Most of the development that is taking place in Tower Hamlets is unaffordable housing. The pictures show a protest organised by Respect at 7.30 this morning outside a building site in Bow.

For that early in the morning on a working day it was a very good turnout. Some of the locals who are having to endure major construction works in their back gardens turned up as well. The building is taking place on what used to be a grassy space with cherry trees and a football pitch.

The photos give a good indication of Respect’s diversity and actions like this, in which councillors Rania Khan, Abdul Munim and Lutfa Begum participated show that the organisation’s politics won’t be confined to the council chamber.

Mercifully we didn’t have to do any of that lying down in the road, being shouted at by lorry drivers and dragged off by the police. I’m not at my best first thing in the morning.

As is so often the way things got even more interesting after I left. It turns out that the developers don’t have full planning permission. Despite a stop notice served by Tower Hamlets Council there were still construction workers on site, so protesters called the police. The police were satisfied that no work was being carried out, but that construction workers were merely “removing their tools from the site for health and safety reasons”.

It was so much fun we are doing it again on Tuesday at 7.30am.