The NUJ protest

October 22nd, 2006 by James

Saturday 14th October

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.
Tanya at the NUJ protest.

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

A protester voices his concerns.
A man 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.
Tanya the rule-breaker.

The petition, the wreath, the Russian embassy.
NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear holds a wreath in memory of Anna Politkovskaya outside the Russian embassy in London.

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.
Police block the path to the embassy.

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.
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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.
A security guard promptly removes the signs from the embassy gates once the police usher us from the road.

‘We demand the truth about Anna’s death’.
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Public entrance to the Russian embassy.
Public entrance to the Russian embassy.

Posted in Events | 2 Comments »

2 Responses

  1. Keith Franke Says:
    October 30th, 2006 at 4:20 AM

    You have a very natural way of showing this kind of work, would be nice to see you put out some ties with AP or something.

  2. krupa Says:
    December 14th, 2006 at 3:24 PM

    The whole Russian ex-spies being killed, others contracting polonium…it’s kinda exciting (but in a bad way). it seems like something from a comic book.