What happened on October 7th and thereafter need no explanation from me here, nor does the continuing wave of demonstrations that continues to take place in cities around the world.

Traditionally a politically left leaning society, there has long been strong support in Glasgow for Palestine and its people, indeed Bethlehem is one of Glasgow’s twin cities. Therefore, it was inevitable that the city centre streets would be host to another series of rallies and marches, and it was also inevitable that I would be there documenting once again, in the same manner that I had done so for virtually every other major demonstration that had occurred there in recent years.

Except this time, it was different. This wasn’t a local or even national issue; people were reacting to events that took place two time zones away. Also, it wasn’t new, sadly the latest chapter in an ongoing conflict, one that had been going on long enough for the polarisation caused by support for either side to permeate the very fabric of our society, and this polarisation reared to the surface once again very quickly.

In Glasgow and the West of Scotland we have our own religious divide, some of whose followers find association with either side of the conflict in Israel and Palestine, so it wasn’t long before this made its way to the terraces of both rival Glasgow football clubs, and subsequently shaped opinion within some sections of the public.

The first few demonstrations were fairly well attended, and trouble free. There were a few situations that made me feel uncomfortable, but generally I was able to go about my usual business of documenting in my own way. As the weeks progressed the numbers grew and the police started to display a bit more opposition, especially when the static rallies turned into impromptu and unauthorised marches through the city centre. This may have been driven by the increasingly hostile language used by the UK government, describing them as ‘hate marches’, although it is worth mentioning that the Scottish Parliament, led by First Minister Humza Yousaf, whose wife and in-laws are Palestinian, formally called for a ceasefire and the unconditional release of Israeli hostages on the 21st of November. Some arrests were made, and one of the main organisers, Mick Napier, a seasoned pro-Palestinian campaigner, was eventually banned from attending any demonstration in Scotland as part of his bail conditions. The tone of the demonstrations changed too, particularly in light of the increasing international calls for a ceasefire and the refusal of UK politicians in London to back this call. Additionally, companies located in Glasgow that were associated with the arms trade found themselves the target of localised demonstrations.

The photographs taken, some of which are shown here, and the archive that I continue to build are simply a documentary record of these demonstrations that continue to take place, made in my own style - a record of reactionary events where I live. Nothing more, nothing less. Sure, there are political messages in the placards shown in my images, but that’s the nature of this type of photography.

For some people this is understandably a very emotional subject, and the polarisation that I referred to surfaced in many ways, particularly on social media which is by its very nature global in reach. Images shared on the usual platforms attracted some particularly unsavoury comments. I wasn’t alone in this; other photographers suffered from the same and it became a topic of discussion amongst us at the start of events. Rationality seemed to go out of the window, the politics, and events behind the subject matter of the imagery was the object of opinionated commentary rather than the photography itself. I wasn’t using hashtags, so this was from photographers who had chosen to follow me. They were using my images as a platform for their own viewpoints, in a manner that most likely broke community rules due to the language used, and I found this unacceptable. I went from deleting comments, to blocking offenders and then posting the images with the comments turned off. I was essentially dealing with a form online abuse, which has now thankfully stopped.

I’ve mentioned the polarisation related to this subject, so where do I stand on it? I’m a socialist and pacifist, I’m against violence, religious bigotry, indeed intolerance of any kind. I particularly abhor leaders who hide behind any reason to justify violence, where usually the most vulnerable disproportionally suffer the consequences. Everyone has the right to safe sanctuary in a place they call home, where they can live a meaningful life. Hopefully the need for these demonstrations will stop soon, but that looks unlikely given the recent events in Yemen. Hopefully, peace will be given chance.