Police stretched for upcoming protests.

 

You may remember that nearly a month ago I let you know about the upcoming April 1st protests in the City and it seems that this week the press have caught onto the idea with gusto! The Evening Standard is spouting a mixture of fact and hyperbole though other sources are being more sanguine with The Times reporting Commander Bob Broadhurst of the Metropolitan Police as saying:
“We are seeing unprecedented planning among protest groups. Some of the groups of the late 90s are coming back to the fore and there is a coming together of anarchists, anti-globalisation groups and environmentalists. They are plotting and planning what they are going to do and the picture is changing almost every minute. They have some very clever people and their intention on April 1 is to stop the City.”

There are now three protests planned on April 1st:
The G20 Meltdown protest starts at 11am with four groups starting at Cannon Street, Liverpool Street, London Bridge and Moorgate and then marching to the Bank of England at 12 noon.
At 12.30 The Climate Camp starts outside 62 Bishopsgate and lasts for 24 hours.
At 2.30pm Stop The War and various other groups congregate outside the US Embassy in the West End.

Obviously this is going to be a big stretch for the Police so if you work in the City you ought to find out what your company’s response is going to be and you need to think about what contingency plans you may need to have to get home if it all goes pear-shaped.

Met: G20 protesters will stretch us to our limit
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5946908.ece

Climate Camp 09
http://www.climatecamp.org.uk/g20

G20 Meltdown at the Bank of England
http://www.g-20meltdown.org/

Fossil Fools Day
http://www.fossilfoolsdayofaction.org/

City of London Police
http://www.cityoflondon.police.uk/

Metropolitan Police
http://www.met.police.uk/

Don’t be an April Fool

Another year, another set of protests. This time assorted groups, led by the Climate Camp, are going to disrupt the City on 1st April to make their assorted points on the eve of the G20 group meeting. It’s not 100% clear at this time whether some fringe groups may abuse this as an opportunity for further disorder but at the very least there’ll be some disruption as Bishopsgate and the Bank of England are already mentioned as targets.

In the past our company has recommended that staff come in dressed in casuals to avoid the eggs and flour that greeted some City folks at mainline stations in the past so you may want to start thinking about your options, particularly if you have an office full of staff to manage.

If you want to join the protestors, or any police and professional security people pretending to be protestors, or instead avoid the whole lot entirely then probably your best option  is to keep an eye on the following sites for information in the run-up to the day.

Climate Camp 09
http://www.climatecamp.org.uk/g20

G20 Meltdown at the Bank of England
http://www.g-20meltdown.org/

Fossil Fools Day
http://www.fossilfoolsdayofaction.org/

City of London Police
http://www.cityoflondon.police.uk/