G20 Protest – Saturday 28th

The protest went well contrary to what police suggested. Turn out was estimated at 35,000 by police, Put People First haven't announced any figures as of writing this. I'm surprised however there wasn't more, as can you think of anything more quintessentially British than forming a long queue!

I was pleasantly surprised by police in attendance, they weren't trying to provoke or intimidate people and their terrorist cameramen taking photos of everyone weren't out. Overall they were fairly low key apart from around parliament, which you would expect, and the Ritz which isn't so expected.

There were a lot of children and families present which was really nice to see, along with a large cross section of people from, communist parties, socialists workers, child campaign groups, pensioners, unions, anarchists, Stop the War Coalition, Salvation army, Greenpeace and a lot of people like me, who aren't happy with the ineptness surrounding this recession. The best protesters were a group of people dressed as bankers, who while slipping Champagne and smoking cigars, heckled “bloody commies, I just want a swimming pool”.

The atmosphere was really enhanced by the brass bands, they were brilliant, it was like marching to the Wallace & Gromit theme. Which made the atmosphere really upbeat, though there was a sense of anger lurking under it. Which is a pretty good parallel to how most people feel, there isn't anything that can gloss over how pissed off people are getting.

I hope the other protests planned will follow suit, and the police show the professionalism they did today, as they do set the tone of a protest as much as the protesters.

Update: I stand corrected, the police were taking photos/filming from balconies. Hence I didn't see them.