|
|
G20 London Summit > Photo Gallery
|
London police charge to disperse G20 protesters(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-04-02 08:09 LONDON – Riot police staged baton charges to try to disperse several hundred protesters gathered around the Bank of England in the heart of London's financial center on Wednesday after a day of protest against the G20 summit.
Demonstrators had earlier attacked a nearby branch of Royal Bank of Scotland in protest against a system they said had robbed the poor to benefit the rich. Hundreds of protesters converged on the bank, shattering three windows.
The protests were timed to coincide with a G20 meeting of the world's leading and emerging economies. Protesters hurled paint bombs and bottles, chanting: "Our streets! Our banks!" RBS said in a statement it was "aware of the violence" outside its branch and "had already taken the precautionary step" of closing central city of London branches. As dusk fell, police charged against a hard core of anti-capitalist demonstrators in an attempt to disperse them before nightfall. Bottles flew through the air toward police lines and police on horseback stood by ready to intervene. Some protesters set fire to an effigy of a banker hanging from a lamppost. Police brought out dogs as they tried to channel the few hundred remaining protesters through the narrow streets surrounding the classical, stone-clad Bank of England. Police said 32 protesters had been arrested by early evening and at least one officer was taken to hospital for treatment. Some 4,000 protesters had thronged outside the central bank, and a Gucci store nearby was closed and its windows emptied. Demonstrations were planned for Thursday at the venue in east London where world leaders will discuss plans to fight the financial crisis, police said. Horsemen of the apocalypse Earlier, protesters marched behind models of the "four horsemen of the apocalypse" representing financial crimes, war, climate change and homelessness. Some threw eggs at police and chanted "build a bonfire, put the bankers on the top." Others shouted "jump" and "shame on you" at financial sector workers watching the march from office block windows. "I am angry at the hubris of the government, the hubris of the bankers," said Jean Noble, a 60-year-old from Blackburn in northern England. "I am here on behalf of the poor, those who are not going to now get their pension or who have lost their houses while these fat cats keep their bonuses, hide their money in tax havens and go and live where nobody can touch them." A smaller demonstration against Britain's military role in Iraq and Afghanistan attracted several hundred people in Trafalgar Square, not far from parliament. The protests, which brought together anti-capitalists, environmentalists, anti-war campaigners and others, were meant to mark what demonstrators called "Financial Fools' Day" -- a reference to April fool's day which falls on April 1. Police stopped a military-style armored vehicle with the word "RIOT" printed on the front and a police spokesman said its 11 occupants were arrested for having fake police uniforms. |
       |
主站蜘蛛池模板： 海林市| 玛纳斯县| 潍坊市| 紫阳县| 班玛县| 江永县| 宁陕县| 西安市| 汶川县| 远安县| 枝江市| 伊川县| 云林县| 浪卡子县| 沙河市| 文水县| 土默特右旗| 常山县| 金溪县| 永和县| 沧源| 民乐县| 康乐县| 顺昌县| 基隆市| 西城区| 阿坝县| 承德县| 榆林市| 当阳市| 大姚县| 巴南区| 郑州市| 黔南| 临桂县| 隆子县| 潼南县| 榆树市| 元谋县| 湾仔区| 巨野县|
