Yeah well I was there at mid-day at the Bank of England. Almost all the demonsrators are regular people. There are a few trouble makers but they are easy to spot. The police are there in bulk force and are menacing in behavior and attitude. Clearly they had orders to hem in all the demonstrators and keep them in one place all day long so there are no small gangs running around the city destroying property. Actually the police attitude and tactics are inflamatory and it would certainly be reasonable to expect a backlash from the committed anarchists.
I would estimate that by 1 pm there were probably 5000 police and 50,000 demonstrators, which diminished later in the day. The police now have trapped a core of about 4000 of the anarchist types and are not letting them leave, so they have been there for about 8 hours, and no doubt are getting grouchy about it.
One thing is for sure - this demonstration brought the heart of London to a complete halt. Streets were closed off to traffic. Most shops and businesses were closed or hardly active.
Thanks for the “on-the-spot” real coverage. Much better to rely on than anything we would ever hear on the news. I don’t doubt that the police are “ramped up” as well as the protesters. It’s never a good mix. As for the 4,000 or so committed ones who are now stuck there it strikes me, like you said, that the longer they hold them there the higher the likelihood of violence is... No human (no matter what their ideology or “issue”) wants to feel caged by people with guns for merely wishing to protest. The self-preservation instinct would likely kick in and combined with anger that brought them there in the first place it’s not a good thing... It’s like taunting a lion...
I did have a question... You said most of the folks are “regular people”. Does this mean they aren’t wearing the face coverings and black garb familiar to Anarchist protests? I’m curious if you saw any anti-WOT type signs and such (were some of the people ANSWR types that come to all the protests here in the US — they are a part of the World Communist “community”?).
OOPS — though of one more question. I haven’t looked through all the photos of the protests and such yet — are the British police in full riot gear, and ARMED? Can the police still be armed in Britain? Isn’t it true that regular police — like when they walk their beats - do not have firearms? Just curious what the provisions are when they come up against large groups of agitated individuals. Surely they have some kind of weapons besides tear gas, and firetrucks (are there any of those there yet? LOL).