Reports from J18
Images of the day...thousands of protestors crowded into Liverpool Street Station and took to the streets...
9:00pm (GMT+1) Carnival sound system impounded by police - surrounded by riot vans in Kings Cross...French girl arrested for drunk driving and taken to Kentish Town police station.
8:00pm (GMT+1) Around 2,000 people were cleared from Southwark Bridge by police who blocked roads as they moved forward. Whitehall, the Mall and Charing Cross road were blocked by the police
3.50pm (GMT+1)LATEST - Police agression continues even after earlier incident when protestor was injured by police van...3 storey fountain cools hot partygoers...giant heads bring music to the masses...
2.40pm (GMT+1) 2.45pm (GMT+1) - Protestors unfurl huge banner at UK carnival...police drive at high speed into crowd...more info...
1.50pm (GMT+1) Thousands protest outside Mcdonalds restaurant. City workers dance in the street with carnival goers. Liverpool Street and Old Street are blocked by 3,000 partying protestors...more arriving all the time...
1.00 (GMT+1) - Several thousand people demonstrated outside McDonald's in the City. Old Street was blocked by police vans, and people ran back towards the station. Inside shops, parties were held. TV crews were present, but the police presence was low-key. More info on UK protests...
11:45am (GMT+1)- Business comes to a halt as activists occupy Lloyds Bank in protest at support of arms export industry
9:30am (GMT+1) LLoyds Bank in St. Pauls occupies 4 People are locked on inside the bank of British Aerospace. More protesters are picketing outside the building
9:30am (GMT+1) 30 Protesters occupy another office in the City The company does not know that they have been occupied yet - more details when they do
9:05am (GMT+1) Campaign Against The Arms Tade occupies offices of Friends Provident More details to come later
8:00am (GMT+1) 600 Cyclists take the streets of the City of London Report with pictures here
1:00pm Liverpool Street A banner has been unfurled on the roof of the building above Liverpool St. This is a company called Walburg and Reeves. Many people are dancin and there are costumes and huge heads on sticks. The station is crowded. There are police at the perimeters of the protest but people are going in and out. The place is full of protestors, organisers and average people on the street - many wearing green hats. ....city workers are dancing !
2:00pm London Wall Activists rang J18 to report that a police van drove at "high speed" near the crowd, estimated at about 3,000, outside number 3 London Wall, in the City, near Circus Place. Reportedly, three or four people were injured. An activist said he saw blood spilled. A second caller said there was one injured near London Wall.
At 2.02pm, outside London Wall witnesses said they saw protesters climbing on the roof of a police van. The police then drove into the crowd. One person apparently was ran over by two sets of wheels. Some panic and difficulty getting an ambulance through to the area because of the crowds. Reportedly growing hosility from the crowd. Riot police always believed present.
A second witness at Walbrook Street reported a line of mounted police who galloped off - presumably towards London Wall. There was growing hosiility between city workers and protesters outside Capital (Bank?); "Bank workers seemd to be looking for agro," said a witness.
Another witness said others in the crowd, by about 2.20pm, were trying to calm the situation.
PROTESTER KNOCKED DOWN BY POLICE VAN LONDON WALL. 2.02PM (GMT+1) 'I saw the police van that knocked the girl down at Liverpool St,' reports witness Andy P 'I saw that the police van was stuck in the middle of the crowd. It couldn't get out one way so it charged the crowd. That was when she was knocked down.'
POLICE VANS STILL CHARGING CROWD DESPITE EARLIER INCIDENT LONDON WALL. 2.45 PM Eyewitness reports a build-up of tension in London Wall area. An initial carnival atmosphere became sour when police started to block main arteries and prevented people from moving on. "There were too many people squeezed into the London Wall area,' reports an eyewitness. 'The police seemed to be 'corking up' the street. It was just like Hyde Park when they blocked everyone into a corner and tried to push them back. The police regrouped and were reinforced with a mounted division. The police kept trying to mount a charge even though people were retreating. It was an extremely claustrophobic situation. Police vans kept reversing into the crowd. At high speed. The police exhibited an intent that suggested they were going to charge - at which point we decided to leave. Despite this incident people were still trying to keep a party spirit alive and responding peacefully."
3-STOREY FOUNTAIN COOLS DOWN PROTESTERS The crowd had moved to Upper Thames St, near Cannon St tube, when a huge geyser, reports a witness, as high as a building suddenly shot into the air. An unidentified person had opened up a water-main. 'It was amazing, the tallest spout of water I'd ever seen. It was going for half-an-hour and still raining down when I left. Peole were dancing under it, filling water-pistols and squirting each other.'
GLOBAL HEADS PLAY ONE WORLD MUSIC 7 giant heads have been spotted (each atached to a backpack) and each containing a small sound system. The heads represented different nationalities, to draw attention to the fact that June 18th is a global event and that the current economic system affects everyone. The Spanish Head played Spanish music, African music was piped from the African Head etc.
MONEY RAINS DOWN ON CANNON ST Mysterious 'construction' workers in yellowjackets appeared on the bridge next to Cannon St tube and cast 'silver' banknotes down on city workers and protesters alike. 'They came down in a beautiful shower,' reports a witness, 'a soft and shiny rain'.