A man has died behind the police cordon set up to hem thousands of G20 protestors inside central London. 
Police yesterday used the familiar tactic of “kettling”, with chains of police surrounding the streets outside the Bank of England to prevent the protest spreading into a wider area.
The man, who apparently died of natural causes, collapsed around 7.30pm. Police sent medics through the cordon who found the man had stopped breathing. Bottles were allegedly being thrown as they attempted to resuscitate the man, who is said to be in his thirties.
Tempers had frayed after hundreds of protesters waiting to leave after the march, which ended around 1.30pm, were allegedly told that following the damage at RBS no one would be allowed to pass through the barricade as they were suspected of criminal damage.
Yet just why police took the decision to hedge protesters into an area directly outside RBS is not clear. I along with several others had headed towards Threadneedle Street, where the violence erupted, after being told by police there might be an exit that way.
Many people had gone along to join the march without wishing to stay for the entire evening. Some accused the police of attempting to “kill the protest spirit” and discourage people from taking part in future demonstrations.
At the time that I left the Square Mile for climate camp (managing to find an unguarded backstreet), some protesters, which included pensioners and families with toddlers, had already been waiting to leave for three hours with no toilets and no food or water.
There was also a “stand off” last night in Bishopsgate – the more relaxed of the two protests – as police attempted to break up the climate camp set up by environmental protesters in the middle of the road.
Commanders at the Met, who are said to be among the best public order officers in the world, insisted they would not let the city be brought to a standstill.
You can see my initial report from the G20 protests here and a slideshow of images here.
More later today.
It kicked off a bit last night around midnight up by Liverpool St. The police advanced from Bishopsgate, forcing a bunch of us, around 100 or so, up all the way to Shoreditch High Street by Old Street. We brought traffic to a halt at the junction, but finally the weight of the police and traffic broke us up. It’s a sad thing that none of the by-standers came to join us; after all, we were protesting in the hope of combating problems that will ultimately affect all of us. We should all be lifting up our voices in unison, then maybe we will be heard.
Many conservative and libertarian Americans agree with the G20 protests against the financial establishment although they have little else in common with the protesters. While most of the London and European protesters are from the far left, many working Americans feel the same about Washington’s excessive bailouts for Wall Street and the banking establishment.
Washington has bailed out the banks, Wall Street & their Washington special interests and much of the cost is added to the national debt to by paid by this and future generations while real estate and investments continue to fall.
Find out how a growing repudiate the debt movement could stop Washington’s deficits, the exploding national debt and end the bailouts.
The Campaign to Cancel the Washington National Debt By 12/21/2012 Constitutional Amendment is starting now in the U.S.
See: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=67594690498&ref=ts
Ron