G20 protester dies after day of violence when Royal Bank was prime target
A crowd of more than 4,000 marched on the City of London, but serious confrontations were limited to a handful of incidents and police made only 24 arrests in the area Picture: Owen Humphries/PA
Published Date: 02 April 2009
A G20 protester died last night after collapsing in the street as police confronted a hard core of demonstrators in London following a day of violent confrontations in the capital.
Scotland Yard said its officers came under attack with bottles when they went to the aid of the man.
The incident, which will be the subject of an independent inquiry, came as police tried to break up the few hundred remaining demonstrators gathered outside the Bank of England's headquarters.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "A member of the public went to a police officer on a cordon in Birchin Lane junction with Cornhill to say that there was a man who had collapsed round the corner.
"That officer sent two police medics through the cordon line and into St Michael's Alley where they found a man who had stopped breathing."
Police moved him to an area outside the Royal Exchange Building where they attempted resuscitation.
The spokesman added: "The officers took the decision to move him as during this time a number of missiles – believed to be bottles – were being thrown at them."
According to one protester at the scene, the man was in his 30s. He was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
A police source said it was likely the man died from a medical condition, although that would not be confirmed until after a post-mortem examination has been carried out.
Earlier, masked anarchists stormed a branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland as demonstrations ahead of the summit turned violent.
More than 4,000 demonstrators, most of them peaceful, had gathered near the Bank of England to demand action from world leaders. But several hundred clashed with police, who were pelted with eggs, paint bombs and empty beer cans.
Despite the skirmishes, by early evening yesterday there had been just 63 arrests for offences such as violent disorder, threatening behaviour and breach of the peace. However, police were forced to baton charge the several hundred protesters who refused to disperse and were greeted with a hail of bottles.
Last night, Scotland Yard vowed protesters who attacked police officers and stormed into the RBS building would be tracked down and prosecuted. They believe small pockets of criminals were responsible for the worst outbreaks of trouble.
All leave had been cancelled for Scotland Yard officers for the G20 summit. Riot police on horses were deployed in anticipation of incendiary scenes, but the presence of hundreds of riot police as part of the £7.2 million security operation failed to quell the determined demonstrators.
Clashes had already broken out by lunchtime, when police were pelted by eggs and some had their helmets ripped off.
The air was turned red as protesters set off smoke bombs, while police responded by showering them with pepper spray and truncheon blows.
Scotland Yard managed to keep a crowd of 4,000 penned in on Threadneedle Street in the City of London, before protesters broke through the barricade.
They had converged from four different points into the heart of the City, to protest outside the imposing façade of the Bank of England.
The day began with marches from Cannon Street, Liverpool Street, Moorgate and London Bridge, led by protesters carrying effigies of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
As the lines of protesters walked peacefully towards the Bank of England, City workers were seen waving £10 notes at them from office windows above. Some demonstrators shouted "Jump!" at them.
Tension rose as protesters turned their attention to an unbarricaded but empty branch of RBS nearby.
To cheers from the crowd, men with black scarves tied over their faces and hoods over their heads smashed a hole in the windows of the branch with a metal pole and crawled in. Protesters threw paint bombs and bottles, chanting: "These streets, our streets! These banks, our banks!"
At least one police officer was injured when a printer and other office equipment was thrown out of the RBS window. Hundreds cheered as an office chair was used to smash one of the blacked-out branch windows.
An RBS spokeswoman would not be drawn on security measures for today or tomorrow, when the bank holds it annual general meeting in Edinburgh.
Simon O'Brien, a Metropolitan Police commander, last night revealed that the apparent ringleaders of the violence were tracked by helicopter as they left the flash point. Mr O'Brien said some people were "determined to hijack" the protests.
BIG NAMES JOIN IN
CELEBRITIES rubbed shoulders with demonstrators yesterday as they called for a rethink of the market economy.
The controversial comedian Russell Brand said he thought the protests were "beautiful" and he was there to hear people's concerns.
"I wonder what alternatives there are and I think it (the protest] makes people cogent of them.
"I think it's also very beautiful," he said.
Billy Bragg, socialist musician and campaigner, said he believed people wanted to make a difference.
"It's better than sitting down shouting at the television at these bankers. We cannot go back to the way things were before, to the million-dollar bonus culture.
"Bankers' bonuses should be taxed at 90 per cent like in America. We feel frustration and we hope to send a message today that we are very angry.
"We need them to know that people are not going to sit back and let this continue happening to us."
THE G20: MORE COVERAGE
• Hammer the bankers or I'll wreck G20 pact – Sarkozy
• Anarchists to Salvation Army – a protest of many hues
• Analysis: Final agreement will be hard to swallow
• US and Russia to discuss nuclear weapons
• In pictures: US President Barack Obama at the G20 in London
• In pictures: The G20 protests in London
• Scottish salmon with fudge is on the menu
The incident, which will be the subject of an independent inquiry, came as police tried to break up the few hundred remaining demonstrators gathered outside the Bank of England's headquarters.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "A member of the public went to a police officer on a cordon in Birchin Lane junction with Cornhill to say that there was a man who had collapsed round the corner.
"That officer sent two police medics through the cordon line and into St Michael's Alley where they found a man who had stopped breathing."
Police moved him to an area outside the Royal Exchange Building where they attempted resuscitation.
The spokesman added: "The officers took the decision to move him as during this time a number of missiles – believed to be bottles – were being thrown at them."
According to one protester at the scene, the man was in his 30s. He was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
A police source said it was likely the man died from a medical condition, although that would not be confirmed until after a post-mortem examination has been carried out.
Earlier, masked anarchists stormed a branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland as demonstrations ahead of the summit turned violent.
More than 4,000 demonstrators, most of them peaceful, had gathered near the Bank of England to demand action from world leaders. But several hundred clashed with police, who were pelted with eggs, paint bombs and empty beer cans.
Despite the skirmishes, by early evening yesterday there had been just 63 arrests for offences such as violent disorder, threatening behaviour and breach of the peace. However, police were forced to baton charge the several hundred protesters who refused to disperse and were greeted with a hail of bottles.
Last night, Scotland Yard vowed protesters who attacked police officers and stormed into the RBS building would be tracked down and prosecuted. They believe small pockets of criminals were responsible for the worst outbreaks of trouble.
All leave had been cancelled for Scotland Yard officers for the G20 summit. Riot police on horses were deployed in anticipation of incendiary scenes, but the presence of hundreds of riot police as part of the £7.2 million security operation failed to quell the determined demonstrators.
Clashes had already broken out by lunchtime, when police were pelted by eggs and some had their helmets ripped off.
The air was turned red as protesters set off smoke bombs, while police responded by showering them with pepper spray and truncheon blows.
Scotland Yard managed to keep a crowd of 4,000 penned in on Threadneedle Street in the City of London, before protesters broke through the barricade.
They had converged from four different points into the heart of the City, to protest outside the imposing façade of the Bank of England.
The day began with marches from Cannon Street, Liverpool Street, Moorgate and London Bridge, led by protesters carrying effigies of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
As the lines of protesters walked peacefully towards the Bank of England, City workers were seen waving £10 notes at them from office windows above. Some demonstrators shouted "Jump!" at them.
Tension rose as protesters turned their attention to an unbarricaded but empty branch of RBS nearby.
To cheers from the crowd, men with black scarves tied over their faces and hoods over their heads smashed a hole in the windows of the branch with a metal pole and crawled in. Protesters threw paint bombs and bottles, chanting: "These streets, our streets! These banks, our banks!"
At least one police officer was injured when a printer and other office equipment was thrown out of the RBS window. Hundreds cheered as an office chair was used to smash one of the blacked-out branch windows.
An RBS spokeswoman would not be drawn on security measures for today or tomorrow, when the bank holds it annual general meeting in Edinburgh.
Simon O'Brien, a Metropolitan Police commander, last night revealed that the apparent ringleaders of the violence were tracked by helicopter as they left the flash point. Mr O'Brien said some people were "determined to hijack" the protests.
BIG NAMES JOIN IN
CELEBRITIES rubbed shoulders with demonstrators yesterday as they called for a rethink of the market economy.
The controversial comedian Russell Brand said he thought the protests were "beautiful" and he was there to hear people's concerns.
"I wonder what alternatives there are and I think it (the protest] makes people cogent of them.
"I think it's also very beautiful," he said.
Billy Bragg, socialist musician and campaigner, said he believed people wanted to make a difference.
"It's better than sitting down shouting at the television at these bankers. We cannot go back to the way things were before, to the million-dollar bonus culture.
"Bankers' bonuses should be taxed at 90 per cent like in America. We feel frustration and we hope to send a message today that we are very angry.
"We need them to know that people are not going to sit back and let this continue happening to us."
THE G20: MORE COVERAGE
• Hammer the bankers or I'll wreck G20 pact – Sarkozy
• Anarchists to Salvation Army – a protest of many hues
• Analysis: Final agreement will be hard to swallow
• US and Russia to discuss nuclear weapons
• In pictures: US President Barack Obama at the G20 in London
• In pictures: The G20 protests in London
• Scottish salmon with fudge is on the menu
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