To the G20: maybe someone somwhere will listen to my little voice

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The CNN anchor in this video asks why people are angry. Considering the world financial situation it makes sense that people would be extremely angry. Those at the G20 who are protesting are also carrying the anger for the millions who cannot be there.

This is no excuse for the violence and destruction. However, surely the leaders attending the G20 (including Obama) are directly feeling the heat of the situation. Interestingly, the NYT published an Op-Ed piece that questioned where the anger was. Maybe people in the U.S. aren't expressing it here, but surely it is happening in London today.

See "Feeling too Down to Rise Up," New York Times, March 28, 2009

One person interviewed by the London Guardian summed it up:

"Maybe someone somewhere will listen to my little voice and I will make a little difference."

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G20 protests: riot police clash with demonstrators

• RBS branch stormed as bloody skirmishes erupt
• Thousands of protesters held in containment pens
• Barack Obama and Gordon Brown upbeat on G20 deal

* Sam Jones and Paul Lewis
* guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 1 April 2009 13.05 BST

link to Guardian video

Demonstrators have been involved in skirmishes with officers outside the Bank of England in central London Link to this video

G20 protests in central London have turned violent ahead of tomorrow's summit, with a hardcore band of demonstrators close to the Bank of England storming a Royal Bank of Scotland branch, smashing its windows and wrecking the interior.

Riot police are struggling to remove the 20 protesters, some of whom have emerged from the ruined building holding aloft computers, telephones and files.

Although the demonstrations began peacefully, bloody skirmishes have erupted as police try to keep thousands of people in containment pens on Threadneedle street.

Protesters targeted RBS, which is at the centre of a row over £703,000-a-year pension payments to Sir Fred Goodwin, the disgraced former chief executive.

Earlier, Gordon Brown met Barack Obama in Downing Street and later announced that the G20 leaders were "within a few hours" of agreeing a global deal for economic recovery.

By midday, around 60 protesters and police were involved in scuffles, which saw officers pelted with bottles, eggs, fruit and paint. Some officers also had their helmets ripped from their heads and thrown into the air, which was turned pink and red as protesters let off smoke bombs. Police responded by using truncheons, batons and pepper spray.

A group of protesters has been steadily pushing against the police line on Threadneedle street, provoking intermittent skirmishes that have left several officers and demonstrators injured.

Police are using truncheons and batons to beat back the protesters each time they surge forward. Some in the pens have demanded to be released, saying they are being denied the right to march.

Although police efforts to stop the crowd entering the RBS branch initially appeared to be working, the branch's windows were soon smashed by missiles before the protesters swarmed in. Those who came out bearing pieces of office furniture were cheered on by the crowd.

Guardian reporters at the scene have witnessed a handful of arrests, and the Metropolitan police have confirmed that 11 people who turned up at the protest in an armoured personnel carrier were arrested in connection with the possession of police uniforms and road traffic offences. The arrested activists are understood to be anarchists known as the Space Hijackers who had come to make their feelings felt through the medium of street theatre.

...Following speeches and songs outside the Royal Exchange, events turned violent when the crowd gathered outside attempted to disperse.

Large numbers tried to make their way down Threadneedle Street towards the climate camp in the City and were met halfway down by a police line.

"It's our street, it's our street," the crowd chanted as it was forced forward on to the police line.

Injured demonstrators with bleeding heads and necks were ushered through the crowd while others handed out milk so that people could wash the pepper spray from their eyes and mouths.Harry, who was dressed as the Grim Reaper, led the procession from Moorgate to the Bank of England. However, his costume did not amuse the police, who demanded that he remove his skeletal mask so they could see his face. He said it was the first time he had marched in 10 years.

"I'm protesting for the small individuals in Britain who have been left with their pants down as the government bails out the banks for billions of dollars. Where's the money for the struggling baker, butcher, small marketing people and architectural companies?"  complete article