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The campaign to free detainee Babar Ahmad got a boost from a large meeting organised by students at Imperial College, London, last week. Students in Imperial Against Imperialism (the college’s anti-war group), Amnesty International and the Islamic Society got around 160 people to the meeting.

TWENTY FIVE students and teachers from City and Islington College, north London, protested outside the home office on Tuesday of last week over the threatened deportation of student Abdul Turay.

I HAD been wondering what to do at my workplace, a university in south London, in the run-up to the 19 March anti-war demonstration. I spoke to colleagues and we decided to propose a whole week of events around the theme of "debating war, defending justice".

COUNCIL TENANTS are standing up to bullying and blackmail in Lambeth, south London, and fighting back against proposals to privatise their housing.

Saturday 26 FebruaryPalestine Solidarity Campaign conference, 10.30am, Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London WC1.Phone 020 7700 6192 for more details

Hackney schools protest Students, parents and staff from Haggerston school in Hackney, east London, protested last week at threats to the school from the spread of city academies in the area.

Saturday 12 FebruaryStop the War Coalition national conference, London. Go to www.stopwar.org.ukKyoto climate march, 11.30am, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, near Holborn tube, central London. For details go to www.campaignagainstclimatechange.net House of Commons Council Housing group of MPs session to collect evidence to back the demand for direct investment in council housing, 2-4pm, Swallow Hotel, High Street West, Gateshead.

Respect kicked off its election campaign in Newham, east London, last weekend with street stalls and a walkabout by Lindsey German and Abdul Khaliq, prospective parliamentary candidates for the borough.Lindsey and Abdul pledged support for the campaign to save Queens Market, which Newham’s New Labour council wants to sell to private developers.

Babar Ahmad, a 30 year old computer technician from Tooting, South London, is currently in jail awaiting an extradition hearing. He was arrested last year on the request of US authorities, who accuse him of funding "terrorism" in Chechnya and Afghanistan, which he denies.

THREE HUNDRED people packed out a public meeting in east London last week and turned the heat on New Labour over threatened cuts to the fire service.

RESPECT KICKED off a programme of activities in east London last weekend that will run all the way up to polling day. Over 100 supporters gathered to finish off a leaflet distribution in Tower Hamlets. Next weekend will see similar activity across parts of neighbouring Newham, where Respect is challenging for both seats.

ABOUT 400 Zimbabweans living in Britain gathered outside the home office in London last Saturday to protest against forced deportation back to president Mugabe’s vicious regime. New Labour’s policy of restarting deportations means political activists are sent back to the jails and torturer chambers of the Zimbabwean state.