04.03 PROTEST PARADE

More G20 action at Bank - it never ends. This afternoon, a parade of protesters marched past our building and my coworkers and I scrambled from the third floor, flooding the streets to decipher the commotion. It was a trade union group, from what we gathered, although it was difficult to tell exactly which. Someone was hollering into a megaphone, but it was not clear exactly the point that was being made. After the commotion of the past few days, their group of 50-80 seemed minuscule and inconsequential, but at least they were out there. We wondered exactly where they were headed, who their target audience was, and what the point of their effort could be. Unfortunately, I had to get back to work and have little to report...

04.02 AFTERTHOUGH

The day after the G20 protests, I wandered back toward the Bank of England, littered with the odd copper and peppered with afterthoughts graffitied on the walls.

This one caught my attention. Indeed, the streets were claimed, and overtaken by protesters on mass, blocking the usual parade of taxis and buses and automobiles. Whether we 'reclaimed' the streets is another story - were they really ever intended for us?

In any event, I get the point - and it is one that has been well made in the brightest of oranges, inward from the main road, yet catches your eye - if you're moving at the rate of a pedestrian at least.

04.01 G20 PROTESTS

I work around the corner from the Bank of England and made my way to the protests this afternoon. It was a spectacle!! Just AMAZING to see so many people out rallying!! I first meandered through the 'Climate Corner', where hundreds of friendly hippies had taken over Bishop's Gate St, camped in tents and kicked off a jamboree - all in the name of Nature. There was even a bake sale...(but I wouldn't trust the brownies weren't just made of cocoa). Anyways, it was a peaceful protest, as you would expect, with most of the crowd mellowed out with spliff-in-mouth...

Around the corner, however, was the chaos at The Bank - the crowd was raucous but not yet violent at the time I made my way through, so I joined in with some rants and chants about the state of the economy. There were some pin-striped bankers with the nerve to indulge on oysters and champagne in a building atop the crowd - or so that was the rumour going round - and I'm imagining the bottles I heard smashing were aimed at them. Wankers. As it was starting to get ugly, I got my money shots and made a mad dash.

03.31 ACHTUNG

The G20 Summit is due to take place this week in London. Protests are scheduled at the Bank of England around the corner from my workplace. I had a stroll in that direction over my lunch break and came across this notice that a restaurant will be closed on the day of protests.

It seems much of the Bank area will take a furlough during the protests, with the possibility of violence imminent. I do wonder just how agressive people will be, what damage will be caused and exactly what the outcome will be. While I do believe it is important to vocalize our opinions and exercise democracy, I wonder just how effective the act of mass protesting is in terms of changing or swaying policy. The world leaders attendin the summit surely have detailed agendas set forth, are already fully aware of the general consensus on the economic issues in their representative nation states and will forge ahead with whatever plans they had for reform - regardless of the flailing angry unemployed or sympathetic mob outside the building walls. We'll see.