Here’s some helpful advice from the City of London Police on how best to prepare for this week’s expected G20 protests if you happen to be a City of London-based business:
# Cancel unnecessary meetings
# Make sure all staff wear ID
# Stagger staff arrival and departures
# Cancel deliveries
# Keep movement in and out of business premises to a minimum
# Make sure security staff are fully briefed and wearing high visibility jackets
# Review smoking areas – Do they weaken access security?
# Consider security staff checking ID outside premises to create natural barrier
# Ensure business continuity plans are up to date
# Create a media strategy and nominate a spokesperson
# Make sure all staff are updated regularly
# Review whether staff should use own vehicles to come to work
# Check CCTV is working
# Ensure information is disseminated throughout multi occupied premises in plenty of time
# Advise staff not to antagonise protestors and risk escalation in incidents. Dealbreaker, meanwhile, reports how some City businesses have interpreted the advice specifically:
JPMorgan is allowing its London employees to wear casual attire, including jeans and tennis shoes, according to an internal memo obtained by Forbes. It advises people to “avoid briefcases” and laptop bags, in favor of backpacks and plastic carrier bags. This may not be as easy as it sounds, since bankers are used to wearing suits and smart ties to work, The Guardian of London argues. The newspaper’s fashion mavens believe the ideal outfit would be the “ironic Hoxton suit,” which, for New Yorkers, would be similar to the look of a Williamsburg hipster and consist of a “brilliantly boring cardigan, neatly buttoned and worn with a skinny-ish tie and narrow-fit trousers.”
So for those worried about being targeted remember: avoid briefcases and resist the temptation to comment on the craftsmanship of fake banknotes (like the one below) being handed out by protesters.
Related links:
How not to look like a banker – The Guardian
Storm the banks Flyer – G20 Meltdown campaign
Proposed protest route – City of London Police website