After reading yesterday’s newspaper reports I was shocked to find how events at the G20 protests in central London had taken a turn for the worse shortly after I left. 
I was close to the front of the rally on Threadneedle Street when a few reckless ‘anarchists’ started smashing their way into the Royal Bank of Scotland.
However the atmosphere where I was standing, a few metres from the front, was more that of a bunch of curious onlookers than a blood-thirsty mob.
People cracked jokes and shared cigarettes and those tall enough to see the action shouted a running commentary down to the rest of us vertically-challenged folk.
When it became clear the rally had come to a standstill I left to try and make my way to the climate camp, where I’d arranged to meet friends.
Soon afterwards, according to this report, police on horseback charged down Threadneedle Street in an attempt to disperse the crowd. Fighting ensued, with both protesters and police officers suffering bloody injuries.
There’s no denying that there were a minority of ‘hardcore’ protesters out to cause trouble, but the police have also been criticised for their apparantly aggravated approach as discussed in George Monbiot recent’s blog: Riot police, or rioting police?
“The police have been talking up violence at the G20 protests for weeks,” writes Monbiot. “The way officers tooled themselves up in riot gear and waded into a peaceful crowd this afternoon makes it look almost as if they were trying to ensure that their predictions came true.”
It’s just a shame that the message of the day seems to have been overshadowed by the sort of predictable police vs. protesters stereotypes played out so many times before.
Then again, it gives the newspapers an easy headline. Shock sells; just look at this one from the Daily Mail:
Protesters storm RBS office as thousands of anti-capitalists ransack the City in G20 riot
Yet this photograph shows just how many photographers were lying in wait outside RBS, expecting something to happen.
Give a man a stage and he will perform…
You can see my initial report from the G20 protests here and a slideshow of images here.
