London Gaza Protest. Jan 2009

In January 2009 I documented one of the many Gaza protest in London. During the previous weeks, the protests  had taken a turn for the worse as the peaceful protest turned into a full blown riot as masked yobs threw missiles at the police, setting fire to placards and generally causing havoc by climbing on fences surrounding the Israeli Embassy.

The protest I attended had far fewer people attending than the previous weeks, with about three thousand people marching their way from Hyde Park through the streets of Mayfair and on to the Israeli Embassy. The protest itself was certainly very vocal, passionate and at certain points felt like it was turning aggressive, as hoods were pull over heads and shemagh’s covering the faces of young men, hoping not to be recorded by the police photographers that seemed to be strategically placed at many of the junction along the root. The marched was heavily flanked by an army of  police officers who weren’t taking any chances of the repeat of earlier protests.  Armed with my Leica M6 I joined the march, ducking and diving between the protesters quickly capturing anything that stood out. These photos are a small selection from that day.