On Monday 30th and Tuesday 31st August 2010, a group of volunteers from the Leeds and Bradford areas went to the site of the Leeds Festival, held over the previous weekend, to salvage tents, sleeping bags and clothing for refugees in Calais who are seeking asylum but denied access to shelter and the right to work there.

On Monday 31st May 2010, as a flotilla of ships carrying aid supplies sailed towards Palestine, Israeli troops boarded them, whilst in International waters, and attacked those on board.

People all around the world reacted to the attacks, and many protests were held in the north of England.

Reports of protests in; Bradford - 1st June (with audio) - 5th June (with audio) - Video | Newcastle (article) - Photos| Leeds (with video) | Liverpool (video) | Manchester (report)  - Photos | Sheffield

Today over 1000 people protested in Bradford in suport of Palestine and the global movement to campaign for the human rights of the Palestinian people.

Amidst drizzle and soggy canvas, here are a few of the sights.

This years MayDay, or International Workers Day, saw some of the biggest efforts made for years across the North of England as people came out in decent numbers to celebrate what is traditionally the most important day of the Anarchist calendar. Events were held in Manchester, Bradford and Leeds, alongside happenings at various locations around the UK and World to mark the occasion.

Mayday events around the UK and further afield: Chesterfield | Coventry | Manchester | Dublin | Nottingham | Edinburgh | Bradford (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) | London (1) (2) (3) (4) (video) | Wombles | Athens

Background and related stories: Haymarket History | OurMayDay.org | Mayday Meltdown | MayDay 2004 Cancelled | 1909 MayDay Massacre, Argentina | Bradford 98

Photographs from the May Day celebration in Bradford

On the evening of February 14th 2010, some people came to Bradford's 1in12 club to see one of a series of global screenings of Tactical Tech's "Ten Tactics" hosted by the Northern Indymedia Collective. I went because I thought I was probably an "info-activist," and so, like most political film-goers I've met, I wanted to be told more about myself and feel like part of a global movement. And I didn't have a Hallmark Holiday co-celebrant. This is what we thought about it.

At 12pm on Saturday 13th February, 2010, between 100-150 Animal Rights activists gathered at Centenary Square in the centre of Bradford to protest against the use of animals for experimentation at the University of Bradford.

A march through the streets and up to the University building witnessed several arrests and what many regarded to be heavy handed policing tactics, as protestors were prevented from handing out leaflets to the public on several occasions and two were arrested for attempting to obscure the view of the FIT (Forward Intelligence Team) cameraman who was trying to film people attending the legal demonstration. Several small skirmishes ensued causing a high level of tension between the Police and demonstrators.

Today, Friday 12th February at 9am, 66 people in Bradford, West Yorkshire began a hunger strike in solidarity with hunger strikers in Yarl's Wood Detention Facility, Bedfordshire over the imprisonment of children and general conditions of detained asylum seekers. The solidarity strike will continue until 9am tomorrow, Saturday 13th.

84 women have gone on hunger strike in Yarl's Wood Detention Facility, in protest at the treatment of asylum seekers and immigrants detained for deportation from this country. Their hunger strike started on the 5th February, and continues. Up to the minute details of the strike can be found from the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns (NCADC).

A demonstration is currently underway at the headquarters of B&K Universal in Hull, which is a company that specialises in breeding animals for laboratory research. Most notably, they are the chief supplier of animals for the widely targeted vivisection laboratory, Huntingdon Life Sciences in Cambridgeshire.

The demonstration has attracted activists from across the North of England and beyond. The focus of the protest is concentrated around the main gates to the complex, and activists in attendance are shouting slogans and holding banners demanding the business be closed.

After seven months of occupying woodlands in South Lanarkshire the Mainshill Solidarity Camp is preparing for an eviction on Monday the 25th. The camp called a pre-eviction gathering after receiving a tip-off.

They are calling for people to come to the site and prepare to resist the forced removal by the notorious National Eviction Team, who visited the site late last year. The land they are occupying belongs to the Earl of Home who plans to allow Scottish Coal to extract 1.7m tonnes of coal ear marked for Drax power station in Yorkshire.

Mainshill Solidarity Camp | Pre-Eviction Gathering Details | Coal Action Scotland | Directions to the camp | Indymedia Scotland

To mark International Animal Rights Day 2009, activists across the country held demonstrations and vigils in their towns to draw attention to animal abuse and suffering.

In Bradford, anti-vivisectionists held a noisy and visual demo at the University of Bradford to draw attention to their ongoing animal testing programme which has become under growing pressure to stop.

At the University of Leeds, a candle-lit vigil was held on the Parkinson Building steps, bringing in much support and exposing the 22 deaths a day inside their laboratories. Leafleting also took place in the city centre.

Ten years have passed since the first Indymedia site came to life in November 30th 1999. Media activists came together for the first time during the amazing anti-WTO summit protests that took place in Seattle (US), kickstarting the emergence of a global 'movement of movements' that has spent this decade struggling against neoliberalism, war and environmental destruction.

But this has also been a Movement that has shown a capability for constructing collective processes for democratic and horizontal alternatives to Capitalism. Indymedia is a good example of such a living alternative. For ten years a global network of websites, collectives and individuals have been working together to maintain the IMC project alive and kicking. There are many examples of successes, as well as a few instances where both Indymedia sites and indiviuals have had to face repression and even death in the hands of state repression - Brad Will, presente. But Indymedia has not gone away, not even for a minute during these long 10 years, and it is set to continue moving forward with new strategies and energy.

Today in City Square, Leeds, the English Defence League held a rally. The EDL is a nationalist, islamophobic organisation formed earlier this year and is widely viewed as racist.

A counter-demonstration was organised by Unite Against Fascism (UAF). Participants described it variously as being dull, jubilant and tightly controlled. Meanwhile, other anti-EDL groups attempted to confront EDL directly. Reports suggest that at least two large groups attempted to reach EDL to confront them at City Square, but were turned back towards the UAF rally by police (see time-line for first-hand accounts).

Reports from the area around City Square were that most of the EDL supporters didn't go into their pen. Some were held between police lines and others regrouped on Boar Lane, before being brought back to the railway station by the police. Another group of EDL marched around the Albion Street area and responded violently when challenged about their inflammatory chanting.

Newswire reports: [1] | [2] | [3] | [4] | [5] | [6]

Search site for tagged material: edl anti-fascism racism

Videos: Antifascists March To The Library | Edl Supporters Arrive From The Train Station | Antifascists Let Off A Flare On March

Time-line: Minute-by-minute eye-witness reports | Map to make sense of despatches

Previous reports: EDL demo in Luton banned | EDL outnumbered in Manchester | Account of EDL Birmingham Demo | EDL refused permission for Bristol demo

Today activists in Leeds got together to put on a huge day of activites and info in Leeds City Centre to talk to people about the Climate Change and how we can take action to ruduce our carbon useage.

Here are some photos from the day of some of the different groups and what they were up to. For more info or to get involved see the links below.