G20 Protest Update – Early Afternoon Day 2

There’s some tension in the air around Bank if you care to feel it. Police are stopping and searching anyone who looks too suspicious for their liking and the police I spoke to didn’t think it was all over just yet. The police helicopter was just hovering over the Liverpool Street area but it seems unlikely that we’ll see anything on the scale of yesterday as the protesters don’t seem to be that organised, particularly when contrasted with the police.

At 1pm there was a short ceremony to remember the man who died during the protests yesterday, who was himself a protester. The circumstances surrounding his death will no doubt be examined over the coming days but I hope it won’t turn into a political football. Just around the corner police horses were lined up in front of the boarded-up windows of the RBS building (picture top) which was attacked by protesters yesterday and you can find pictures for this and more on my Flickr page and Twitter updates (right)

City Blog Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/moorgatemercurius/

G20 Protests Update – The 2nd Morning

Quite a day yesterday. After my last blog post I headed off through the Climate Camp and then on to Bank. The police had it pretty well sealed off but had missed one side street that enabled me to get in between the two police lines on Queen Victoria Street with a number of other people and journalists at the time when the police were pushing the protesters back towards Bank. Every time the police moved forward the crowd reacted and broken bottles littered the streets with the occasional sign of blood. I saw some protesters being treated for injuries incurred in the scuffles, as much through so-called friendly fire as anything. Word to the wise. If you’re going to throw a bottle from five or ten rows back then your chances are slim of hitting the two or three rows of police. It’s much more likely that it’s either going to sail over their heads or catch one of your fellow protesters in the back of the head… as I saw yesterday.

This morning’s 7am demo at the Stock Exchange turned out to be about ten people and a Monopoly board made out of carpet. 200-300 police around the area made sure that there were going to be no surprises and even the journalists outnumbered the protesters.

It’s unlikely the City will see anything like the disorder and disruption of yesterday again today as the focus will be on Docklands and the Excel Centre but if anything happens I’ll keep you posted.

Check out my photos on Flickr or view the slideshow on the right-hand side, and have a look at my Youtube vids.

City Blog Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/moorgatemercurius/

City Blog Youtube
http://www.youtube.com/thecityblog