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London police charge to disperse G20 protesters
By Michael Holden and Kate Holton
LONDON (Reuters) - 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 around the G20 summit.
The charges against a hard core of anti-capitalist demonstrators appeared aimed at clearing the area 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.
Demonstrators had clashed with riot police and smashed the windows of a bank in protest against a system they said had robbed the poor to benefit the rich.
Hundreds of protesters converged on a branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland, shattering three windows.
Rescued by the government in October, RBS has become a lightning rod for public anger in Britain over banker excess blamed for the crisis. The protests were timed to coincide with a G20 meeting of the world's leading and emerging economies.
Mounted police and officers in riot gear surrounded the building to keep the crowds back.
Protesters hurled paint bombs and bottles, chanting: "These streets, our streets! These banks, 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.
Police said 26 protesters had been arrested by early evening and at least one officer 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.
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE5302SN20090401?virtualBrandChannel=10504