Around 200 G20 protesters yesterday lunchtime mounted a vigil-assembly at the Bank of England demanding an independent public inquiry into the death of a man during Wednesday’s demonstrations.
Called in solidarity against police repression, protesters alleged that the man was part of a group being chased by police dogs and he fell and hit his head.
The Bank of England ‘assembly’ was surrounded by a police cordon, with police on horses, a dog van and riot vans standing by.
Other police were stopping and searching people near the Bank of England.
One protester said that the ‘Bank is swarming with police, eveyone there is being searched under Section 60’.
While a memorial event was in process and flowers were being placed by the Bank of England the police moved in and broke up the service.
Meanwhile, young girls were taken away in handcuffs, put up against a wall and photographed while police took down their details following two raids on what police said were squats in east London.
Raids took place at Earl St Convergence Centre and RampARTs social centre in Aldgate.
Between 50-60 riot police took part in each raid.
Protesters alleged that police had burst in and pointed guns with laser sights on them.
‘It’s wrong to treat us like terrorists’, one said.
Everyone at Earl St was detained. Seventy people were led out the building one by one in handcuffs, put up against a wall, searched and filmed by Forward Intelligence Team (FIT) officers while having their details taken.
Some detainees were then led away to police vans. Four were taken away in an ambulance, but their injuries were not known.
At the RampART centre, legal observers were taken away and searched by FIT officers and threatened with arrest under anti-social behaviour legislation, while riot police were focibly removing people.
The riot police brought an embedded ITN news crew on the raid.
• An Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) statement said yesterday that it ‘has received a referral from the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) and City of London Police in relation to an incident in the vicinity of the G20 protests, where a man was found collapsed.’
• Second news story
LEADERS THUMBS UP ON G20
US President Obama, Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi and Russian President Medvedev posed for a thumbs-up photograph yesterday as world leaders closed on a deal allegedly to ‘jumpstart’ the slump-hit world economy.
After sharp differences over how to restore confidence, representatives of Obama and other G20 leaders agreed the IMF could get up to $500bn in extra funding and a tax haven black list could be drawn up.
UK Prime Minister Brown said in his opening speech to the summit that there was a ‘very high degree of consensus’.
But Business Secretary Mandelson said rifts ‘persisted’ on how to draw up a new rule book for international finance and stimulus measures and combat protectionism.
UK Treasury Secretary Stephen Timms told reporters that tax havens that refuse to share information with other countries will face ‘sanctions’.
‘In due course there will be a list produced of countries that don’t sign up. . . what’s being discussed today is the timing,’ he said, claiming ‘the era of banking secrecy is over.’
A draft summit communique also called for restrictions on bonuses for bankers to discourage those who run short-term risks.
