November 2016 - my london diary - photographs of protests and events in London by Peter Marshall

Class War protest 'Fascist Architect'

Clerkenwell, London. Wed 30 Nov 2016

Ian Bone holds up a poster 'Arbeit Macht Frei - Patrik Schumacher - Architect of Fascism
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Class War and others including the London Anarchist Federation and the Revolutionary Communist Group protested outside the London offices of Zaha Hadid Architects in London against their director Patrik Schumacher.

In a lecture he gave in Berlin on the London Housing crisis he suggested the elimination of all forms of social housing and the privatisation of all public space in the city.

His Berlin lecture was reportedly met with booing and his views have been widely disowned by architects and politicians including in an open letter from Zaha Hadid Architects. The protest pointed out the class-based absurdity of his neo-conservative proposals which would produce a London which was simply a playground for the ultra-wealthy, but would socially cleanse it of all the workers essential to its running.
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Axe the Housing Act Autumn Statement

Parliament Square, London. 23 Nov 2016

A pearly campaigner holds a placard in front of Big Ben, 'Maybe its because I'm a Londoner ...
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Housing Campaigners from Axe the Housing Act at a rally opposite parliament as the Chancellor announced his Autumn Statement, making their own 'Alternative Autumn Statement'.

They say the Housing Act is fundamentally unfair and will worsen the housing crisis and call on it to be repealed, and for tenants groups, trade unions, councils and housing associations to work together to resist and defeat it.
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Brexiteers say 'People Have Spoken'

Old Palace Yard, London. 23 Nov 2016

UKIP supporter with a woman in a Boris Brexit t-shirt
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Pro-Brexit campaigners, many of them UKIP members, protested opposite Parliament against the court ruling that the British constitution principle of the supremacy of Parliament demands a vote by Parliament before article 50 can be invoked.

The organisers stated that they want to influence the judges by showing them "how passionately we feel about our democracy, and to let them know that we will not remain silent while privileged establishment figures attempt to change, dilute and disrespect what the people voted for to suit their own agendas."

The problem is that the roughly one third of the UK electorate who got a majority in the vote were actually voting for the unobtainable, having been made promises by Boris, Nigel Farage and others that are simply not possible. They are inevitably going to be disappointed with whatever 'Brexit' settlement we finally achieve. And of course the slightly smaller third of the electorate who voted to remain are equally certain to be disappointed. The whole referendum was a disaster from its inception.
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Class War Croydon 'Snouts in the trough'

Box Park, Croydon. Tue 22 Nov 2016

Sid Skill with pigs ears and snout at Box Park
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Class War protested outside Croydon Boxpark against property developers and council leaders who were attending the Develop Croydon Conference, aimed at transforming Croydon into a desirable metropolitan hub with luxury apartments, prestige offices and the capital’s latest Westfield.

Class War want Croydon to be developed to meet the needs of the inhabitants rather than to line the pockets of developers and become a piggy bank of largely empty flats and offices owned by overseas investors.

They gathered outside the newly opened 'Box Park', where the conference attendees were scheduled to lunch, but few of them braved the protest, probably finding plusher restaurants elsewhere. The walking tour of Croydon starting from here had been cancelled by conference organisers after Class War announced their intention to protest, and it looked as if the coach tours that replaced it had been moved to another starting point at the last minute. But a few property developers and councillors walked past the protest to enter the site and were greeted with shouts of 'Scum!' and 'Snouts in the trough!'.

There was also an quite ridiculously huge police presence around the whole area, probably outnumbering Class War around five to one, though the few police who actually came close to the protesters were clearly trying to ingratiate themselves rather than prevent the protest.

Class War doesn't have a particular issue with the 'Box Park', except that it is in part rather a hipster thing, but it is a provision which clearly is aimed at the leisure of ordinary people in Croydon. We were surprised when the Box Park owner Roger Wade came to talk with the protesters, making clear that he wasn't opposed to their protest (though he would have liked it to go across the road) and invited Class War to come and talk with him as he felt they had some common views about the future of the town.

The weather was very changeable, with bright sun and then sudden heavy showers, which forced the protesters into the bus shelter. They came out and there was a minute or so with a fine double rainbow over Croydon, but another heavy shower made the protesters walk around the the other side of the Box Park next to the station where there was more shelter, and then to make their way to the Sorter and Porter.

After a brief interlude there they returned to the Box Park to continue the protest, and as they arrived saw some of the conference delegates including BBC developers' apologist Mark Eaton crossing the road towards the office block opposite for the start of the afternoon session. They rushed towards him, then protested outside the office block on its parking area where security tried to move them from the property. Eventually police came and the protesters moved back to the pavement for some final chanting before leaving to investigate the Dog and Duck. I walked ahead talking with Ian Bone and missed another brief encounter with Croydon's Foxtons on the way.
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Justice & Reparations for Ricky Bishop

Brixton, London. Sun 20 Nov 2016

The march went very slowly from Windrush Square along the main road through Brixton
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The family of Ricky Bishop and supporters marched through Brixton to a rally supported by the International Peoples Democratic Uhuru Movement (InPDUM) & the African National Women’s Organisation (ANWO) outside Brixton Police Station where Ricky was killed. Had he lived he would now be 40.

The march commemorated his memory, called for reparations to his family by the UK government and Lambeth council and for black community control of police. Police came and tried to get the marchers to leave the road suggesting they were putting themselves at unnecessary danger, but their suggestions met an angry reception. The marchers kept to one lane, allowing traffic to go past on the outside lane, though police blocked this for some time to argue with the marchers, holding up traffic more than necessary.

A picture of Ricky and flowers were taped to the now bare memorial tree, also known as the lynching tree, outside Brixton police station and candles lit in his memory.
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Climate Crisis rally against Airport Expansion

Heathrow, London. Sat 19 Nov 2016

Harmondsworth resident Neil Keveren of Stop Heathrow Expansion speaks at Heathrow
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Campaigners against a third runway at London Heathrow held a family-friendly demonstration at the airport as Risingup activists blocked the M4 junction nearby bringing traffic to a standstill.

The campaigners met at the Three Magpies on the Bath Road - a road and pub which would disappear under the Third runway - and walked the short distance to the bridge over the airport spur from the M3. A short distance away to the north we could see police vehicles surrounding the activists who were blocking the road into the airport, and could hear the sirens.

There was a large police presence around the 'family friendly' rally too, although the organisers had made clear that this would be a peaceful and legal event, and it did seem a considerable waste of police resources, perhaps an attempt to intimidate the protesters. The police did behave in a friendly manner, though they did restrict the movement of protesters to an unnecessary extent.

Many of the protesters and speakers had come here from the earlier rally at Richmond - though there were none of the Conservative Goldsmith supporters who were presumably still busy campaigning in Richmond.

The main concerns of speakers were that expansion at Heathrow will cause the UK to break its own national laws to reduce emissions, as well as undermining the international climate commitments agreed in Paris, and that the new runway will devastate local communities with families losing their homes and many over a wider area suffering dangerous levels of air pollution. The construction of a new runway would create enormous problems across the area around the airport, and if completed would bring chaos to an already overstressed transport system in the whole region.

We need to totally rethink the aviation industry and evaluate the contribution it makes to our economy, and to remove its privileged status and subsidies which currently allow it to expand and pollute for the benefit of its shareholders and the convenience of rich frequent flyers. The industry greatly inflates the contribution it makes to the economy while refusing to acknowledge the many problems it creates.

Of course it isn't something that can be looked at in isolation. We don't just need to stop airport expansion, but to reassess much of they way we live. We need System Change if we are to avoid the disastrous effects of Climate Change.
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Rally against Heathrow Expansion

Richmond Green, London. Sat 19 Nov 2016

Campaigners hold up 'No 3rd Runway' planes at the rally
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Several hundred campaigners were at a rally on Richmond Green organised to support Zac Goldsmith who resigned to stand as an anti-Heathrow expansion candidate.

The event was supported by Richmond Heathrow Campaign, Teddington Action Group, SHE (Stop Heathrow Expansion), Residents Against Aircraft Noise(RAAN), Chiswick Against the Third Runway and others campaigning against the noise, pollution and catastrophic climate change the third runway and expansion of aviation would cause.

Chaired by Gyles Brandreth, the were speeches from Alistair McGowan and Zac Goldsmith as well as campaigners including John Stewart of HACAN and Harmondsworth resident Neil Keveren.

The campaigning groups expressed support for Goldsmith who had kept his promise and resigned over Heathrow expansion. But as Liberal Democrat and Labour candidates also declared themselves strongly opposed to another runway at Heathrow, it seemed unlikely to be the deciding issue in the contest. There was a considerably presence from local Lib-Dems and Green Party supporters at the rally, and many Lib-Dems still feel aggrieved at the way that Goldsmith took the constituency from a sitting MP and strong campaigner against Heathrow expansion, Susan Kramer, now Baroness Kramer.
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Release British father from Israeli Jail

G4S HQ, Westminster, London. Fri 18 Nov 2016

Protesters pose for a selfie with Laila Sharary, wife of the British father held by the Israeli military
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Human rights group Inminds protested outside the headquarters of British security company G4S over the abduction by Israel and subsequent torture of British national and father of five, Fayez Sharary.

Arrested by Israeli forces on 15 September when leaving the West Bank for Jordan with his wife and youngest child to fly home after a family visit, Fayez Sharary was tortured for 3 weeks by Israeli secret police Shin Bet to force a confession.

At his first military trial, an Israeli judge declared this confession worthless and inadmissible and ordered his release, also stating that several of the charges were were for activities not defined as crimes under the Israeli Defence Forces West Bank laws, but he is still held in the Ofer prison secured by G4S. A few days after the first trial, the military went back to court and got the order of the first trial set aside.

Although Israel has signed the UN Conventions Against Torture the country has never made torture a crime and over a thousand cases of complaints alleging torture have not led to a single criminal investigation. Israel insists that the UN torture conventions don't apply to Palestinians. The UN funds a treatment centre for victims of torture for the occupied Palestine territories which in 2014 treated 845 Palestinian victims including 317 women and 135 children.

Despite being a British citizen and having lived in Britain for over 23 years, Fayez Sharary has received no support from the British embassy, and had no legal representation at either trial.

Fayez's wife Laila Sharary was at the protest with her young daughter and read a short letter. The protest also stood in solidarity with Standing Rock, where G4S are employed by the company attempting to force the Dakota Access Oil Pipeline across sacred Sioux sites.
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Cleaners at Claranet for Living Wage

Holborn, London. Fri 18 Nov 2016

The receptionist at the offices housing Claranet's London HQ pushes CAIWU organiser Alberto Durango
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The Independent Workers Union CAIWU briefly occupied the lobby of Claranet's offices in Holborn, where they are employed by NJC under contract to Claranet.

NJC & Claranet have ignored the union's attempts to negotiate for the London Living Wage and have confirmed they have no intention of considering moving to the living wage. NJC has suggested that CAIWU members might be moved to other sites which do pay the living wage, but the CAIWU say this is not acceptable.

The union has called on Claranet which claims to be an ethical company to insist the cleaners are paid the London Living wage now. The cleaners left after a brief protest inside when security began pushing them around and continued their protest for a short time on the pavement outside, before leaving with the message that they would be back without warning for further protests.
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Cleaners at Mace protest Dall nepotism

155 Moorgate, London. Fri 18 Nov 2016

Cleaners leave 155 Moorgate to continue the protest on the pavement outside
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The Independent Workers Union CAIWU rushed in to the lobby of Mace's headquarters building in Moorgate protesting noisily against cleaning contractor Dall Cleaning Services.

They say its cleaning supervisor roster is made up of five members of the same family, and claim that when Dall recently promised cleaners the London Living Wage they promptly reduced the working conditions and also dismissed two cleaners without notice or proper procedures. The CAIWU demand the reinstatement of the two workers and also want to have proper conditions of service and working conditions.

The cleaners left after a brief protest inside and continued their protest for a short time on the pavement outside.
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Cleaners in Lloyds against racist sacking

Lloyds, London. Fri 18 Nov 2016

Alberto Durango of the CAIWU speaks inside Lloyds against racist sacking by Principle Cleaning Services
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Members of the Independent Workers Union CAIWU briefly occupied the lobby of Lloyds of London, protesting noisily against Principle cleaning services.

Two black workers, Lovebridge Acheamong and Wilson Palomeque who in April were awarded diplomas by Lloyds in recognition of their outstanding service during a power failure have been disciplined and dismissed from the site by Principle Cleaning Services following a window cleaning accident. White workers involved in a similar accident were left off without even a warning and the union says the sacking is racist discrimination.

Another African worker was also recently dismissed for trivial reasons and the CAIWU claim he was sacked for his trade union activities. The cleaners left after a brief protest inside and continued their protest for a short time outside the building.
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End Discriminatory Welfare Reforms

Old Palace Yard, Westminster, London. Wed 16 Nov 2016
John McDonnell speaks while shadow cabinet colleague Rebecca Long-Bailey holds an umbrella
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Disabled People Against Cuts and Black Triangle protested outside Parliament where MPs were debating the cut to Employment and Support Allowance.

The protest came after the report of a United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) inquiry had published a report condemning the 'grave and systematic violations of disabled people’s rights' which had resulted from the UK government welfare reforms.

The event was also a vigil with candles and period of silence in memory of DPAC co-founder Debbie Jolly who died last week. She was part of the small group who began the campaign against the unfair the Work Capability Assessment in 2010. The speakers, who included SNP MP Tommy Sheppard, Labour Shadow Chancellor John McDOnnell, Green Party co-leader Jonathan Bartley, Claire Glasman of WinVisible and John McArdle of Black Triangle paid tribute to Debbie and called for government action to end the discrimination reported by the UN body.
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Custody Summit at the Tower

Tower of London. Tue 15 Nov 2016

Pickets at the Tower of London entrance underneath Tower Bridge
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Reclaim Justice Network, including prison activists, refugee solidarity groups and anti-arms trade campaigners protested at the two entrances to the Tower of London against the European Custody and Detention Summit taking place there.

They say it is sponsored by major arms companies and is a trade fair for security companies, prison builders, and other profiteers to present new technologies that expand and privatise the criminal justice system. Among the posters were 'Profit from pain is inhumane' and 'Prison Profiteers Not Welcome here'.
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No Garden in the Sky

London. Mon 14 Nov 2016

The Bank of England to the Barbican. Image for personal use only
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For the monthly family walk we had booked in for a free visit to the garden on top of one of London's ugliest recent buildings, 20 Fenchurch Street, a monstrosity which should never have been allowed anywhere near Tower Bridge as it spoils so many views of that iconic London building.

It was a worthy winner of the 2015 Carbuncle Cup awarded to the worst building of the year, with comments such as 'It's hard to imagine a building causing more damage if it tried' and a 'daily reminder never to let such a planning disaster ever happen again.' It's ugly, obtrusive and an index of greed, its shape growing larger towards the top to reflect the higher rents for higher floors. It was planned to be even worse, 40 m taller than its 160 m (525 ft) but was reduced after complaints it would be too dominant close to Tower Bridge and St Pauls.

Ugliness is not its only problem. A sunscreen had to be added after it was fond to be acting as a concave mirror and concentrating the rays of the sun on the street below, damaging cars and giving enough heat for a journalist to fry an egg. And there are also problems with the wind it creates, enough to sometimes blow people off their feet.

On the top of the building is the Sky Garden, three floors with a viewing area which is open in a limited way to the public. In The Guardian, Oliver Wainwright describes it as "a meagre pair of rockeries, in a space designed with all the finesse of a departure lounge. A hefty cage of steelwork wraps around in all directions, obscuring much of the view." It certainly fails to live up to the promises that were made, but is still worth a visit, if only because it is the only place in the city from which you can't see 20 Fenchurch St.

It's rather difficult to gain access. Unless you have a small fortune to eat at the more expensive of the three eateries, you need to book one of a rather limited number of spaces. These are released a week at a time three weeks in advance, and tickets for all but the least popular times seem to disappear more or less immediately.

Even with a ticket you can't just walk in (though a restaurant reservation admits you without delay.) You join the end of a slowly moving queue and eventually get to present your ticket and passport or driving licence to be checked, then go forward to an airport security scanner, emptying your pockets and putting your jacket, handbags, keys, wallet, coins etc into a box which is scanned as you walk through the metal detector arch. At least you don't have to remove your shoes.

Once through a smooth express lift takes you up to the 'sky garden'. We began our visit with a long queue for the unisex toilets before rushing out to the viewing platform on the south side of the building. Here you are in the open air, though with a tall glass screen in front of you. You are not allowed - rather sensibly - to hold cameras or phones out over the glass and all the pictures here are taken through it - and it wasn't particularly clean.

It soon started to rain, and the viewing platform was then closed. There are stairs with a view up both the east and west sides of the building leading past the scrappy rockeries to the upper two levels, but a stair rail stops you getting right up to the glass. On the top level, the views through the large windows are restricted, partly because of the building design, but also because there are wide benches in front of the window - with a notice on them forbidding climbing on the benches which would greatly improve the view.

Although it was in many ways disappointing, it's still worth jumping to your computer around 9.00am on a Monday and trying to book a visit at a convenient time for a couple of weeks ahead. As you can see from the pictures you do get to look down on some of London's well-known buildings and it is possible to avoid the worst reflections with a little care. We spent well over our allocated hour in looking at the views. Just don't expect to see a garden in the sky garden.
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Kurds march through London

Westminster, London. Sat 12 Nov 2016
Banners near the front of the march leave Parliament Square
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Over a thousand Kurds and Turks marched peacefully through London to defend peace and democracy in Turkey against the actions of President Erdogan.

Since the feeble military coup attempt in July, Erdogan and his AKP government has imposed a state of emergency, closing down 170 media outlets, arresting 128 journalists, purging at least 110,000 public sector workers including 11,000 teachers, bombed 11 Kurdish cities and arrested mayors, forcing 35 Kurdish cities into administration and arresting at least 9 MPs of the opposition People's Democratic Party (HDP) including its two leaders.

The marchers held a brief rally opposite Parliament before marching up Whitehall past Downing St. They call on the UK government to make a stand against Turkey and the crackdown on democracy and freedom os speech there. I left them as they continued to march, with some marchers expecting to go on to the BBC and the Turkish Embassy.
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Hope Trumps Hate rally and kiss-in

Trafalgar Square, London. Sat 12 Nov 2016

'Love Trumps Hate' poster
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People, mainly students including some from the USA, met in Trafalgar Square to demonstrate their commitment to hope not hate after Trump's election victory.

They stood against allowing the anger that many rightly feel against economic and political systems to be unleashed against womens' rights, people of colour, the LGBT+ community and disabled people. Several of them made short speeches and at the end of the rally people wrote post-it notes to put on the wall; the event ended with several minutes of hugging and kissing to show that love is more fun than hate.
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US Election Day Guantanamo protest

US Embassy, London. Tue 8 Nov 2016
Young women in Muslim dress prepare to hold up a long sign with the message Close Guantanamo
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A rally at the US Embassy called for an end to Guantanamo, where kangaroo 'justice' persists with indefinite detention without trial for those who remain and force feeding, beatings and brutality continue.

The protest organised by London Guantánamo Campaign was moved by police to a distant corner to avoid guests arriving for an election night event at the embassy being embarrassed by the reminder that their country was still shamefully and unjustly imprisoning and torturing people in the Guantanamo prison camp.

The embassy was lit up for the night with a changing projection on its ugly frontage with various graphics based on the stars and stripes which would have made an interesting background, but as they set up, police came and moved them to a dark corner by the south end of the building away from the main entrance.

The protest called for the closure of Guantanamo and an end to the US's continuing wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria and US drone strikes. It also demanded an end to other human rights abuses by the US including the one-sided extradition treaty with Britain and the continued use of extraordinary rendition. Also present were those calling for the release of Chelsea Manning and for justice for London Cab driver Anis Sardar, sentenced to 38 years in prison in the UK after he was present by chance in Iraq while others made bombs in 2007 that were used against allied forces.
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Vigil for Fazel Chegeni

Australia House, London. Tue 8 Nov 2016

Campaigners pose for a photograph at the end of the vigil
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A vigil outside the Australian High Commission remembered refugee Fazel Chegeni, found found dead at the bottom of a cliff on Christmas Island, Australia on November 8 2015.

He was in indefinite immigration detention after being involved in a trivial fight years earlier which resulted in his visa as a refugee being revoked. The vigil called for a complete end to immigration detention which leaves many refugees striving to make a new life after persecution without hope.
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Make John Lewis cleaners Partners

Oxford St, London.Sat 5 Nov 2016

Cleaners protest outside the front entrance to the Oxford St store
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A noisy protest by cleaners briefly blocked Oxford St outside John Lewis. Cleaners' union United Voices of the World and supporters demand that the company treat its cleaners fairly on the same basis as other staff who work there.

John Lewis is proud of its 'partnership' model, under which those who work in their stores get a share of their profits, but the people who keep the stores clean are treated as second-class citizens, excluded from the annual 'bonus' with wages only a few pence above the national minimum at £7.35 per hour, 85p less than the minimum for other John Lewis workers - whose annual bonus also adds the equivalent of 90p per hour.

The cleaners and other members of the United Voices of the World union were supported in the protest by Class War, the IWGB, SOAS Unison and others. The protest was a noisy one and for a short time blocked Oxford St before the protesters went on a tour around the block containing the store.
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Save Libraries, Museums & Galleries

British Library to Trafalgar Sq, London. Sat 5 Nov 2016

Swindon is one of many places where library services are under threat
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Over two thousand people marched from the British Library to a rally in Trafalgar Square in support of public libraries, museums and art galleries, under threat by government cuts and closures as local authority budgets are cut.

In the UK since 2010, 8,000 paid and trained library workers have lost their jobs, 343 libraries have been closed (and another 300 or so handed over to volunteers); and one in five regional museums are at least partially closed. For those that remain open, many have seen a cut in opening hours and in services including education programmes and services to the housebound, and many aspects have been privatised; museums are now largely run to generate income rather than primarily to educate and inform.

People gathered at the rear of the British Library, where there were a few short speeches while we waited for the march to set off. It made its way along the Euston Rd and then down through Bloomsbury and Holborn to Trafalgar Square, where there was a longer rally with speakers on the steps in front of the National Gallery.
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Kurds march for Peace & Democracy

London, UK. Fri 4 Nov 2016

Kurds rally outside the Turkish embassy despite police attempts to move them across the road
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More than 500 Kurds marched peacefully through London to protest noisily at the Turkish embassy after the arrest early today of the two leaders of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic party (HDP), along with at least 11 MPs.

The Kurds say that the government and Prime Minister Erdogan are eradicating democracy in Turkey and trying to destroy the Kurdish people and culture. They say the Turkish state has been increasing its attacks on Kurds in Turkey since the failed coup attempt, and that the latest action is prompted by the success of Kurdish forces in attacking ISIS (Daesh) which they say is supported by Erdogan.

Kurds in Syria have been given some arms and support by the US as they have been the most effective force attacking Daesh. Erdogan has been supporting Daesh as the Turks see it as being effective in preventing the formation of a Kurdish state - Kurdistan - which would include areas of Turkey as well as parts of Iraq and Syria which are already under Kurdish control. Turkey has provided the main route for Daesh's oil exports which provide the funding for its military occupation with support from Erdogan.

Since the coup, thousands of Turks and Kurds have been imprisoned by the Turkish authorities, including politicians, mayors, journalists and teachers and the free press has been shut down. Many foreign journalists have also been arrested and deported.
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Bill to reverse NHS Privatisation

Old Palace Yard, London. Fri 4 Nov 2016

Larry Sanders, Green Party Health spokesperson and Bernie's brother speaking
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A rally outside parliament supported the second reading of Labour MP Margaret Greenwood's NHS Bill which proposes to fully restore the NHS as an accountable public service and to prevent further marketisation at the hands of the Tories. unfortunately the bill is low on the list and unlikely to get debated today.

Despite Tory claims that the "NHS is safe in our hands" since the 2010 election there has been a creeping process of privatisation with companies such as Virgin Healthcare taking over large area of NHS provision. The Health and Social Care Act 2012 allowed NHS services could be contracted out to 'any qualified provider', including private companies and Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) are under pressure to outsource. In 2015, private firms won 40% of all contracts.

The 2012 act also removed the government's duty to provide healthcare for everyone, making the local commissioning groups responsible - and it allows them to withdraw NHS services or charge us for them.

Currently Sustainability and Transformation Plans are being developed by Christmas for 44 areas covering the whole of England which critics say are to Slash, Trash and Privatise the NHS. They were kept private until campaigners 'outed' them and are supposed to be in place by Christmas. NHS England director of strategy Michael McConnell says that these STPs offer private sector companies an "enormous opportunity" and they could well mean the end of the NHS as we have known it.

All this is taking place despite huge public support for the NHS, with recent YouGov research reporting 84% of us saying the NHS should be run in the public sector; even among Conservative voters only 13% supported privatisation.

Among the speakers was Larry Sanders, Green Party Health spokesperson and brother of Bernie Sanders.
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End mass deportations

Home Office, London, UK. Wed 2 Nov 2016
Protesters tell Nigeria & Jamaica to stop colluding with UK racism by accepting mass deportation flights
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BARAC UK, Movement for Justice and other campaigners came to the Home Office to demand an end to forcible mass deportations such as the flight in September which took 42 people to Jamaica, many who had lived in the UK for decades and have partners, spouses, children and grandchildren here and some who were in process of becoming naturalised or appealing deportation. Many of the deportations are actually illegal, and lawyers manage to prevent some of these, but others slip through.

Among those who spoke were immigration lawyer Shiraz Peer, John McInally Vice President of the PCS Union, Zita Holbourne and Lee Jasper of BARAC, Antonia Bright and Rosemary from Movement for Justice and Guy Taylor of Global Justice Now.
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Standing Rock Sioux - emergency protest

US Embassy, London. Tue 1 Nov 2016
Protesters with posters 'water is Life', 'Defend the Sacred'...
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Following military-style attacks and arrests on the Sacred Stone Camp where the Standing Rock Sioux were praying on their sacred ground to protect it from the Dakota Access Pipe Line, around a hundred people were at an emergency solidarity protest outside the US Embassy tonight.

As well as supporting the Sioux in their fight to stop the pipeline which also threatens the Missouri River, speakers stressed that this was a part of the same fight as many others around the world, protecting the interests of people and planet, including the UK protests against fracking.
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London Images

London, October 2016

Brixton, London
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London and London events, from 1999 to now.

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Nov 2016

Class War protest 'Fascist Architect'

Clerkenwell, London. Wed 30 Nov 2016 Ian Bone holds up a poster 'Arbeit Macht Frei - Patrik Schumacher - Architect of Fascism more pictures

Axe the Housing Act Autumn Statement

Parliament Square, London. 23 Nov 2016 A pearly campaigner holds a placard in front of Big Ben, 'Maybe its because I'm a Londoner ... more pictures