Stop The War
Stop The War protests, London – 24th Feb 2007
According to the BBC organisers, 60,000 people turned up in London for the anti-war demos:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6393261.stm
I have to say, the turnout was surprising. It wasn’t publicised much, but I suppose any protest organised by the Stop The War Coalition is bound to be a big one.
It was a colourful protest – shame about the heavy rain though. It was the first time since I was stuck in a monsoon in India that I’d shot in rain. Not a particularly nice experience, especially when it’s cold and muddy. Still, I love protests, so that wasn’t too much of a problem.
I used 3 (!) lenses – 18-55, 50 and 100mm. Two is usually hard enough for me to swap between, so you can only imagine how confused I was having three at my disposal. On a side note, changing a lens in the rain smoothly is a hard, hard skill.
Judging by these placards still untouched, I wasn’t expecting a big crowd
The following shots were taken as people segregated at Hyde Park, before the march
Clearly a Prince Harry supporter:
She’s got to be off deviantArt right?
This one definitely is!
There are always a lot of people trying to sell newspapers or hand out leaflets
A policeman and his rather big toy 
Music is always a good thing at protests
The Hare Krishna lot turned up with lots of music and food
That actually says ‘Trident’
This next shot also has the word ‘Trident’ cut off 
This guy’s hat was cut off – I wasn’t tall enough to get it all in the shot. Ah well, it was still cool in reality, even if it looks shite here
Some drummers entertained the crowds. The lens got rain on it which explains the blurriness on the left
I want these earmuffs
Some people gave out positive messages
I thought this was a cool image – definitely one of the more imaginative ones
The third one was in the back 
This woman was adorable!
Mr. Blair was kind enough to make an appearance
So was Bin Laden
Too bad about the focus, but to be fair, this guy was moving around so fast. I asked if I could get a shot of him and he took off his mask, and said in a cockney accent ‘What paper are you from?’. Me – ‘I’m not’. Him – ‘Oh, ok’. He put his mask back on, looked towards me for a couple of seconds, and started walking again.
Someone always has to ruin the shot 
Muslims praying in Hyde Park
Hm.
We decided to go to Trafalgar Sqaure where the protest was headed
On the way, the police had blocked the road to the US Embassy
At the Square, the protest had a while to arrive, so it was pretty empty
This couple were snogging for ages. They stood in the centre of the square for a long, long time.
Whoops, she caught me spying. Or perving. Erm 
The protest arrives.
Spot the Deviant!
The Stop The War protests always seem to really be a chance for people to demonstrate about whatever they want – Palestine, Climate Change, Nuclear Weapons, and in this case, the BBC
It’s good to see both the young and old out there!
It was a good protest, although I couldn’t stay for all of it. Oh, and remember this guy on the left? At a pro-Palestine event last year he proposed to me (yes, a random stranger), asking me if I would convert to Islam and inviting me over to his house. In fact, it was the old man in the shot (his father) who invited me to their home, and started to tell me how rubbish Hindiusm is, and how Islam is the way to go. (I won’t get into a rant or delve into this further here but let’s say these kind of proposals are not rare by such people. Think whatever you will). Anyway, I saw them at the protest again I was sure to give them a dirty look before walking away.
I haven’t converted any shots to b&w – I decided to keep them all in colour and have edited as little as possible (mainly because it’s late, I’m tired, and I’m too lazy. Oh, and converting to b&w seems so..fake).
