April Fools: London

Here is raw footage from today's protests against the G20 summit in London, posted on YouTube. A voice in the first clip is yelling "They are the crisis!"

There has been one fatality amid the mayhem, but it's reported that the person died of natural causes, collapsing at one conflict scene.

Here's some street-level footage with some superfluous running (or walking) commentary as the police drive a crowd before them.

Financial district workers were advised to wear casual clothes to their jobs today in order not to attract hostile attention from the protesters.

This bit is from the same source as the last.

When Mr. Peepers saw some of the London footage on the NBC news this evening, he asked me, "Why don't they do something like that in this country?" I supposed that Americans don't like being part of a mob (as opposed to a crowd) like they used to. Mr. P. said that Glenn Beck has been telling his listeners to form mobs, but that goes to show how much influence he has, or how far it actually goes.

In London the news media usually had the best seats in the house. Someone has recorded some Sky News footage of a violent moment and made it available in the spirit of fair use, so I'm using it here.

This was supposed to be "Financial Fools' Day," with a spirit of irreverence prevailing, but I can understand if some people didn't feel exactly whimsical on this occasion. Meanwhile, here is another tense scene, though calling it a "battle" is a bit excessive.

This was only the first day of the summit -- a day when the NBC News anchor could say that perhaps the day's most noteworthy event was President Obama's meeting with the Queen. On that particular program there was more coverage of Mrs. Obama's social itinerary than there was of the protests. Perhaps the proportions will shift later.