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Conway Hall, London

Kevin Gately died on 15 June 1974 as the result of a head injury received in the Red Lion Square public disorder in London while protesting against the National Front, a far-right, British fascist party. Gately, a 20-year-old student, was not a member of any organisation. On 15 June, the National Front held a march through central London in support of the expulsion of immigrants. A counter-demonstration was planned by Liberation, an anti-colonial pressure group. When the Liberation march reached Red Lion Square, the International Marxist Group twice charged the police cordon blocking access to Conway Hall (pictured). Police reinforcements forced the demonstrators out of the square. Gately was found unconscious on the ground. He was taken to hospital and died later that day. A public inquiry into the events was conducted by Lord Scarman, who found no evidence that Gately had been killed by the police, although he found fault with some police actions. There was further violence associated with National Front marches and the counter-demonstrations they faced, including in Birmingham, Manchester, and the East End of London (all in 1977), and in Southall in 1979, which led to the death of Blair Peach. (Full article...)

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On this day

June 15: Day of Arafah (Islam, 2024); King's Official Birthday in the United Kingdom (2024)

Sallie Gardner at a Gallop

1215 – King John of England and a group of rebel barons agreed on the text of Magna Carta, an influential charter of rights.
1800 – War of the Second Coalition: The signing of the Convention of Alessandria brought temporary peace between France and Austria.
1878 – Eadweard Muybridge took a series of photographs to prove that all four feet of a horse leave the ground when it gallops (animation pictured), which became the basis of motion pictures.
1944 – World War II: The United States Army Air Forces began its first air raid on the Japanese archipelago, although little damage was caused.
1996 – The Troubles: The Provisional Irish Republican Army detonated a truck bomb in the commercial centre of Manchester, England, injuring more than 200 people and causing widespread damage to buildings.

Lisa del Giocondo (b. 1479)
Adam Eckfeldt (b. 1769)
James K. Polk (d. 1849)
Oliver Kahn (b. 1969)

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Today's featured picture

Trithemis annulata, commonly known as the violet dropwing, is a species of dragonfly in the family Libellulidae. It is found in most of Africa, the Middle East, and southern Europe. Males of this species are violet-red with red veins in the wings, while females are yellow and brown. Both sexes have red eyes. This female violet dropwing was photographed near Kalopanagiotis in Cyprus.

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

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