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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2009 0:08:01 GMT
With many newspapers today ramping up the chances of some serious violence I wondered if anyone is a little nervous about the coming week's G20 protests.
I work in the square mile (though I am not in the banking sector) and we've had some strong warnings from the City of London police about places that we should avoid and what we should and shouldn't wear on certain days.
With stories of direct action, I have to say that I'm seriously not looking forward to being in London next week.
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mrfs42
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Post by mrfs42 on Mar 28, 2009 0:58:04 GMT
The problem with any form of large protest these days is not necessarily the message that is being protested against but the fact that those who are (shall we say) the 'angry brigade' will use anything for what was described by Graham Greene as 'a bit of the old ultraviolence'. I've got some good friends who work in the square mile and not all of them are connected with financial institutions; you have my sympathies and I share your concerns. Please note Rule 3 here before you contribute to this thread. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2009 7:10:01 GMT
I have a couple of questions reagrding next week:
Would I be correct in saying these will be centred on Trafalgar Square/Whitehall, etc?
How many days are there protests planned?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2009 8:22:15 GMT
The majority of events are unplanned and as such your guess is as good as anybodies. Just look at how the Circle Line "party" went.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2009 10:14:54 GMT
Let's just hope other online forums are not involved!
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Post by rayb on Mar 28, 2009 10:42:52 GMT
I work in the city but like others, have nothing to do with the financial sector. We've had the City police in to give us a pep talk and yesterday they sent me a copy of a "guide map" obtained from one of the protest groups - because I'm in a building that houses someone connected with what the protest is supposedly against, we are now a "target". I'm in two minds about all this - we've all had warnings of mass unrest before, some have been less a bang, more a whimper, whereas others have been spot on in the level of disruption. I'm hoping for cold, wet weather with a strong wind - that'll sort out the "me too's"  |
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Post by Tomcakes on Mar 28, 2009 11:52:41 GMT
I'm hoping for cold, wet weather with a strong wind - that'll sort out the "me too's" And, IMO, it is those which are the main issue. |
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Post by londonstuff on Mar 28, 2009 12:15:20 GMT
mrfs42 - couldn't agree more: the whole 'angry brigade' use any excuse for a bit of violence. I remember the May Day riots of a few years ago when on the news it showed the whole of Oxford Street getting trashed in a supposed 'anti-capitalist' message. The only thing was one of the first shops targeted was John Lewis, a workers' co-operative owned entirely by its staff. I think this week would be a good week to work from home or keep out of the capital: the more the threat of riots is publised by the media (a lot), the more the nutters are going to jump onto the bandwagon and do it.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2009 16:13:02 GMT
And of course it has to happen during the first week of my new job (which is right next to City Hall)...  |
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Post by stanmorek on Mar 31, 2009 22:13:13 GMT
A protest march passing by the Bank of England and London Bridge is expected on Wednesday. I'm travelling back and forth to Bank & Monument station for at the moment. The advice is to stay away and work at another office.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 1, 2009 18:40:47 GMT
Well, that was fun...
I came into work (right at Bank junction) early (dressed down) so avoided any problems with protesters, but we were locked in the building from about 11:30 to 15:30.
Got a grandstand view of the protesters charging the police lines and smashing in the windows at RBS. (One guy even climbed inside, grabbed a computer mouse, and tried to use it to smash more of the windows).
The police weren't letting people out of the area, so they were also using the RBS parking garage entrance as a urinal.
Bank station was shut for most of today, and when I left work today, I had to sneak out the back and go home via Moorgate.
Anyone going through the area tomorrow, watch out for horse-poo, the whole area was covered in the stuff.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 1, 2009 19:55:13 GMT
I see the usual masked anarchists on the news whining on about how the Police beat them with truncheons for no reason, and they were innocent of causing the trouble. Perhaps they should take note that in some parts in the world the Police would have simply shot them.
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Post by ruislip on Apr 5, 2009 4:04:43 GMT
Did "Greenpeace" and "Stop Esso" participate in any of these activities?
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Post by Chris W on Apr 5, 2009 11:28:15 GMT
Did "Greenpeace" and "Stop Esso" participate in any of these activities? As I work in the square mile I wondered over to both Bishopsgate and Bank to see what all the fuss was about, having seen some footage on BBC News 24. I didn't see either of the two groups you mentioned ruislip, however that's not to say that members of both organisation weren't present (they just weren't making themselves known). Bishopsgate had an almost carnival atmosphere at the time with tents having been pitched up. Police were controlling the situation, but were allowing the protesters to make their point peacefully, which they were. Press were recording video & sound footage whilst I was there, with many City workers, like myself, recording the scenes on camera phones and small cameras. Bank was a different story, with a more tense undercurrent from both protesters and Police. Police lines were very defined and there was some pushing and shoving around the RBS building whilst I was there (the smashed window probably occurred whilst I was present, but being in a side street I didn't actually see it). Police were kitting out in riot gear and were positioning themselves so I decided to head back to the office. See photos I captured hereWednesday would have been very difficult to police and the vast majority of protesters were peaceful - there was a minority who seemed to be intent on causing trouble and in fact in some places bemused city workers seemed to outnumber protesters. I did see a photographer on the evening news complaining that Police had attacked him whilst he was showing his press card, announcing who he was, and waving his camera. Unfortunately Police do have a proven track record of using inappropriate violence against members of the press, with one London Based photographer taking legal action and winning significant damages against the Met as a result of being hospitalised back in 2006: www.epuk.org/News/811/vallee-accepts-met-settlementMore evidence of how the Police have treated members of the press in the past. Whilst many political regimes around the world choose to murder protesters in cold blood, IMO the fact that protesters or Police choose to use improper force/violence or otherwise break the law in the UK is unacceptable and inexcusable. |
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