"Party spirit" soured by G20 clashes in City

Initially good-natured protests turned nasty as processions from Liverpool Street on the eve of the G20 summit met a wall of officers at around noon.

Anger against the banking system has been building for several months, and groups speaking out on issues from climate change to unemployment and anti-capitalism were set to march on the City to voice their displeasure.

It has been said that the revolution would be televised. And as morning broke over Bank it seemed that it would be televised to such an extent that everyone forgot to bring the revolution.

Police and members of the world's press far outnumbered the placard-bearers themselves, including Ian Dixon, who had lost his job in manufacturing and was in London from Whitby to raise awareness of the effect of the low interest rate on young and old people in the North East.

Thousands later descended on the City centre from locations such as Moorgate and Liverpool Street. And later skirmishes with police led several protesters to smash windows at the Royal Bank of Scotland branch in the City at around 2pm, clambering in and emerging with computers.

Ernest Rodker, who had been marching in the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse demonstration from Liverpool Street, said: "Police wouldn't let us into the Bank road junction, but other marches had already arrived.

"Protesters eventually broke through the cordon and police were left clambering over their own metal cordons which they'd erected to stop us, helping each other over.

"They'd been hemming people in from about noon. I went to the Cornhill Street exit and asked to be let out, but they sent me to Threadneedle Street which was sealed as well.

"Before this, the police were walking in and out of the crowd and everything was amicable. Now they're being very macho and bellowing orders, trying to regain control of a situation they've already lost.

"I was here to make a point about jobs, justice and climate change. People wanted to make a point that they weren't happy with all these leaders coming together who had no idea what they were doing.

"It's a nonsense. This is just a contest now."

Pockets of protesters were sealed off in junctions between Bank and Mansion House, as riot squads from the Metropolitan and British Transport Police loudly shoved the crowd while wielding truncheons at around 3pm.

Robbie Miller, from Maidstone, said: "I've only just got here. I'm here purely because I think that everything that goes on in this city is wrong.

"They don't give a damn about us. Getting the Bank of Scotland might make them question their own place. But how is what the police are doing helping this? They're boxing people in and boxing people out."

Caged protesters pressed up against the wall of police began chants of "our streets", and began hurling wine bottles at officers with shields and helmets.

But in the centre, University of Essex PhD economics research students Priscila Ferreira and Marina Fernanadez were eager to leave, having been trapped within the cordon for three hours.

Priscila said: "We came for the demonstration. But we didn't come to be arrested. If nobody spoke out, they would think nobody is concerned.

"We joined at Liverpool Street station and followed the crowd to Bank, but then we couldn't get out because the police had locked us in.

"We wanted to go to the other demonstration outside the US Embassy but we can't leave so we can't go."

Marina said: "I was surprised because I thought this was meant to be a free country. The police were trying to provoke us when we were just trying to express our view."

Marina and Priscila are sharply divided on what can be done to solve the problems in the economy.

Priscila said: "She believes in altruism, whereas I believe that people are inherently selfish. I believe I'm right."

While clashes continued at the cordons, a lone woman in green wandered around the littered Queen Street junction playing a saxophone. An anarchist flag had been unfurled outside Temple Court.

A pocket of protesters was edged down Mansion House Street, where new arrival Susan Traekner was pushing a pushchair with a child's leg jutting out from under a blanket.

She said: "I don't do many protests any more, because I'm not sure they have the desired effect.

"It seems very scattered, and people don't know what they want to happen.

"A lot of people here made an effort and dressed up and that's my idea of a protest.

"It's something that really concerns us all and I just wanted to be present. But there's a feeling that there are a lot of people who are just up for a protest."

Outside the Royal Exchange, a party was in full swing. Revellers danced to reggae tunes such as Get Up Stand Up and One Love, while others drank and smoked, leaning against walls daubed with signs and graffiti.

Australian-born East London Daniel Nitz was dressed as a clown, bearing a sign saying, "Climate change isn't funny".

He said: "I came down here because I'm really concerned that climate change has been left off the G20 agenda.

"I understand that there are pressing issues with the economy, but you can't have a healthy economy without a healthy earth. The leaders should sort out climate change, and leave the clowning up to me.

"One of the policeman was trying to provoke me earlier, asking if I wanted a fight. But there have been some protesters who are out for blood. There's been unnecessary violence on both sides."

As the music switched to tongue-in-cheek tracks such as We Gotta Get Out Of This Place, some laid down in the road for a nap, while others either queued for the portable festival toilets or urinated in corners or tube subways.

But tempers frayed again as 5pm turned to 6pm, and bottles were again hurled at the police line at Cornhill Street near the Royal Exchange.

At 6.30pm, police again began shoving those inside the cordon, some of who responded by smashing lobbed bottles off the riot shields. One bottle missed a reporter from Czech television by mere yards as she recorded a bulletin.

Another charge sent a crowd of panicked people back into the junction, while shaking onlookers began yelling at officers.

Adam Rayner and his friend emerged from the line half an hour later bleeding from head wounds. They claimed they had been repeatedly beaten by batons as they tried to dodge the onrushing police line.

Adam said: "They charged and I just followed my instinct and jumped out of the way. I felt this battering on my head.

"We're just being pushed around. There are shields and batons everywhere, and there aren't any over here. Violence, blood - that's what they want to see on TV because it's good propaganda. But I don't blame the police specifically. They're just following orders.

"I've never had anything like this happen to me before. I've never been beaten about the head by policemen before.

"I'm not doing anything wrong. I'm not a violent person. I'm just voicing my opinion and I got hit on the head."

Some from the gathered throng protested their innocence, claiming they were merely in Bank "for a street party". But just after 7pm, the protests were clouded in dense plastic smoke after a couple of protesters set light to an effigy of a banker that they'd hung on a lamppost. They returned several times to re-spark the flame, until the burnt doll snapped at the arms and clumped to the ground at the feet of more than a dozen press photographers.

Some went on to set fire to a bin near Cornhilll Street, causing an officer to stride in with a fire extinguisher. But the fire was re-lit and the bin melted into a smoky pulp.

Officers perched on buildings continued to film the crowd, and an inaudibly-muffled loudhailer announced that people would be able to leave at around 7.25pm. A large group massed at Mansion House Street, but the exit was performed slowly at around three every few minutes.

Word spread through the crowd some 15 minutes later that police had decided to only let women out, but no one was able to move for several minutes more. One woman's suggestion that everyone played Chinese whispers met with annoyed silence and grumbling.

It was nearly 8.30pm before many were allowed through, and ordered to remove their hats and hoods as they passed a large police camera.

Bank station re-opened at 9.07pm.