Giddy up

Four ‘Horses of the Apocalypse’ made their way to the Bank of England from various local parts of London. I went to have a look at the one coming from Cannon Street.

Curious object to bring to a protest.

Police were out in force today. The entire operation cost £7,200,000.

Random people being interviewed.

London Bridge

Cannon Street looked pretty quiet so I jumped on a bus to London Bridge.

This chap was a controversial professor and one of the leaders of this march.

Cameras everywhere.

The march took off from London Bridge Station across London Bridge, blocking half the road.

Coffins and effigies of bankers were carried.

Random couple stuck in the people traffic.

I was standing on the rail leaning against the only post available. This guy had to use his friends as a tripod.

Never seen a camera like this before.

A suited man in a taxi was caught among the mayhem and must have had his picture taken 500+ times. Shame I didn’t get the whole sign in.

Spot the thumbs up for the photo.

Bank of England

The march has reached its destination.

Public Transport here was closed. This policeman is a bit shy.

Photographers jostle for position.

Once everyone was in, they were not allowed back out again so people had to use makeshift desks.

Anonymous

Protesters charge a line of police in the distance. The police had to concede position and move to the side.

RIOT

The crowd started charging, throwing debris at the Constables and stealing their hats so the Riot Police were brought in.

The crowd tried to charge the riot police. Not as easy. The guy on the right here got popped.

Photographers lost a few items.

These items were missiles.

The Royal Bank of Scotland

RBS took the worst of the riot.

Photographers review the action they caught.

Police occupy the building and record the people outside.

Attempts were made to set fire to the curtains before they were ripped out.

Note: This is outside the offices. Dial 0 for reception?

A policeman guards a colleague’s head as she takes some water.

They wear helmets with good reason.

Stalemate

All except people with “Home Office approved Press Passes” (?) were not allowed to leave the area around the Bank of England for some time, so they found other things to do.

Why so serious?

‘Hammocks not hate’

After a few hours most people were allowed to disperse in the direction of Trafalgar Square. Overall this part of the protest was calm, but once people realised they were next to RBS all hell broke loose in a small pocket of the overall gathering. We’ll see if they got their points across…

Geeky stuff: Canon EOS 20D, 24-70 f2.8 lens

Highlights of the Olympic torch run through London, April 6th 2008. Someone somewhere decided the Olympic torch(es) would run 31 miles through London, from Wembley Stadium to the O². Below is the parade route, courtesy of the Telegraph.

Whitehall

The Chinese are out to celebrate the coming Beijing Olympics, it’s a happy day today…

…or is it?

Trafalgar Square

A large base of Chinese await the runner with the torch. Some protesters are among them.

The Chinese tried to cloak this sign from view with flags. A slight irony here.

The torch approaches Trafalgar Square from Piccadilly Circus via Haymarket. For some reason the name of this particular torch bearer was not reported.

The torch was then passed to none other than Trevor McDonald. Trevor McDonald! A bizarre sight I must say.

A rogue participant complete with home-made torch eagerly awaits Trevor, hoping to intercept the proceedings.

Whitehall

The real runner waits a little further along the road. The Greater London Authority is currently reporting this runner to be Denise Lewis (see 1.10 PM). Doesn’t look like a Denise to me.

Trev’ makes it past the rogue runner to Denise.

The torches meet to continue the flame.

Ignition

Denise ran the torch to Downing Street. I believe the real Denise Lewis took on the flame from here and took it up Downing Street for photos with the Prime Minister.

The Indian was also shooting today, seen here making some video footage with her phone. Pete and Brian were shooting as well.

Protesters across the road from Downing Street.

Protesters for Burma were out, using the media opportunity to raise awareness.

The torch nears Downing Street. For activists, it is the green light. ACTION TIME.

Look carefully at this pic. Someone’s shoe landed on his arm just as I made this photo.

Note the goings on in the background of this photo.

Kevin Pietersen took the torch from Downing Street to Westminster Pier. More activists en route.

Parliament Square / Westminster Bridge

The Police messed up here. There were cars on the road that had to reverse as much as possible to let the relay pass. I stood in front of a car that had nowhere to reverse. A policeman pushed me onto the car as he ran past. Then some policemen threw an ITV cameraman to the ground where he apparently received a few kicks.

Spot the relay runner.

Like a game of Where’s Waldo, right? And who names their kid Waldo?

Bemused onlookers.

The torch squad makes it to the pier. From here they boarded a boat and went along the Thames to festival pier.

Meanwhile. no protesters to be found outside City Hall. Just Chinese flags and Chinese dragons…

Aftermath

The protesters made themselves heard. The BBC are saying the majority of people came out to see the torch relay – I think the majority of people who attended came to see the protests, were protesting, or were random tourists caught up in their travels.

Gordon Brown did not touch the torch when it came to 10 Downing Street – I think the PM’s opinion on the goings on is in support of the protesters, however because of the economic links with China he can’t just come out and say it. I think the Government’s message was subtly made in the thirty one-mile opportunity for protest.

As for China, the day was a complete shambles. Utterly ridiculous and embarassing. Demonstrators 1, China 0.

Watch the BBC news coverage – if you watch carefully, you can see me on the BBC news video clips when a protester is getting taken to the floor by police. Look out for my Suede Timberland boots.

How else to end the day than with a typical random sign on the relay route.

On my way to work and my neighbours are going for a stroll…

Riding along the River Thames. You can’t really read it that small, but it says coffee shop. Scanner didn’t like the darkness here.

Treasure hunting

Since Romania joined the EU, a lot of young ‘uns have come to South England. This group wash car windows on a main road. Even if you say no, they’ll wash it and not ask for money. Bit of a hole in their business plan there.

The guy driving the Mercedes tried to stop her by driving forwards, but she ignorantly followed him and kept trying to wash the window. After making this shot her friend came over and started shouting at me – hard to have a conversation with someone who speaks four words of English. “Why? Give me money.”

This one could benefit from their service.

Towards the end of last week, the middle of Trafalgar Square was covered in grass.

Mike Ramsden, BBC London News.

This guy is walking around barefoot on bird shit. He’d give tourists seeds to feed the flying rats, then demand £1 from them.

Guy walking around with a huge snake.

Met this crazy fool for lunch.

I have to crouch down to fit her in the frame properly. Bloody small people. Ok she’s not even small, the problem is I’m 6″4.

Had dinner with the ever ridiculous Ewa.

We were on the bus and this granny was eyeing me up from across the road. She waved goodbye when the bus started moving again.

Going home and the police are testing a bomb detection device at Pimlico station. I think that is what it is. This lady is lucky she’s not carrying a bomb. She could have been arrested.

I left my ipod in Ewa’s bag when we had dinner so I went to pick it up the next day. Can’t go riding without an ipod.

Ewa’s tired morning face

Checking exposure. Sometimes I press the shutter by accident.

Tanya was using my EF 35mm lens. It’s not USM and she likes the noise the autofocus makes.

She had her first Wagamama experience today.

We went to the Tate Modern. They had some weird stuff going down this long weekend. On one side of the turbine hall you could find three people sitting by a piano, with an audience sleeping, having a picnic, reading a book or meditating.

On the other side was a carousel with a long line of toffee apples. People were allowed to eat the apples after 3pm.

Back to work tomorrow. Bah.

Shot with EOS 3 (Tri-X & Neopan 400) and the 20D.

Saturday 14th October saw the NUJ protest outside the Russian Consulate in response to the murder of Russian Journalist Anna Politkovskaya. We attended to show our support and document the event with our cameras.

Tanya at the protest.

‘We remember, we grieve, we demand the truth.’

A protester voices his concerns.

The plan was to protest the embassy’s entrance on Kensington Palace Road, but the police would not let us go there; they told us to stand across the road from the public entrance around the corner. You know, I think these rules on protesting stink. Protesting across the road is ridiculous.

We all agreed it was ridiculous and decided to go and protest on Kensington Palace Road anyway.

No photography allowed on Kensington Palace Road. Oh well.

The petition, the wreath, the Russian embassy.

Soon after this. Jeremy Dear (NUJ General Secretary) placed the wreath on the gates of the embassy. The police then kicked us off K.P. Road before I got my shot of the gate. Looking back now I should have taken a photo of them stopping me instead.

The police blocked our path back onto Kensington Palace Road.

This policeman came over to stop us taking shots of K.P. Road. He singled me out and got in my face while the security guard removed the wreath from the embassy fence. I really wanted that shot, but I got the distinct feeling I’d be arrested if I continued. So instead I stood there and stared at him to hold him up while Tanya & another photographer stood behind him snapping away.

The signs were then removed. They are returned to us shortly after this photo, and we placed them around the corner at the embassy’s public entrance.

‘We demand the truth about Anna’s death’.

Public entrance to the Russian embassy.