Clad in an army surplus jacket, baggy jeans and the obligatory scuffed trainers, FT Alphaville set forth to the G20 City protests.
The marchers, divided into four individual groups covering money crimes, climate chaos, homelessness, and war, were to meet at noon by the Bank of England, having snaked their way through the City.
Initially the intersection around the BoE was populated with more press and police than protesters. Legal observers, armed with advice for demonstrators, were also on hand to pass out leaflets and the contact numbers of solicitors.
When the protesters began arriving, led by ‘Horsemen of the Apocalypse’ effigies comprised of cloth and spraypaint, there was something of a carnival atmosphere about the area. People had brought picnics, beer, their children and pets to attend the protests. Drums and Reggae music bleated around Princes Street, with observers snapping photos of the myriad signs and banners.
A good day out, for most.
Curiously, things began to turn sour once police left the immediate area around the BoE to form a wider cordon surrounding the intersection of Threadneedle and Victoria Streets. FT Alphaville, along with many others, was told by officers they would not be allowed to leave. Even valid press identification was not accepted as an escape pass, until we chanced upon one senior officer sympathetic to the FT Alphaville cause.
The first incidence of violence, unsurprisingly then, happened in front of these police cordons. RBS’s offices on Threadneedle Street have since been broken into and mounted riot police have arrived on the scene. The cordon-induced claustrophobia within the area won’t help diffuse tensions between police and protesters.
Likewise the actions of banking staff are unlikely to engender much good feeling from the attendant crowds. BoE employees (presumably) were seen laughing and pointing from the stone balconies of the landmark building, shown below. In response, the protesters began a chant of “JUMP BANKERS!” and worse.
Onlookers on the balcony of the Bank of England.
Protestors chanting ‘JUMP bankers’.
Related links:
Protest in the City, in pictures, part one – FT Alphaville
Protest in the City, in pictures, part two – FT Alphaville
Protest in the City – FT Alphaville
Twitters from Threadneedle Street – FT Alphaville
Be warned Cityworkers – FT Alphaville
Protestors surround Bank of England – FT