Demonstrators converging on the G20 summit on Tuesday night began taking over squats on the border of London’s City to use as bases from which to launch a series of coordinated “direct action” protests.
The occupation of four buildings prompted the first confrontations with police and marked the start of two days in which officers are expected to play cat and mouse with protesters determined to bring the City to a standstill.
Today’s protests are expected to center around the Bank of England, where anti-capitalist and anarchist groups were to converge at noon, and the European Climate Exchange in Bishopsgate, where at 12:30pm environmental activists say they would “swoop” on the street and set up an overnight camp.
PHOTO: EPA
Financial institutions across the capital are on high alert, with police fearing that dozens of small, organized cells of anarchists are planning to peel away and force their way into offices, tube stations or banks.
Protesters have circulated a map of City targets that includes the offices of scores of banks, law firms and energy companies. It identifies 138 targets across the City, with more than 50 financial institutions pinpointed, including some of those blamed for sparking the economic crisis.
Many offices in the City of London were to be closed and boarded-up yesterday, including branches of Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB. Hundreds of workers were told to work from home. Those venturing into work were told to “dress down” to avoid potential attacks.
Organizers of yesterday’s protests on Tuesday night expressed dismay at their portrayal as thugs, and accused police of exaggerating the threat. They did, however, say they feared police warnings of “very violent” clashes may have attracted agitators who will infiltrate the demonstrations.
Police yesterday arrived at a derelict pub in the Shoreditch area just by the City, moments after supporters posted the address online, advertising it as “conversion space” for “all anti-G20 action ... and almost ready for the summer of rage.” Officers stopped and searched people entering the building and arrested three, one on suspicion of assaulting a police officer, one for carrying a saw and one for going equipped with weapons.
Inside one cavernous office block around 40 protesters were planning how they could accommodate and feed others who might arrive. At a meeting, they planned rotas to search for food and arrange for friends to bring cooking equipment and other supplies.
On one wall of the meeting room an activist had written instructions in marker pen about what to do if arrested, including the telephone number of a firm of solicitors.
Five other activists affiliated to the group Climate Camp said they were stopped and searched under anti-terrorism legislation at a cafe around the corner from the squat.
“A lot of police came in and very forcefully told use they were stopping and searching under the [UK’s] Terrorism Act,” said Bradley Day, 22.
“We were meeting in the cafe to organize food for our camp, so all they found on us were recipes for cakes and lists of ingredients.”
Scotland Yard said it had no record of the searches.
The majority of protesters are likely to attach themselves to one of three events. Climate Camp will alert around 2,000 campaigners by text message about the whereabouts of their planned “camp,” to be set up somewhere in the Square Mile. The provisional plan was to meet at 12:30pm at the European Climate Exchange.
G20 Meltdown will see a coalition of anti-capitalist, anarchist and single-issue protest groups converge on the Bank of England.
Four groups will walk to the Bank from separate tube stations. At 2pm, Stop the War Coalition is leading a separate march from the US embassy in Grosvener Square to Trafalgar Square, to demand that US President Barack Obama pull US troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan. Small bands of protesters have also indicated they may convene at the ExCel Centre in Docklands, where the summit will take place tomorrow.
The British Liberal Democrat MP David Howarth, who yesterday mediated last-minute talks between protesters and police, warned there was still “mutual misunderstanding” between the sides. He said the meeting between Climate Camp organizers and Scotland Yard’s Commander Bob Broadhurst and chief superintendent Ian Thomas had been “businesslike,” and both sides had exchanged contact numbers. But he was concerned that police appeared to believe that causing disruption to commuters would warrant intervening to stop a demonstration.
“I still think the two sides have different views on what’s proportional,” he said. “Police still seemed to think that any disruption of traffic is worth stopping a demonstration for. It’s a shame this meeting did not happen earlier — there are points of mutual misunderstanding and the police really don’t like the way Climate Camp is a non-hierarchical organization.”
Police have still not met with the organizers of G20 Meltdown, although the coordinator, Marina Pepper, has said she would “talk about plans” with police.
Confrontations, she said, would only occur if police tried to prevent the protesters from reaching their destination.
“When you’ve got the side of right on your side, you won’t be stopped, will you?” she said, adding that protesters would be bringing pillows. “And yes, we are prepared to fight truncheon with pillow.”
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