Vaisakhi, Uganda & Freedom Umbrella: On Saturday ninth April 2011 After visiting Woolwich to {photograph} the Vaisakhi celebrations I got here again into central London to {photograph} Ugandans and Kurds protesting for freedom and democracy.
Vaisakhi Celebrations in Woolwich
For some years I had been documenting non secular festivals in and round London and had photographed plenty of Sikh Gurdwaras at their Vaisakhi festivals.
On Saturday ninth April 2011 I went to the Ramgarhia Affiliation Gurdwara in Mason’s Hill Woolwich. The Ramgarhia are a Sikh group who initially got here from the near Amritsar within the Punjab and historically they had been carpenters, blacksmiths and different artisan staff however had been famend for his or her army prowess and the victories of the armies.
After I turned up I used to be warmly welcomed and brought to the Langar corridor the place I loved among the free vegetarian meals on provide to all, ready and served by members of the congregation who volunteer their companies as part of their non secular follow and was in a position to speak with individuals there and wander round taking pictures.
The Gurdwara was established in 1970 in an present landmark constructing, the Victorian Freemasons Corridor, simply over the Woolwich border in Plumstead on a avenue which was then referred to as Mount Nice.
The Freemason’s Corridor was the place the Royal Arsenal Soccer Membership held its annual conferences and dinners, and on sixteenth Could 1891 that the Annual Common Assembly of the Royal Arsenal Soccer Membership (earlier often known as Dial Sq.) the committee introduced it had determined two weeks earlier to show skilled and had thus resigned from the novice Kent and London Associations.
In 1913, the membership moved throughout the river to a brand new stadium at Highbury, the place it continued to play till 2006, when it moved the brief distance to its new Emirates stadium. Apparently it’s doing fairly effectively in the meanwhile.
The Vaisakhi competition, which takes place on April 14 annually marks the formation of the Khalsa by Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru, in 1699. You may learn extra about this and the Vaisakhi Nagar Kirtan procession which is lead by 5 Khalsa – baptised Sikhs – wearing saffron robes and turbans and carrying swords within the account I wrote on My London Diary, Vaisakhi Celebrations in Woolwich, in addition to within the posts on different Vaisakhi processions on that website.
On My London Diary I wrote in additional element in regards to the origins of Vaisakhi and the tenth Sikh Guru who gave Sikhism its trendy kind with its symbols and the everlasting guru, the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy non secular scripture being reverently carried out to the procession in th image above.
Sadly the beginning of the procession was delayed and though I had photographed the preparations for it I needed to run to catch a prepare earlier than the precise begin of the colorful procession, with its joyful singing of Sikh hymns, martial arts demonstrations and Dhol drumming by way of the city, anticipated to take a number of hours.
Extra at Vaisakhi Celebrations in Woolwich.
Ugandans Demand Democracy – Uganda Home, Trafalgar Sq.
Ugandans had come to protest exterior Uganda Home in Trafalgar Sq., calling for brand new free and honest elections after the rigged Parliamentary and Presidential elections in February.
The election on 18 Feb had resulted within the re-election of the sitting president Yoweri Museveni, in energy for 25 years, apparently getting 68% of the vote.
However the EU Election Commentary Mission which had been in Uganda for the vote reported the election, with a turnout of solely 59% had been “marred by avoidable administrative and logistical failures which led to an unacceptable variety of Ugandan residents being disenfranchised” and that Museveni had used his presidential energy to “compromise severely the extent taking part in filed between the competing candidates and political events.”
In addition to the state owned Uganda Broadcasting Company giving way more protection to the ruling NRM occasion, there had been extenisve human rights abuses with the police failing to take motion towards teams attacking opposition political conferences, intimidation and assaults on journalists and the cancellation of broadcasts.
Freedom Umbrella Kurds March By means of London – Previous Marylebone Rd – Downing St
Freedom Umbrella (Chatri Azadi), a coalition of British-based Kurdish organisations and supporters, had organised an indication in entrance of the places of work of the Kurdistan Regional Authorities in Previous Marylebone Highway adopted by a march to a rally reverse Downing St.
They referred to as for assist of the individuals’s rebellion for freedom and social justice within the autonomous area of Iraqi Kurdistan which had begun on seventeenth February however had hardly been seen by UK media.
Two Kurdish militia teams dominate Iraqi Kurdistan and stay in energy. On nineteenth April their safety forces started a extra organised violent crackdown on the protests which introduced them to an finish.
I met the protesters because the march neared Trafalgar Sq. and photographed their rally reverse Downing Avenue.
Extra footage Freedom Umbrella Kurds March In London.
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London’s Industrial Heritage – London Pictures
All pictures on this web page are copyright © Peter Marshall.
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Tags: Arsenal, autonomous area, honest elections, Freedom Umbrella, Freemasons Corridor, genocide, Gurdwara, Guru Gobind Singh, Guru Granth Sahib, Iraq, Iraqi Kurdistan, Khalsa, Kurds, langar, London, London Pictures, march, Mason’s Hill, militia rule, Museveni, peter Marshall, procession, protest, Ramgarhia Affiliation, rigged election, Royal Arsenal Soccer Membership, Rwanda, saffron robes, Uganda Home, Ugandans, Vaisakhi, Woolwich
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