition with 1,792,311 signatures had known as on G4S to cease operating Israeli prisons and Inminds had held common protests outdoors the Victoria St head workplaces of the corporate.
Some had purchased shares in 2014 so they might attend the AGM and ask questions, and there have been offended scenes contained in the AGM as they had been forcibly ejected. In 2015 there have been additionally shareholder protesters, however safety for the assembly was tight and cellphones had been prohibited and press had been very undoubtedly not allowed entry.
Because the protest outdoors continued, a few of those that had been ejected this yr got here and spoke about what had occurred once they tried to ask questions, and the final feeling contained in the AGM, which gave the impression to be one in every of some despondency.
Safety at Excel made makes an attempt to maneuver the protesters additional away from the constructing. Ultimately a request was made to cut back the noise as there have been college students inside taking an examination and after some dialogue the protesters moved again
G4S additionally runs immigration detention centres within the UK the place varied human rights abuses have been disclosed by reporters.
Extra at G4S AGM Torture Protest.
The Line – Sculpture Path, Royal Victoria Dock
I left the protest and took the chance to stroll throughout the excessive stage bridge over the dock, taking a number of footage, after which alongside the trail across the dock to the DLR station at Royal Victoria.
As on different events I discovered the views from the bridge gorgeous, and people at floor stage had been additionally attention-grabbing.
By the point I got here to the primary of the three sculptures on London’s sculpture path on the Greenwich meridian the primary two of those appeared extraordinarily underwhelming. All have now been changed by different works in a path that frequently adjustments.
The one one I discovered of any curiosity was ‘Vulcan’ (1999), a 30ft-high bronze determine by late Scottish artist Eduardo Paolozzi, now in Edinburgh, near his dwelling city of Leith. You’ll be able to see footage of the opposite two on My London Diary.
The Line – Sculpture Path
Barking Creek
It was a tremendous afternoon and I made a decision to return to Barking, hoping to go alongside the trail on the west financial institution of Barking Creek to the hames, marked on my OS map as a traffic-free cycle route. However as within the earlier yr I discovered it fenced off and with a locked gate.
As a substitute I made my approach north alongside Barking Creek, previous Cuckold’s Haven to the Barking Barrage, a half tide barrier opened in 1998, going throughout this and returning alongside the east financial institution of the Creek to the A13, the place I took a bus to Beckton and the DLR.
Barking within the nineteenth century claimed the world’s largest fishing fleet, with 220 business boats, going out into the North Sea fishing grounds, and fishing was the most important business of the city. However within the 1860s the fleet moved out to Gorleston in Suffolk and Grimsby in Lincolnshire, each a lot nearer to the fishing grounds.
Till then the fish had been saved recent by ice, gathered on Barking marshes within the winter and saved in giant ice homes till taken out within the boat, or saved reside, swimming in sea water tanks contained in the boats. A quick schooner was used within the heyday to deliver the catch from the fleet again to Barking so they might proceed fishing for as much as a few months. As soon as in Barking the fish was then well-placed for the London markets.
The approaching of the railways meant that fish from Gorleston or Grimsby could possibly be taken quickly to London on the market, and the business in Barking collapsed nearly in a single day. There are nonetheless a number of boats moored on the river at Roding, however the one fishing is a number of primarily aged males sitting by the river with rod and line, who I’ve by no means seen getting a chunk. And it might definitely be a courageous man who would eat something out of the Roding or Thames.
However fish is now coming again to Barking, or at the very least close by Dagenham Dock, below a Metropolis of London Scheme, however though this has obtained planning permission it apparently nonetheless wants an Act of Parliament. Progress on this was halted by the dissolution of Parliament on 30 Might 2024.
Extra footage on My London Diary: Barking Creek.
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Tags: 2015, AGM, Barking, Barking Barrage, Barking Creek, youngster torture, Metropolis of London, Cuckold’s Haven, Dagenham Dock, dungeons, fish market, fishing fleet, G4S, Greenwich Meridian, excessive stage bridge, human rights abuse, Israeli prisons, London, London Images, Palestinian Youngsters, Paolozzi, peter Marshall, protest, Royal Victoria Dock, sculpture path, sculptures, shareholders, solitary confinement, The Line, torture, underground cells
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