Nakba, NHS, Guantánamo, Sri Lanka: On Saturday 18th Might 2013 I started work outdoors Parliament at a protest towards Israeli ethnic cleaning of Palestinians, then went throughout the Thames to the Pageant Corridor for the beginning of a march to defend the NHS earlier than going the US Embassy in Grosvenor Sq. for a ‘homicide scene’ in solidarity with starvation strikers at Guantánamo. There I additionally photographed a girl protesting for the discharge of her husband arrested 9 years in the past by US forces in Iraq. Lastly I met a march by a number of hundreds of Tamils calling for and finish to the persevering with genocide in Sri Lanka. You will see that far more element (and lots of extra photos) on every of those protests at hyperlinks under to My London Diary.
Finish Israeli Ethnic Cleaning – Previous Palace Yard, Westminster
65 years after 700,000 Palestinians had been pushed out of their properties as refugees within the ‘Nakba’ (disaster) when Israel was created, Palestinians name for an finish to the persevering with ethnic cleaning and a boycott and sanctions till Israel complies with worldwide regulation.
A number of hundred folks got here to the protest, together with a bunch of utmost orthodox Neturei Karta Jews who see themselves as guardians of the true Jewish religion, and reject Zionism, in addition to a lot of Jewish or Palestinian origin. In addition to the Palestine Solidarity Marketing campaign the protest was additionally supported by many different teams – a protracted checklist on My London Diary – and speeches had been persevering with after I left for an additional occasion.
Extra concerning the Nakba and the protest at Finish Israeli Ethnic Cleaning.
London Marches to Defend NHS – South Financial institution to Whitehall
Hundreds had gathered by the Pageant Corridor to march towards cuts, closures and privatisation of the NHS, together with many teams against hospital closures round London, commerce unionists and others involved the the federal government is ending the NHS.
An unprecedented coalition of Londoners, together with medical workers, commerce unions, well being campaigners, sufferers and others have been alarmed at what they see as an assault by the federal government on the rules that underlie our Nationwide Well being Service and the threats of closure of Accident and Emergency amenities, maternity models and hospital wards which appear sure to result in our well being system being unable to deal with demand – and lots of lives put in danger.
You possibly can learn extra concerning the disaster within the NHS in 2013 within the submit on My London Diary, however after all this has continued and continues to be making the information. Regardless of their protestations it appears clear that the Tories are attempting exhausting to run down the NHS in order that the inhabitants lose its belief and love for our common free public – and would permit them to ultimately exchange it with US-style insurance coverage based mostly healthcare which might tremendously improve prices and generate big income for personal well being firms.
I went with the march throughout Waterloo Bridge and down Strand to Charing Cross, leaving it because it was ready to enter Whitehall for a rally there.
Extra data and photos at London Marches to Defend NHS.
Guantánamo Homicide Scene – US Embassy, Grosvenor Sq.
London Guantánamo Marketing campaign staged a ‘homicide scene’ on the US Embassy on the one hundred and first day of the Guantánamo Starvation Strike by which over 100 of the 166 nonetheless held there are participating, with many together with Shaker Aamer now being forcibly fed.
As I arrived there have been 8 black-hooded ‘prisoners’ in orange fits mendacity on the pavement, the variety of prisoners who’ve died there in suspicious circumstances who had beforehand taken half in sustained starvation strikes. No less than seven of them had the reason for loss of life reported as ‘suicide’.
Different protesters drew traces across the our bodies on the bottom and surrounded the world with ‘Crime Scene – Do Not Enter‘ incident tape. The our bodies then stood up and there was a brief enactment of pressured feeding by a person sporting an Obama masks.
Others held placards and posters, some together with quotations from Thomas Jefferson and different historic and distinguished People, and there have been speeches concerning the occasions in Guantanamo, the place British resident Shaker Aamer was nonetheless held regardless of having been cleared for launch. You possibly can learn extra, together with an announcement by one of many organisers, on My London Diary.
As I left a number of the poems written in Guantánamo by Shaker Aamer had been being learn.
Extra at Guantánamo Homicide Scene.
Extra US Embassy Protests – US Embassy, Grosvenor Sq.
Additionally protesting outdoors the embassy as she has for quite a few weekends was Narmeen Saleh Al Rubaye, born within the US and at present dwelling in Birmingham, whose husband Shawki Ahmed Omar, an American citizen, was arrested in Iraq by American forces in 2004 and turned over to Iraqi custody in 2011. He was tortured by the People when held by them, and his now being tortured by the Iraqis. He’s additionally on starvation strike. His younger daughter Zeinab got here and spoke briefly to the Guantanamo protesters, telling them that she wished her daddy to be launched.
Later she was joined by a small group of Muslim males and boys who stood along with her.
It was a busy day for protests at on the US Embassy had been a small group of supporters of Syrian President Assad, together with some from the minor Communist Occasion of Nice Britain (Marxist-Leninist) who had come to protest towards western intervention in Syria.
Extra about these protests at Extra US Embassy Protests.
Tamils protest Sri Lankan Genocide – Hyde Park to Waterloo Place
Lastly I rushed away to hitch hundreds of British Tamils and dignitaries and politicians from India, Sri Lanka and the UK who had been marching by London on the 4th anniversary of the Mullivaikkal Bloodbath. Many had been wearing black in reminiscence of the persevering with genocide in Sri Lanka and a few wore the tiger emblem and known as for a Tamil homeland – Tamil Eelam.
Tamils are disgusted on the lack of response by the UK, the Commonwealth and the world to the organised genocide that came about and continues to be persevering with in Sri Lanka, of which the bloodbath at Mullivaikkal 4 years in the past was a climax. I famous on My London Diary that I might see no different non-Tamil photographers overlaying the occasion.
On My London Diary you may learn an announcement by the British Tamil Discussion board who had organised the march. I left because the rally in Waterloo Place was about to start out, partly as a result of I used to be drained but additionally as a result of I believed few of the speeches can be in English.
Tamils protest Sri Lankan Genocide.
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Tags: A&E, closures, crime scene, cuts, ethnic cleaning, Grosvenor Sq., Guantánamo, well being campaigners, hospital closures, starvation strike, Jews, London, march, bloodbath, Maternity, medical workers, Mullivaikkal, homicide scene, Muslim males, Nakba, Neturei Karta, NHS, Palestiine, Palestinians, sufferers, peter Marshall, President Assad, privatisation, pro-Assad, PSC, Save our NHS, Shaker Aamer, Shawki Ahmed Omar, Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan Genocide, Tamil Eelam, Tamil Tigers, Tamils, commerce unions, US Embassy, conflict crimes
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