Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire
Promoting human rights from Salisbury UK
March 2024
The fourteenth vigil was held in the Market Square attracting strong support as usual. There was coverage in the Salisbury Journal. The vigil is to promote peace in Gaza.
There was another on Saturday 16th (brief report soon). Over 30,000 have now died in the conflict with thousands more injured. Thousands more are missing presumed dead.
February 2024
A YouTube video composite of the twelve vigils so far held has been made and can be accessed here. We are grateful to Peter Gloyns for this.
A vigil is held every Saturday in the market square in Salisbury which receives a continuing high level of support. The twelfth one was held on 24th February, starting at 5:45 pm and lasting half an hour. Just over 50 attended. The aim is to promote the cause of peace in Gaza and Israel generally. Violence continues in Gaza and there is an expectation that the death toll will reach 30,000 this week. Thousands more have been wounded. Many of the dead are women and children.
There is talk of negotiations leading to a ceasefire but whether this is so is questioned: Hamas representatives say not, Israel negotiators say maybe. Let us hope there is success.
The scale of destruction is Gaza is immense and will take colossal sums of money to put right.
The Vigils will continue through March and all are welcome.
The Salisbury group was established 50 years ago this year
February 2024
Forty and sometimes over 50, have attended half hour vigils in the Market Square in Salisbury to draw attention to the terrible events going on in Gaza. Reports of over 27,000 dead, many of whom are children with thousands more injured, some seriously, represent a terrible indictment of the state of international politics today. Just over half the buildings in the strip are demolished or severely damaged as a result of the bombing. Attempts at peacekeeping and an end to the violence have so far come to naught.
Members of Salisbury Concern for Israel Palestine, CND and the Amnesty group attend with others.
Nine vigils have now taken place and although attendance varies it seldom dips below 40. They begin at 17:15 for 30 minutes every Saturday in February (at least).
Pictures: Salisbury Amnesty
We were filmed by Salisbury TV (Channel 7 in this area) and they say they will transmit at 6pm this evening.
We shall be holding a vigil for refugees today (Monday 25th) starting at 10am for 2 hours. Outside the Guildhall in the market square. We would be grateful for any supporters able to spare a minute or two to drop by.
The group will be holding a brief vigil outside the Guildhall on Monday 25th March starting at 10am for 2 hours. Refugees are a contentious issue in this country and indeed, concerns about immigrants and refugees were a key issue in the Brexit debate. Although the UK takes in a miniscule number compared to the 25 million or so refugees in the world, they loom large in our political process and in the tabloid press. Biblical terms like ‘swarms’, ‘hordes’ and ‘floods’ are regularly deployed to describe those fleeing here.
We would welcome any support you can give even if it’s just to come and say ‘hello’. We sometimes feel a little exposed at these events and there are some people who have forcefully held views so shows or support are welcome.
This would also be a good moment if you are thinking of joining the group to make yourself known. The picture shows a similar event last year.
We have a fairly active programme of events and they are gathered here for convenience. If you live in the Salisbury or even South Wilts area you would be welcome to come to any one of them. If you are thinking of joining, then make yourself known to one of the group. You would be very welcome.
• Refugee Vigil – to be re-arranged. We did have a date but unfortunately it clashed with the fair in the Market Square so it has been postponed
• Citizenship Day – 26th October. Where go into schools in the area and discuss human rights issues with pupils. Despite several requests, the UTC has not responded
• Christmas Tree Festival – 3rd – 10th December. This is in St Thomas’s Church in the centre of Salisbury and we will be displaying a tree there. It will focus on the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
• Human Rights Day Speaker – 10th December. We are delighted to welcome Daniel Trilling who is an author and journalist and who will be speaking at the Methodist Church at 7pm. This is a FREE event but we ask for a parting collection to help cover our costs
• Exhibition of Refugee Photographs – January 2019 – Some
details to be worked out but these are the photos we displayed in the Library (pictured) and we are pleased that the Methodist Church has agreed to host them during the month.
• Arts Centre Film – 8th March 2019. We host a film once and sometimes twice a year in the Arts Centre. Details nearer the time.
• Market Stall (pictured) – 8th June 2019. Fund raising stall we hold in the Market Square once a year
Carol singing. With the aid of the Farrant Singers, we travel around the Victoria Road, College Street areas singing carols. This will be in December and details to be announced.
We are also on Twitter and Facebook, salisburyai
Members of the Salisbury group held a vigil in front of the Guildhall in Salisbury in support of refugees and asylum seekers. We were delighted with the response which was not huge but even so, several came forward and thanked us for our efforts which was gratifying. A number signed our petition. Refugees and asylum seekers get a poor reception in this country and the negative nature of coverage by the tabloid press cannot help. We reported in a previous blog, Sir Vince Cable’s observation that Theresa May, when she was Home Secretary, suppressed a number of reports which showed the benefits of immigration. She is also famous for the statement to a Conservative party conference about a man unable to be deported ‘because he had a cat’: “I’m not making this up” she famously said. Only she was.
For another picture of this event go to this link on the Salisbury Camera Club site.
If you live in the Salisbury area and are interested in joining us we would be pleased to see you. The best thing is to keep an eye on this Website or on Twitter or Facebook (salisburyai) for our events and come along and introduce yourself. It is free to join the local group.
On Saturday members of the Salisbury group held a one hour vigil in St Thomas’s church to highlight the use of the death penalty around the world. The vigil was timely as the world’s leading executioner is China whose president is on a state visit to the UK now. Second is Iran and then Saudi Arabia.
Numbers were very disappointing partly because we were unable to achieve any publicity.
The minutes of the October meeting are now available. The group discussed the forthcoming Vigil at St Thomas’s; the tapestry and where that could be displayed; social media statistics; the death penalty; the forthcoming film at the Arts Centre and a report on the correspondence with John Glen concerning the government’s changes to its human rights policies.
UPDATE: 8 October. Richard Glossip has been given an indefinite stay of execution
We attach the monthly death penalty report for September thanks to group member Lesley for compiling it. China remains the world leader in the use of the death penalty.
