Today, I bore witness again to an incredible, massive show of peace and unity, following Pride that was held last week. Organisers estimate that 50,000 people marched to Parliament Square in the anti-Brexit, pro-EU protest, which was also meant to be a show of solidarity for Europe, Europeans, and other immigrants in the UK. There was a real sense of a shared identity among the British and (as) Europeans, Europeans with (as) the British, and a warm welcome for other globals like myself, as Londoners. Viva diversity!
© 2012-2021 Jacqueline Lau
Category: Events
The new year’s upon us, and I can’t think of a better way to (attempt to) (re)start this blog than with a set of photos from London’s New Year’s Day Parade. Now in its 30th year, it’s got an extremely State-side vibe, what with marching bands and cheerleaders! Reportedly 8,5000 performers took part, with close to 30 bands from American high schools. Despite having shot street parades many times before, I’d never been caught in a situation where poor crowd control made for blocked visibility. I was told that they’d be forming up the barriers and stopping all road crossings,…
It was canines, sunscreen, a compère with a very American accent, and jokes about boyfriends (get them microchipped or buy them a collar) at the Mayhew Animal Home’s annual fund-raiser. Gutted to have missed Sir Tony Robinson, who was judging one of the earlier shows – that’ll teach me to actually read event descriptions more carefully. It was so-so for photos, but I enjoyed being showered with doggy love. Nice day for some park streeting, too; more of that will follow. Link to full album on Flickr
Was thrilled to be able to get in as a backstage crew accompanying the troopers of the UK Garrison, I only wished that I could have had a better angle. They had fireworks in the hall as part of the finale. Fireworks! ‘Amazing’ doesn’t quite describe it.
South Bank, 13 December 2014. Taken with the Fuji X-T1 + 56mm f/1.2 and X100S. Full set on Flickr: Christmas Markets London Dec 14
Saturday, 29 June 2013. Trying to be fanciful with the PP here, but I don’t think it’s my style.
There were banners, there were loudhailers, there were marching songs, but this wasn’t a protest. The police were nowhere to be seen. This was a cheerful, untroubled, hopeful ambience. Flowers and laughter. This was the Wilding Festival, a celebration of the suffragette movement and the 100th-year anniversary of the death of militant activist Emily Wilding Davison – the woman who lost her life after throwing herself in front of the king’s horse at the Epsom Derby to draw attention to the cause. A group of modern-day suffragettes had assembled on Saturday morning in Russell Square, dressed in the suffrage colours…
I had to give the whole storming and raiding ruckus in the West End a miss, but managed to pass through Piccadilly Circus in the evening where I came upon members of the StopG8 group packing up the party.
After a series of peaceful demonstrations for preserving a recreational area in Istanbul… … Turkish police attacked the protesters violently with tear gas and water cannon, directly targeting their faces and bodies… … Turkish media, directly controlled by the government or have business and political ties with it, refuse to cover the incidents. Press agencies have also blocked the information flow. Please share this message for the world to become aware of the police state created by AKP of Recep Tayyip Erdogan [the Turkish Prime Minister]… — Leaftlet handed out at the Turkish protest in London A sizeable gathering of…