After a week of protests outside the Israeli Embassy in Kensington, the demonstration moved to central London today. The protest, organised by the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, the British Muslim Initiative and the Stop the War Coalition, called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
The protest, which started with a march to Trafalgar Square, was attended by a number of public figures, ranging from regular protesters including Tony Benn and George Galloway, to the more unusual like Annie Lennox.
The march was crazy, the organisers estimated that over 50,000 people joined the protest (although the Police put the figure closer to 12,000) and as the protest left the Embankment it was all a bit chaotic! At one point while trying to film the march (while walking backwards!) I actually managed to trip over a curb or something and fell flat on my back!
I photographed a lot of protests in 2008 (more on that later!) but I think this was the biggest i’ve been to. It was certainly the loudest! At the same time the rally was happening in Trafalgar Square, there were similar protests around the UK!
2 Comments
January 3, 2009 at 11:16 pm
How about we free Israel from daily rocket attacks?
January 3, 2009 at 11:22 pm
When there’s a protest in London against the rocket attacks then i’ll gladly photograph it. I made no political point in my post and just covered what I saw.
But for what its worth, I’m happy to condemn violence on both sides, peace will be never achieved while both sides continue with violence.