G20: RBS raided by protesters, windows smashed and fire started

a did predict a riot,even the old age pensioners are out in force protesting.It has only just begun it would not surprise me if anarchy ensues.People are just so fed up hearing the same old lame excuses and false promises.

I don't normally watch TV but this morning I watched sky news, not for any particular reason.

I noticed that they were building the G20 protest up like you would expect to see on a cup final day or the grand national, Sky news were saying there was going to be trouble, they showed people sitting on the pavement drinking a cup of tea poured from pot.

They also showed us plywood being erected into window frames as you would expect to see if we had a hurricane warning.

The top images for this story show the rbs bank getting attacked where was the plywood?

Many photographers on hand just at the right place at the right time, that looks set up to me.

propaganda in action.

good story.

a privilege to be part of the colorouful protests at the bank of england, to see the place stormed by people of all sort, everyone there for the same reason, and not for the usual ones, and not the usual suits. i loved the chaos and the sense of freedom. police barriers during the protest and towards the end, closing all us in, trying to tire us, did not manage to spoil the general atmosphere and the enthusiasm and motivion of the people there.
people together!

nonsibattechiodo has contributed a photo to this story.

We are all angry, breaking windows is the least of our dark wishes.

It's starting to get ugly!

I read that the fire was started when protestors burnt a banker in effigy.

These were shot in Trafalgar Square not long before the square got flooded with people of the End Wars rally. Despite the excitement and madness going on in the City and the incoming march into the square, the atmosphere was peaceful and quiet (though the sheer number of policemen around was a good hint...). The foot on the left will be only the first of several attempts to destroy this street-art piece...

GianLeo has contributed a photo to this story.

what are they trying to slip by us while this expected protest takes over the news?

What the workers did at the BOE is shocking, but attacking another bank? That is just not worth it I think.

Great piece of street art and fantastic design concept....be assured that it will survive for a very long time, at least in photograph form, and hopefully all viewers/readers will be publishing a copy of this on their facebook etc sites - keeping this piece alive, long after the long foot of the ignorant have failed to understand it.....

err, small niggle but today wasn't Monday, it was Wednesday April 1st, aka Fossil Fools' Day.

re "the armoured vehicle", it's very much disarmed, more linked from here

"so far been mostly ignored"... reported on london indymedia baton charged by riot cops in the early evening, ie after the commuters had mostly gone home

"these were all 'Down'" - yep that's normal, comes together with a caption saying its to help keep London's traffic flowing too!

BBC has a fairly decent report on Climate Camp G20 here

for a future world built on principles of freedom, direct democracy, mutual aid, solidarity and equality without rulers or masters more underclassrising.net all images are taken from indymedia and copyleft

Room 1834 has contributed a photo to this story.

Is any one throwing shoes yet?

We spent half the afternoon at the temporary camp site around the corner of our London studio on normally one of the bussiest streets of the City of London, Bishopsgate. The RBS Bank on the corner was turned into a fortress by the police, but the camp site down the road was a peaceful sit-in with great people from all ages. In between the building sites where finanicial capitalism continues to create its skyscrapers no matter what it seems, the save the planet crowd turned out to be heavy media users, from phones to photo to video, with even a bicycle-powered sound system. Media and technology are definitely central to such an event. We planet savers are not anti-technology but please take turns pedaling if you want to keep dancing!

basra has contributed a photo to this story.

IM LEFTY :P 

friggin mindblowing

The beginning of a revolt or a revolution?

The bail out plan was the wrong road to take. Reforms is what is needed and justice.

From every G8 or G11 or G20 meeting there has been a constant escalation of anger and frustration for over a decade now. When will the elite start to listen? I suppose only after their heads start rolling as Louis the XVI ended up rolling.

Can we not learn and be pro active rather then require such revolts and before reforms are made. 

We suffer or rather our elite suffers from Louis XVI syndrome.

For me, the protesters are the mirror-image of the elites screwing up the world. They are mostly anarchists and other extremists. They make a lot of noise but they don't represent a lot of people.

They are angry at bank bailouts which is why banks were targeted. There are also groups there promoting climate change.

nah, that was done in both London and Edinburgh on the Gaza protests in January, but its a tad peripheral to the meltdown of capitalism?

Wow look at that. That is an incredible photo.

You gotta eat the rich before they eat you. 

lol

It respect being lost on all sides.Its a shame it has come to such a awful sense of anxious and anger. People have been really made to suffer as soon as the war begun.New Labour with the Blare Babes was all about pushing women to the front line  to assure they fall at the last line.................................................Its a shambles and it has been created by the goverment not the people, the general public have as much right as anyone to stand up for the sake of there own dignity and survival. The dissabled people have been forced to work when they clearly cant, the students who are all running up student loan debts,only to find that after all the hard work and study to achieve a degree in their chosen field.They are left to dwindle around temp jobs or droping out completely to travel or ,or,or, Here in the UK you will have a clever guy who has a degree serving you your pitza. The jobs are being replaced by technology. The world of power is one big ego trip.

Exactly. They are no more representative of the majority than the fat cats. I hate mindlessness; targeting everything because you disagree with something is not intelligent or engaged. There are a lot of people in those protests who get off on the excitement, and their fanaticism is no better than any other thuggery.
Respect though to the ones who protest with imagination and respect, they're far more interesting.

People should take the time to read this...it is not going to get better with Obama..He is quite delusional...

http://www.countercurrents.org/petras010409.htm.................

Rev. Jermano