Hull Supplement
Anlaby Rd & Hessle Rd
Spring Bank, Chants & Newland Park
Wet Sunday Morning in Hull
A short Hull tour
Riding the Bridge
Hull Panoramas
Bankside Galley
Stoneferry, Wincolmlee &
City Centre
Hull, Cottingham
Hull - Pearson Park & Beverley
Rd
Hull - City Centre & Old Town
On the way to Hull
Sagra - Italian festival
Our Lady of Mount Carmel procession
Shut Down Yarl's Wood 14
Whitehall rally against extreme-right
Anti-Fascists & Police harassed by hooligans
Against Tommy Robinson & Trump
Croydon Pride Procession
Massive protest against Trump's Visit
Soho parties to protest Trump's visit
'Bring The Noise' Women march against Trump
'Trump: Climate Genocide' Giant banner
Noise protest against Trump
UoL #LeadingWomen protest hypocrisy
US Embassy protest says NO to Trump
Vauxhall & Nine Elms
NHS at 70 - Save St Helier Hospital
Free Ebru Ozkan Vigil
Bangladesh Quota Reform Movement
Legal right to use cannabis
Refuse plans to destroy the Elephant
january |
Other sites with my pictures include
london pictures
londons industrial history
hull photos
lea valley / river lea
and at my blog you can read
>Re:PHOTO my thoughts on photography.
It was still spitting slightly, but we had a couple of hours before we wanted to catch a bus on the next stage of our nostalgia tour, and I decided to take a walk out west along Anlaby Rd, then to come back by Hessle Rd.
The long shed in front of the station on Anlaby Rd contrasts rather with its fine architecture, but is also Grade II listed. It was here that emigrants fleeing from the pogroms in Central and Eastern Europe could come from the docks and rest, wash and relax a little before taking the special trains to Liverpool. Part of the reason for the building was doubtless the fear of Hull residents about the diseases these poor refugees might have brought with them.
One of the saddest buildings was further along, the former Spread Eagle pub on the corner of Coltman St. I'd thought of going down there, but instead continued as far as the start of the flyover, then cut through along some sidestreets and Boulevard to the Hessle Rd, pausing to photograph a mural next to Hull's first mosque and a few other buildings.
By now it had started to rain heavily, and I was getting rather wet, but
I continued west along Hessle Rd, stopping to photograph Rayners and continuing
as far as the mural on the side wall of Dixon - Family Baker before turning
back. I was pretty soaked, even with an umbrella - neither jacket nor cameras
were waterproof, and I stopped at a bus shelter to catch a bus back to the
Interchange and our hotel, meet up with Linda, pick up our luggage and take
the bus for Hornsea where we were to stay for the next two nights.
more pictures
Despite the rain - now fairly light - after lunch we decided to walk along Spring Bank on our way to take a look at the house Linda grew up in, and also a rather grander place we both stayed at when it was owned by one of our friends.
Spring Bank had a few surprises, including the return of Shakespeare. I photographed the TV repair shop back in the 70s, and it remained there until around six or seven years ago before becoming a Portuguese grocers and, more recently a multicultural food shop. But now it seemed to be Shakespeare again, though perhaps just awaiting new signage for whatever was hidden behind its red metal shutter.
Years ago we often walked in the cemetery on Spring Bank West when visiting
Hull, and we were drawn back in again. I was pleased this time to find again
the monument to the 1,860 people who died in Hull's 1849 cholera outbreak,
many of whom were buried nearby, as I'd looked for it on a couple of previous
visits but not found it.
Over the years I walked up Chanterlands Avenue many times and it seemed
little different, though many if not most of the shops have changed, and
there was a rather nice flower mural, as well as long display of pictures
of Hull people from the Hull Daily Mail archives. We took a short detour
to go past the house where Linda lived and then continued to the cemetery
to see the grave where here parents and maternal grandparents are buried,
their names in gold on a simple black stone.
Around the corner in Cottingham Rd we stopped briefly at the entrance to Newland Park, where there is another plaque on the Larkin trail. But we went down the road not just to see the actual house, but also West Garth, where for some years Linda was a regular visitor and I an occasional one. It's a good example of an Arts & Crafts large detached house in a butterfly design, sadly not listed despite the efforts of our friend who died before he had completed its restoration - not helped by theives who stole the lead from the roof and severe flooding in the billiard room. It does get a mention in Hull's architecture guide and Pevsner's Buildings of England.
We took the bus (fairly rare on Sunday afternoons) back into town, taking
a picture or two of the Larkin statue as we walked past on our way to dinner
in another of the locations on the Larkin trail, the Royal Station Hotel.
Originally built together with the station in an Italian Renaissance style,
it opened as the Station Hotel in 1849, gaining the 'Royal' after Queen
Victoria visited in 1853. After it was privatised in the 1980s it officially
lost the 'Station' from its name. It was gutted by fire in 1990, but rebuilt
and reopened two years later. It still felt a little like somewhere from
the nineteenth century when we stayed there a few years ago.
more pictures
What do you do on a wet Sunday morning in Hull? A leisurely breakfast,
then the Ferens opens at 11am, and I went back to take a further long look
at the Käthe Kollwitz exhibition, and the rest of the work on show
at one of the best galleries in the UK - thanks to the generous endowment
of Thomas Robinson Ferens, (1847 – 1930), a remarkable Methodist,
industrialist and philanthropist, for whom "Reckitt's Blue made Ferens'
gold" which he almost entirely gave to worthy causes. In 1920 he was
earning £50,000 a year and giving away £47,000 of that, and
still teaching Sunday School every week.
Linda had gone to the service in Hull Minster and I joined her there afterwards,
and looked at the exhibition there by the Mission to Seamen and the statues
of 'Big Lil' and a fisherman before we walked back to the city centre for
some lunch. There was a performance taking place in the rain at Beverley Gate, but we didn't stop long to watch.
more pictures
After our family celebration we took some of our guests on a short walk
around the Old Town and back to the city centre.
We went down to the pier, then walked beside the River Hull and onto High
St to see North Bridge in its Venn colours, past the Guildhall and to the
Land of Green Ginger and then along Whitefriargate to Queen Victoria Square.
I only took a few pictures as I was busy talking about what we were seeing.
Truelove, a sculpture by Stefan Gec was placed just above the Tidal Barrier
in 2002 and a plaque gives the outline of the story:
"In 1847 Memiadluk (aged 17) and Uckaluk (aged 15) arrived in Hull close to this site aboard the Truelove, a local whaling ship. The following year the married couple set sail for their home in Cumberland Sound, Baffin Island. During this journey Uckaluk died following an outbreak of measles on board the ship."
Whaling was a major industry for Hull until the middle of the nineteenth
centry, with factories along the river processing whale oil. Much of the
whale oil was replaced by vegetable oils, with giant crushing mills, a couple
of which are still standing. Fishing only really became important to Hull
in the late nineteenth century, with trawlers moving there from Brixham
and Ramsgate, in the late 1850s after the discovery of the 'Silver Pits'
fishing grounds on the Dogger Bank. There was considerable resistance to
fishing from other interests in the city - enough to lead to the setting
up Grimsby as an alternative fishing port.
more pictures
After breakfast in the Admiral of the Humber (full of cyclists who had
ridden overnight from York, the Friday Night Ride to the Coast) we visited
the Ferens Art Gallery - where there was a show of incredible work by Käthe
Kollwitz - and then came out to make our way to Scale Lane Bridge.
I was slightly diverted by Morris Dancers in Queen Victoria Square and had
to run to get to the bridge in time, getting there with a couple of minutes
to spare. I was beginning to wonder if I had got the time wrong, as there
seemed to be no others waiting for the event, but then spotted two men in
orange high-viz waistcoats walking across the waste ground car part on Garrison
Side towards the bridge.
Scale Lane Bridge is the latest of Hull's 14 bridges in the city over the
River Hull (including Scott St Bridge, a Grade II listed lifting bascule
bridge which has been permanently raised since 1995, abandoned to corrode
by the council, and so more of an ex-bridge) and was officially opened in
2013.
Though there is relatively little traffic on the River Hull now, the bridges
all need to be able to open to let vessels pass, and the Scale Lane footbridge
pivots around an axis close to its west on the Old Town side, where its
end is a part-circle which enables it to be safely boarded at any stage
of its opening. It's eastern end however swings out past the centre of the
river to dock against a wooden structure rising from the mud of the west
bank, leaving the river channel clear of obstruction.
Vessels requiring passage up the river need to apply in advance, and all
the bridges will then be opened. Navigation is highly dependent on the tides,
but Scale Lane Bridge is opened at fairly regular times on Saturdays and
Sundays, largely I think as a matter of civic pride in what their web site
describes as the first footbridge of its kind in the world to allow people
to ride on it while it opens, pointing out the many awards it has won "including
a World Architecture News Transport Award, Civic Trust Award, Civic Trust
Special Award For Community Impact and Engagement, World Architecture Festival
Transport Award, Living Waterways Award, RIBA Yorkshire Award and Hull Civic
Society Award."
The timing of the opening fitted in well with our programme for the day,
and after it had closed to shipping (there wasn't any) and opened to those
crossing on foot we walked up to the Myton Bridge and crossed back that
much busier and noiser bridge into the Old Town for a leisurely walk taking
photographs of the artwork and more, and paying a short visit to the not
quite open 'Bean & Nothingness' before making our way to meet family
at Paragon Station and walk with them to a lunchtime family celebration
we were hosting at Butler Whites in Humber St, a venue I photographed back
when it was still a vegetable wholesaler.
more pictures
Last year I began making a series of panoramic images in Hull, including
many of the areas that I first photographed in black and white in the 1970s
and 1980s for the work which became a show, 'Still Occupied' at the Ferens
Art Gallery in Hull in 1983, and later a self-published book of the same
name. Those black and white images can also be seen in my Hull Photos web
site.
I took advantage of a walk around Stoneferry and Bankside to try and retake
a few of these old pictures as panoramas, as well as finding a few some
new locations. Most of my old work was taken with 35mm or 50mm lenses giving
a horizontal angle of view of 54 or 40 degrees; these images are all around
145 degrees, roughly 3 times as wide, and also have a greater vertical angle
of view.
more pictures
Back in January, Banksy came to Hull and created his 'Draw The Raised
Bridge' on Scott Street bridge, a Grade II listed lifting bridge which has
been closed to road traffic, its bascules permanently raised since 1995.
It hit the news immediately, and people flocked to see it. The council at
first did nothing, but some lunatic came with white paint to cover it over.
Fortunately Hull window cleaner discovered it while the paint was still
wet and cleaned most of it off, revealing Banksy's work again. The council
then decided perhaps it should do something to protect it, covering it with
perspex and putting flimsy barriers around the area to keep people away.
The 23 year saga of the closed bridge is a sorry one which puts Hull's council in a very poor light, allowing - if not encouraging - a listed structure they own to rot. Clearly many councillors wanted to demolish it - and almost got their way in 2001 and 2007, but were stopped by some prominent opposition which meant the government were unlikely to allow demolition to go ahead.
Now it again seems likely that this bridge - which used to form a useful route for many cyclists and pedestrians - will be demolished, though possibly the Banksy will be saved.
His intervention came weeks after the end of Hull's year as 2017 City of Culture, and this was almost certainly his reason for making this work in Hull. Many criticised the lack of support for local artists during the year, but Banksy's mural has inspired a tremendous outpouring of work onto local walls, particularly those in the former industrial area to the north fo the Scott St Bridge, around Wincolmlee and Bankside, which has become the 'Bankside Gallery'.
Hull's Bankside Gallery has featured in magazines and on TV and probably
gained as much publicity as the year as City of Culture. And this work is
not just in Hull but is very much from Hull too.
I've included many of the works in this selection, although some were not
easy to photograph, and, like the art works, the pictures are rather varied
in quality. And lack of time meant there were some areas I was unable to
visit. Some of the works are ephemeral, and like graffiti elsewhere, will
soon be painted over by other artists, while some are on walls where others
are not allowed to paint.
more pictures
We bought some lunch at the Interchange, then took a bus to Stoneferry,
taking some pictures from the top deck, getting off at Ann Watson St we
sat beside the River Hull to eat, before making our way back to the city
centre on foot. We took a detour to view the Bankside Gallery (in a separate
post.) I had come mainly to take some panoramic images - also posted separately.
The riverside path leads south to the two Stoneferry Bridges, but the way
underneath them was locked and we had to detour to cross the two busy carriageways
before continuing south, where a footbridge over some of the Cargill works
leads to Stoneferry Rd (and gives the view above.)
We walked beside the hot dusty road until we came to Foster St, from where we could take the footpath over the closed Wilmington Bridge which used to take the line from Hull to Hornsea and Withernsea across the River Hull. Going north up Wincolmlee and Bankside we admired the murals on various walls, and I was able to sneak in a couple of places to photograph the River Hull including the rail bridge still in use leading to Kinig George Dock.
We walked up as far as Innovation Drive, then turned back and headed down
Wincolmlee for the Whalebone for refreshment before continuing on to Scott
St bridge and then back into the city centre.
more pictures
We took a slightly roundabout way to catch our bus to Cottingham to
visit with old friends and on leaving walked around a mile to visit Oppy
Wood next to Orchard Park.
We arrived at the site next to Danepark Rd to find much of the woods gone,
and a large hole being dug in the place as a flood relief scheme and the
remaining woods fenced off. We walked around the field on their northern
edge and then caught a bus from Orchard Park back to the city centre.
Oppy Wood was set up by the Woodland Trust around 2004, and they planted
18,000 trees as a living memorial for the 200 local men from the Hull Pals
battalions who died in the battle of Oppy Wood, France in 1917.
more pictures
Our walk after dinner started at Peason Park, where we found Carisbrooke, where Philip Larkin once lived and then walked onto Beverley Rd, past the Dorchester Hotel, once owned by one of Linda's cousins.
We slowly made our way back to the city centre, pausing briefly at Stepney Lane to view the house which had once been a small corner shop owned by one of her great-aunts, as well as a number of buildings of some architectural interest.
Hull was very heavily bombed in the Blitz, the damage second only to that
of London, but was never named in the news bulletins, which referred to
it simply as 'a North-east coast town'. As well as raids specifically targetting
the city, German bombers who had failed to drop all their bombs in raids
on Liverpool, Leeds or other northern cities would call in to Hull on their
way home before heading back across the North Sea.
The National Picture Theatre was showing Chaplin's 'The Great Dictator'
when the sirens went on 17th March 1941. The audience of around 150 people
left their seats and went into the foyer, but could not leave to find shelter
as the raid was too intense. Although the actual cinema was destroyed by
a bomb, the foyer was left standing and none of those sheltering there was
badly injured.
This is said to be the last civilian bombsite remaining in the UK (though
I think there may be another in Bethnal Green) and was Grade II listed because
of its historical significance. For years there has been a campaign to turn
it into a memorial of the victims of the Blitz.
more pictures
We booked into our hotel and then went for a walk around the town,
making our way though the city centre to the old town and then along by
the River Hull.
We were vaguely following the Larkin trail, but taking an interesting route
with the occasional detour - including to the Kardomah for a drink and ice
cream before returning to have a lamb jalfezi in the Admiral of the Humber.
more pictures
We took the train to Hull, changing at Doncaster onto a local service.
It was a pretty uneventful journey. Somewhere east of Doncaster we went
past a huge wind farm where I took some picutres through the train window.
more pictures
As well as the religious procession in the middle of the afternoon, there is also an Italian festival or Sagra with food, drink and dancing in Warner Street at the bottom of the hill behind the church which starts and lunchtime and continues into the early evening.
All except some of the stallholders go up to the Clerkenwell Rd to watch
the procession, and some join in at the rear with the crowd of the congregation
to go around the area - the route along Clerkewell Rd, Roseberry Ave and
Farringdon Rd back to Clerkenwell Rd is around three-quarters of a mile.
Most of those taking part are Italian or of Italian descent, and many are
meeting old friends and talking in Italian. It's also a great opportunity
to buy and eat Italian food and drink Italian country wines.
more pictures
The historic procession takes place every year in London's Clerkenwell from St Peter's Italian Church. I've photographed it quite a few times and you can read more about it on the pages for previous years.
Three white doves are released and statues of saints, banners and religious
paintings are carried around the neighbourhood as well as various floats
and walking groups in Italian and 'Biblical' costumes and the clergy and
congregation who follow behind them. The annual procession in Honour of
Our Lady of Mount Carmel has been taking place since it was given special
permission in 1883, and is the largest and most spectacular Christian festival
in London.
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Around a hundred campaigners, including many former detainees march to Yarl's Wood immigration detention centre to protest together with those held inside, mainly women, against the shameful racist UK immigration system
Many of them are kept locked up inside for many months or ever years, indefinite detention, because the Home Office refuses to believe them or properly investigate their cases.
Investigations and reports have condemned again and again appalling conditions under which people are held in this and other centres run by private companies such as SERCO, with detainees refused their human and civil rights, assaulted, sexually harassed and assaulted, denied proper medical treatment, poorly fed and forced to work for £1 an hour on menial tasks.
The protesters saw some of the women waving from windows and heard their stories over a mobile phone link, and were able to hear and join with them chanting inside for freedom and for Yarl's Wood to be closed down. There were a number of speeches from protesters, almost all from former detainees.
The protest was the 14th organised in support of the women of Yarl's Wood
by Movement for Justice. Unfortunately it was smaller than the previous
protests as a number of groups have decided not to take part in protests
by MfJ after a former member of the group made a complaint about the way
she had been treated by them. However justified her personal complaint,
it revealed little if anything about the group that was not already public
knowledge, and MfJ has played a major role in protests against our racist
immigration detention system, and still seems to be supported by the former
detainees who have always played a leading role in the protests both here
and at Harmondsworth, and in actions to prevent deportations.
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Stand Up To Racism and Unite Against Fascism held a rally in Whitehall a couple of hundred yards from the right-wing 'Free Tommy' protest near Downing St, with police keeping the area between the two protests clear.
Unfortunately although police had allowed the extreme right to have a large
stage and amplification system in the road, they stopped Stand Up To Racism
and Unite Against Fascism bringing their lorry with its sound system and
stage into Whitehall. The rally continued with a small sound system but
only a few hundreds of those close to the front of the protest could hear
the speeches.
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Right-wing protesters harass the anti-fascist network protesters who had marched from the International Brigade Memorial on the South Bank across Westminster Bridge in protest against the 'Free Tommy' protests against the jailing of Tommy Robinson for contempt of court for actions which could have stopped the trial of a grooming gang - an offence to which he pleaded guilty.
Police removed some right wing protesters who had infiltrated Parliament Square to keep them safe, and then fought and stopped others who were trying to cause trouble.
Police horses charged some of the right wing and I saw one man being handcuffed,
and other arrests were reported. The anti-fascists stood their ground and
repelled the few who evaded the police until police removed them
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Protesters gathered in Old Palace Yard to peacefully oppose the protest by right-wing groups supporting the campaign to free jailed former EDL leader Tommy Robinson and support President Trump.
The extreme-right wrongly claim that Robinson, jailed for contempt of court for interference with a grooming gang court case that could have prevented it going ahead, is a martyr jailed for 'free speech', and their previous protest in London involved Nazi salutes, violence and virulent Islamophobia.
After some opening speeches the organisers tried to march behind the Stand
Up To Racism and Unite Against Fascism lorry with its sound system and stage
o a further rally in Whitehall, but police would not allow the lorry to
proceed, and they had to march without it, making it impossible for most
of the protesters to hear the speeches.
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Several hundred people paraded through the centre of Croydon on their way to the third Croydon Pridefest, sponsored by Croydon Council, in Wandle Park.
Many were in colourful dress and there were banners, flags, placards, posters and unicorns. The free festival aims to promote LGBT+ equality and diversity in Croydon, and is London's second largest Pride festival.
Following the disruption by anti-Trans activists at London Pride, the parade
gave the Trans People Across London (TRANSPALS) banner a prominent position
behind the Croydon Pridefest banner. The parade had none of the domination
by corporate groups that mars the larger festival for many in the gay community.
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People marched down Regent St from the BBC on their way to a rally in Trafalgar Square. Estimates put the number of people marching through London in this massive protest against the visit by President Trump as around a quarter of a million.
The march was organised by 'Together Against Trump' and included both the
Stop Trump Coalition begun by Owen Jones in February with grassroots campaigners,
trade unions, NGOs and politicians and 'Stand Up to Trump', which included
various anti-war and anti-racist orgnisations allied to the SWP.
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Soho Radio celebrated free speech and peaceful protest with a marathon 'Revolution Day' protest party against Trump's visit, starting around midday on the street outside and expected to end at midnight, though many of those taking part were intending to join the main protest in late afternoon.
Elsewhere in Soho others made preparations to join the two anti-Trump marches
while a TV crew took a not quite look-alike Trump and the first lady around
the area.
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Thousands of people, mainly women, came to the women's #BringTheNoise march against Trump, which met at the BBC to march to a rally in Parliament Square.
The march, organised by a small group of women, was intended as a day of joy, love, solidarity and resistance celebrating the diverse communities which make up our great city of London, standing together for Justice, Equality and Peace. It was against Trump and others whose agendas driven by desire for profit, greed, power & domination are 'wreaking havoc - fuelling conflict; displacing vast numbers from their homes; waging war on our rights; destroying our planet.'
The event was supported by a huge range of women's groups, listed as: Women for Refugee Women, Southall Black Sisters, Stonewall, Hope Not Hate, Pride in London, GreenPeace, Liberty, Amnesty UK, Inquest, Help Refugees, Nisa Nashim Jewish and Muslim Women’s, Network, Environmental Justice Foundation, Gendered Intelligence, Dimensions, Dahlia Project, Abortion Support Network, Fawcett Society, Operation Black Vote, Reclaim, Safe Passage, Muslim Women’s Network UK , Team Future, Best for Britain, She Speaks We Hear, Women in Leadership, End Violence Against Women coalition, Democrats Abroad UK, ActionAid UK, Verve, Oxfam GB, Fourth Wave feminists, Women For Europe, Making Herstory, Everyday Sexism , Migrants Organise, Migrant Resource Centre , The Equality Trust, Women’s Voice, Religions for Peace UK Women of Faith Network.
The organisers of the 'Together Against Trump' protest later in the day
had tried to get the women's march to combine with them, but they had resisted,
wanting to keep their message clear and not have it subsumed into a general
anti-Trump event organised by political groups such as the SWP and its related
organisations.
more pictures
Climate activists marked Trump's visit to the UK by dropping a giant banner 100 meters long on the river wall of the Thames opposite the Houses of Parliament. The banner carried the message 'TRUMP: CLIMATE GENOCIDE' in fluorescent orange letters around 15ft high.
They say he is wilfully ignoring the clear science on climate change and
threatening the existence of human life on earth by undermining if not reversing
the US and global efforts to tackle the greatest threat that humanity now
faces, the catastrophic destabilisation of global climate. His actions condemn
billions to death and commit a crime against humanity.
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Hundreds of campaigners with drums, whistles, megaphones, pots and pans, recordings of the cries of migrant children and some very loud shouting attempt to make their feelings about President Trump clear to him by their protest close to the US Ambassador's residence, Winfield House, at the north east corener of Regent's Park.
A helicopter flew him there from Stansted airport and then flew him out again for dinner with Theresa May at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire. The protesters aimed to keep up a wall of noise all night as he was flying back to sleep there.
A large security presence with a high fence kept them at some distance
from the residence, but it seems likely that Trump will have been aware
of them as he flew in and out and before reaching the presumably well double
or triple-glazed security of Winfield House. Though he will probably have
convinced himself they were welcoming him and dismissed the TV and newspaper
coverage as 'Fake News!'
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Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) protest at Senate House supporting outsourced women workers in the University of London who are demanding equal rights with those directly employed by the university.
While the university holds events in favour of women's rights in its #LeadingWomen season which aims ‘to break down the barriers women still face in education and the workplace today’, it is still denying decent terms & conditions to migrant and BAME women who work there, by using outsourcing companies which offer minimal rights, often with bullying management and zero hours contracts.
The protest forced the university to cancel one of the events in its #LeadingWomen
series planned for tonight and Ayesha Hazarika and Catherine Mayer who would
have been speaking came instead to speak at the protest. Along with other
employees the women are demanding to be directly employed by the university;
although the university has stated hat outsourcing will end, it refuses
to give these workers the dignity of any concrete details or a clear timescale.
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The week of action against President Trump's visit began with a protest outside the US Embassy in Nine Elms hosted by Momentum Wandsworth.
Speakers reminded us that in addition to all his other faults, Trump has described Wandsworth where the new embassy is as 'lousy' and 'horrible', and refused to go there even before it was obvious he could go nowhere in London without meeting huge crowds in protest.
Wandsworth has a long and proud radical tradition, and the embassy site was the home of one of the leading suffragettes, Charlotte Despard. Two Labour councillors were among the speakers but local Labour MP Marsha De Cordova who had hoped to be there was unable to leave Parliament because of the feverish atmosphere there over ministerial resignations.
One man filming the event for a right-wing organisation attempted to interrupt
the proceedings, butting in to ask questions of the speaker in the middle
of a speech. He was challenged by protesters, but the organisers asked them
to allow him to continue filming as it was his legal right to do so, but
he was prevented from further interruptions. Although he said - when pressed
- that he was from the Sun newspaper, his behaviour was much more like that
of 'reporters' from extreme right fake news organisations such as Breitbart,
who deliberately try to provoke people at protests.
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Trump is not expected to visit the embassy and will only be in London for an overnight stay at the Ambassador's residence in Regents Park, his schedule planned to avoid the many planned protests so far as is possible.
I went to photograph a protest against Trump's forthcoming visit outside
the US Embassy (which he was not intending to visit), and took a few pictures
as I walked there beside the Thames from Vauxhall.
After the protest finished I had around an hour to spare before I could
use my 'Super Off-Peak' ticket, so walked slowly through the riverside area
on my way back to Vauxhall station.
more pictures
Keep Our St Helier Hospital (KOSHH) campaigners against the closure of acute facilities at Epsom and St Helier Hospitals in south London celebrated the 70th birthday of the NHS with a march from Sutton to a rally in front of St Helier Hospital.
The Epsom and St Helier Trust want to close A&E, Maternity, Paediatrics, Emergency Medicine and Surgery, Intensive Care, Coronary Care and the Cancer Centre at one or both hospitals and sell off the sites. The closures are prompted by government cuts which call for huge savings by the trust, and would leave a wide swathe of south London and around half a million people without proper access to hospital services.
People would have to travel longer distances through increasingly congested roads to reach full hospital services at St Georges Tooting and elsewhere, a journey which might take 20 minutes when traffic was light but much longer when roads were congested; even in ambulances there would be more dead on arrival or whose condition had seriously deteriorated.
People on Sutton High St clapped and cheered the march, and some joined
it, at least for a short distance. THe marchers were tired at the end of
the two mile march in blistering heat, but were revived by a welcome from
the National Health Singers, and there were some short speeches and a die-in.
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Inminds human rights group hold a vigil outside the Turkish Embassy in London to urge the Turkish government to put pressure on Israel to release 27 years old Turkish national Ebru Ozkan.
She was arrested when boarding a flight home on 11th June from Tel Aviv after a 4 day holiday group tour, and has now been held without charge for 24 days accused of "threatening Israel’s security and having links with terrorist groups."
Although she is Turkish she will be tried in the miliary courts reserved for Palestinians, which rubber-stamp 99.7% of cases with a guilty verdict. Campaigners beleive she has been tortured to try and gain a conviciton and she has now been transferred to Israel's notorious HaSharon prison where long term Palestinian women political prisoners are held and have to endure beatings, insults, threats, sexually explicit harassment and sexual violence, with humiliating strip searches used as punishment by the Israeli guards.
The cells are overcrowded, dirty and infected with rodents and cockroaches
with a total absence of basic hygiene. Windows are closed and covered so
that hardly any air or daylight can enter, and the heat is insufferable.
The food is of terrible quality, often containing insects & worms, and
often there is not enough for all the prisoners.
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A protest in Altab Ali Park, Whitechapel by Universal Voice for Justice, UK deplored the attack on the Quota Reform Movements leaders and general students at University of Dhaka.
Protests in Bangladesh in April had called on the government to change the recruitment system for government posts that mean only 44% of posts are selected on merit. A protest at Dhaka University in April was attacked by police with tear gas, baton charges and water cannon, after which they were attacked by Bangladesh Chhatra League activists led by General Secretary Motahar Hossain Prince, with more than 160 protesters being injured.
This led to widespread protests at universities in Bangladesh in the following
days. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed criticsed the students for the
disruption they caused an angrily said the quotas would be abandoned, but
it remains unclear exactly what changes have been made.
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Members of the group 'We The Undersigned Have a Legal Right to use Cannabis' met in Parliament Square and marched to a protest in Old Palace Yard in support of Newport West Labour MP Paul Flynn's Private Member's Bill to allow the medical use of cannabis was expected to be debated this afternoon. Objections by MPs prevented the debate and it was pushed back until October.
Public awareness and support for the medicinal use of cannabis has increased greatly because of the widespread publicity given to the incredible recovery from near death from severe epilepsy of 11-year-old Billy Caldwell and the extreme difficulties put in the way of his treatment by the Home Office.
Many of those attending the protest were medical users, growing their own weed to deal with conditions including PTSD, ADHD, glaucoma, Parkinsons, depression, MS, fibromyalgia, Chron's disease, chronic pain, anxiety, migraine...
The event was proceeding peacefully when a man rushed up and punched one of the protesters, Jeff, in the face. He was quickly and efficiently tackled by police and arrested for assault. Others at the event identified him as Derek White from Dublin who has been accused by them on online forums of selling fake cannabis oil for medical use.
Much of the opposition to the decriminalisation of cannabis now comes from pharmaceutical companies who would like to make money from the regulated supply of cannabis oil, and the UK is now the world's largest legal grower for this purpose.
Campaigners say that far better results can be obtained by using different
strains of the plant which can be matched to individual needs, and these
include some that produce none of the psychotic side-effects which have
been used as an argument against legalisation of a substance generally agreed
to be far less dangerous than alcohol.
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Protesters outside Southwark Council Offices called on the Council Planning Committee to reject the plans by tax avoiding property giant Delancey and University of the Arts London to demolish the Elephant & Castle Shopping Centre and replace it with luxury housing and a new building for the London College of Communication.
Security and police stopped a token attempt by a student trying to get into the building after the meeting had started, but others had earlier gone in to attend the meeting.
Previous protests by local residents had forced the council to defer approval and the developers responded with minor changes to the plans but they still involve removing the working class and largely Latin traders and wider local community from the Elephant, in what is clearly social cleansing and further gentrification of Southwark.
The revised plans include only a low percentage of social housing and fail
to meet local demands for affordable retail units, compensation for all
traders and meaningful involvement and accountability for the people who
live, work and study in the Elephant.
Later we heard that the planning committee had narrowly passed the plans,
4 votes to 3. But the fight to stop this development continues.
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Pictures taken from buses, trains and on foot as I went around London this
month. I grew up in Hounslow and a rail replacement bus service took me
along some streets I knew well many years ago. Other views from Southwark,
Soho, St Pancras, Wandsworth, Nine Elms, Vauxhall, Clerkenwell and Hatton
Garden.
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