
June: Black Lives Matter protesters take to the streets and incorporate the slogan ‘Black Trans Lives Matter’
2020 in photos: reviewing a year of turbulence
Steve Eason •From Black Lives Matter marches to nurses’ pay protests to right-wing marches against lockdown, here is 2020 through the lens of London protest photographer Steve Eason.
Photographer’s note: The gallery of images below tries to capture my experience of photographing protests in London this year under difficult circumstances, with restrictions on daily life and large gatherings, and with much of the organised left in self-isolation and avoiding travel during the pandemic year.
Other than the Black Lives Matter demonstrations that brought thousands of people onto the streets after the killing of George Floyd, 2020 in Britain has mainly not been a year for mass marches – in the photos that follow, I try to show some of the more creative ways of demonstrating.
Credit is also due to Extinction Rebellion, Earth Strike and Amazon Not Pasture for their dedication to protesting climate change and showing solidarity with the Global South.
Of course, not all street protests this year have been benign, and the gallery reflects this. For instance, some of the photos that follow are from anti-lockdown protests, which have become a hotbed for conspiracy theories and far-right ideas.
Tomorrow is a new year, and the left must face it with determination to keep fighting for a better future.
- January: protesters opposing the rush towards war with Iran
- January: A pro-Brexit counter-protester at an anti-Brexit demonstration on ‘Brexit Day’
- February: BP Must Fall at the British Museum
- February: XR protesters raise the slogan ‘Climate crisis – health crisis’
- May: Protesters at London’s first large Black Lives Matter demonstration this year, in Trafalgar Square.
- May: XR protest marking the final weekend of 1st London lockdown
- June: Black Trans Lives Matter
- June: ‘Racism is a virus’ – protesting the murder of George Floyd at the US Embassy
- June: Black Lives Matter protesters take to the streets and incorporate the slogan ‘Black Trans Lives Matter’
- June: ‘Silence is Betrayal’ at BLM protest
- July: Earth Strike protesting Unilever
- July: Nurses protesting the government’s continued pay freeze on NHS workers.
- August: PCS strike rally against cuts to jobs at the Tate Modern
- August: Culture Workers Against the Cuts supporting Southbank staff
- August: NHS staff protest over pay
- August: Stop the Silvertown Tunnel protest – Banshees on the DLR
- September: Second annual London Trans+ Pride
- September: Extinction Rebellion protest outside the Bank of England
- September: ‘Socialism or Death’ – Earth Strike protest in the City
- September: NHS workers protest Covid safety and pay outside the BBC
- September: Anti-lockdown protests
- September: Mass anti mask rally in Trafalgar Square
- September: journalist in PPE attending an anti-lockdown rally
- September: Climate change activists taunt Trump supporters at Parliament Square
- October: Amazon Not Pasture march
- October: EndSARS: solidarity with Nigerians protesting police brutality
- December: police scuffling with anti-lockdown protesters
- December: Zero Covid carry out their first London protest at Serco HQ
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