London

‘Ditch Dodgy Dave’: 150,000 In Anti-Austerity Protest In London

April 17, 2016 Common Dreams Staff, www.commondreams.org Resist! Austerity, David Cameron, London, Panama Papers, Tax Evasion

By Common Dreams Staff. A protest calling on David Cameron to resign has brought more than 150,000 people onto the streets of London on Saturday afternoon. The March for Health, Homes, Jobs and Education was organized by activist group the People's Assembly Against Austerity. The demonstrators called for an end to austerity, and demanded that David Cameron quit over the Panama Papers revelation that he profited from his father's offshore investment fund. People's Assembly National Secretary Sam Fairbairn said: "The Tories are increasingly out of touch with the reality of life for most people. Every time they say 'we all in it together' it's another slap round the face of millions of people. The revelations that have unfolded with the 'Panama Papers' show the super-rich hiding their wealth in tax havens on an industrial scale. This means they avoid taxes that would pay for all the social benefits that are currently under attack and people are understandably angry."

Court Dismisses Charges Against London Arms Fair Protesters

April 16, 2016 Damien Gayle, www.theguardian.com Resist! Abuse, London, Protesters

By Damien Gayle for The Guardian - A court has dismissed charges against protesters who blocked the road outside a major London arms fair, after they argued that they acted to stop greater crimes being committed using weapons bought in the UK. District judge Angus Hamilton, sitting at Stratford magistrates court, said the defence had presented clear and credible evidence that illegal activity had been conducted at the Defence Systems and Equipment International (DSEI) arms fair in previous years, and that police arresting the activists had failed to investigate to ensure it was not happening again.

Photos: Protesters Take To Streets Across Europe

April 10, 2016 Roar Collective, www.roarmag.org Resist! France, Greece, London, Nuit Debout

By Roar Collective. In what may turn out to become a very hot spring, tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in major European capitals to protest against their governments, call for the resignation of their political leaders and take back control of their lives. In Reykjavik, mass protests have already brought down the Prime Minister over the rapidly expanding #PanamaPapers scandal, and in London similar demonstrations took place on Saturday to demand the resignation of David Cameron, who was forced to admit this week that he personally profited from his father’s offshore fund, mentioned in the leaks. In Athens, refugees marched to demand open borders and respect for the human right to asylum, while in France a budding indignados-style movement has been building in the squares in opposition to a new labor law, the state of emergency and the growing unresponsiveness of the Socialist government to popular concerns.

Rent Strikes: ‘Together We Can Defeat The Housing Market’

February 24, 2016 Matt Broomfield, www.roarmag.org Resist! London, San Francisco, Strikes

By Matt Broomfield for ROAR Magazine - Jose LaCrosby was an African-American hair stylist to the stars. Nina Simone, James Brown and Miles Davis all frequented his San Francisco salon. Terminally ill at the age of 89, LaCrosby was told by his doctors that he should return to die among his friends in Midtown Apartments. But the City of San Francisco had just hiked rents by up to 300 percent. If the Korean War veteran wanted to move back in to a ground-floor apartment it would now cost him $3700 a month. LaCrosby had lived in Midtown for two decades, but he spent the last 7 months of his life under fluorescent lights in an anodyne hospice ward, unable to afford the grossly inflated rent.

Sierra Leone Villagers Sue Mining Company In London High Court

November 30, 2015 Lisa O'Carroll, www.theguardian.com Resist! London, Mining, Sierra Leon

By Lisa O'Carroll for The Guardian - An iron ore firm once listed in London is being sued in a multimillion pound lawsuit over evictions and alleged violent treatment of workers and villagers living near one of its mines in Sierra Leone. African Minerals Limited is accused of complicity in false imprisonment, assault and battery, trespass and theft of the claimants’ property. It is also allegedly implicated in a fatal shooting of a 24-year-old by police during a protest over pay and conditions. The allegations, which have been denied by AML, once again raises questions about regulation of western companies, listed in London, New York or other major stock exchanges, when operating thousands of miles away in developing countries.

Occupy London May Regroup If Britain Decides To Bomb Syria

November 29, 2015 Katie Grant, www.independent.co.uk Resist! London, Occupy, Syria

By Katie Grant for the Independent. One of Britain’s most iconic buildings, St Paul’s Cathedral, attracts swathes of tourists every year. But in October 2011, thousands of people descended on the site as part of a peaceful protest, organised by Occupy London, to take a stand against corporategreed. The protesters transformed the area into a sea of tents. Almost four years on, the Occupy network is still going strong. “We’re still alive and kicking. There are upwards of 100 of us involved.” They campaign on issues such as climate change, fracking, the NHS and housing. In 2013, the group’s occupation of a London library saved it from closure. “The more connection we can make with ordinary folk to show activism can work for the benefit of the community, the better,” said Ms Beech. She is also concerned about the prospect of UK air strikes on Syria. “There’s nothing to say people wouldn’t regroup if something happened,” she said.

Repurposing London’s “Anti-Homeless” Spikes Into Cozy Bedrooms

July 27, 2015 Maria Sanchez Diez, www.qz.com Resist! Creative, Homeless, London

By Maria Sanchez Diez in Quartz - London has taken to placing small, sharp spikes to discourage homeless people from sleeping in public areas. But a group of activists has found a creative way to subvert the tactic: transforming them into cozy bedrooms, complete with tiny libraries. The collective, called Space, Not Spikes, wants to make a point: the hostile metal studs and other devices purposely designed to drive people away are not okay. “We’re told where we can walk, where we can sit, where we are welcome but only if we spend money,” says the group’s manifiesto. The group chose the spiked nook in Curtain Road, in the eastern neighborhood of Shoreditch, and glued on a mattress and the small bookshelf, with some available books for the public. Leah Borromeo, one of the activists involved in the protest, explained to Quartz that the germ of the idea came when the group overheard a couple of women coming out of a store, laying their shopping bags over the spikes on the ledge so they could sit there.

Climate Activists Lock Down At Heathrow To Prevent Expansion

July 14, 2015 Plane Stupid, www.planestupid.com Resist! Airport, Climate Change, London

By Plane Stupid - 12 climate change activists from anti airport expansion direct action group, Plane Stupid, got onto the north runway at 03:30am this morning at Heathrow Airport by cutting through a fence, in a peaceful protest against proposals to build a new runway. The protestors say that going ahead with the recent Airports Commission recommendation that a third runway should be built at Heathrow will make it impossible for the UK to meet its climate change targets. The skies above Heathrow are already the busiest in the world, and demand for flights is driven by air fares that are kept artificially low by generous tax exemptions.

London: The City That Ate Itself

July 5, 2015 Rowan Moore, www.theguardian.com Educate! Capitalism, Community, Gentrification, London

By Rowan Moore in The Guardian. London is without question the most popular city for investors,” says Gavin Sung of the international property agents Savills. “There is a trust factor. It has a strong government, a great legal system, the currency is relatively safe. It has a really nice lifestyle, there is the West End, diversity of food, it’s multicultural.” We are in his office in a block in the centre of Singapore and he is explaining why people from that city-state are keen to buy residential property in London. He’s right – London has all these qualities. It has parks, museums and nice houses. Its arts of hedonism are reaching unprecedented levels: its restaurants get better or at least more ambitious and its bars offer cocktails previously unknown to man.

Hundreds Of Thousands Protest Austerity In London

June 21, 2015 Rose Troup Buchanan, www.independent.co.uk Resist! Austerity, London, Neoliberalism

By Rose Troup Buchanan in The Independent. London, UK - Hundreds of thousands of people have marched through London protesting against the Conservative government’s austerity measures. Charlotte Church branded austerity "unethical, unfair and unnecessary" as she joined the quarter of a million demonstrators. Comedian Russell Brand and singer Church both received loud cheers as they spoke at a rally at the end of the protest - the biggest in Britain for several years. The Welsh singer, 29, described the idea that Britain needs austerity as "the big lie" and said: "What this country needs is economic stimulation - most economists around the world would say the same. We need to get the blood pumping." She called for the country to rally and "save ourselves from decades of yuppie rule".

Occupy’s Matthew Varnham: A Legal Occupation

February 13, 2015 James Mowatt, www.shoutoutuk.org Educate! London, Occupy Democracy

I met with Matthew Varnham the day after he joined a panel of speakers at ShoutOut’s ‘Power of Protest’ event at LSE. A law graduate, Matthew has been an independent supporter and legal advisor to Occupy since 2011. He recently approached the civil liberties organisation, Liberty, for the purpose of launching a judicial review against the GLA’s territorially obstinate policies. Since this challenge, Occupy Democracy has declared monthly protests at the square until the General Election this May. The first of these was held just over a week ago, on the 24-5th of January. It was mostly uninterrupted, and went ahead as (anarchically) planned.

Occupy Wins Parliament Square Fence Stand-Off

January 27, 2015 Beth Parnell-Hopkinson, www.londonist.com Resist! London, Occupy Democracy

Occupy Democracy protesters have won the latest round in a series of scuffles over access to Parliament Square, after fencing erected in October 2014 was taken down at the weekend. The group had organised a 10 day protest in the square last year, but found itself unceremoniously evicted by police getting creative with the 2011 Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act (PDF). Under the Act, anything which can be construed as sleeping equipment or a structure is banned, which now includes umbrellas, backpacks and pizza boxes (go figure). The area was then fenced off, with Greater London Authority (GLA) workers claiming it was for maintenance work and to allow the grass to grow back.

Occupy London Planning Democracy Day Protest In Parliament Sq.

January 26, 2015 Peter Carty, www.ibtimes.co.uk Resist! Democracy, London, Occupy

Occupy London are planning another demonstration this afternoon in Parliament Square, in the shadow of the Houses of Parliament. The demonstration will go ahead in defiance of a ban by the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, on protests in the square. The protest takes place on Democracy Day, which this year coincides with the 750th anniversary of the world's first elected parliament. Following efforts by London Mayor Boris Johnson to bar protestors from the square, the civil rights campaigning organisation Liberty has filed a Judicial Review against the ban.

OccupyDemocracy Activist Locked To Houses of Parliament Railings

November 24, 2014 Revolution News!, www.revolution-news.com Resist! London, Occupy Democracy, United Kingdom (UK)

At about 3:30pm this afternoon occupydemocracy supporter Arran locked on to the railings of Houses of Parliament. Arron has a bicycle D-lock around his neck linking himself to the House of Parliament railings. He was arrested at the previous occupydemocracy protest in October for sitting on a piece of Tarpaulin on Parliament Square. The focus of the occupydemocracy demonstration has now moved directly in front of the Houses of Parliament where our constructive programme of talks and debates continues on the pavement. Explaining his decision to take this act of nonviolent civil disobedience he said: “The oppression of my free speech during Occupy Democracy in October was so extreme I feel this is the only way to get my voice heard “

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