G20: Climate Camp in the City, Bishopsgate. Mermaids and cycle campaigner with placard about rising sea levels
At on April 1, 2009 people suddenly ran onto the street outside the European Climate Exchange on Bishopsgate and began to erect tents, while another group arrived on bicycles and did the same. Although there was a strong police presence, there was little or no attempt to stop them, though police did insist that some tents they felt were too close to their vans were moved away. Soon the camp was set up, with people having picnics on the road and playing music and dancing on the streets. Several MPs had come to watch the event and observe the police reaction to it. This was an environmental protest, and the site was chosen as the ECE is a centre for carbon trading, which most environmentalists see as either irrelevant or as a hindrance to making progress in cutting carbon emissions. By the time I left an hour or so later, there were already a few incidents on the edge of the camp as the TSG (territorial support group) moved in, looking very much as if they wanted a fight. While I was there they grabbed a few demonstrators who refused to remove face masks and scuffles ensued. [Long after I and virtually all press and observers had left, in the middle of the night, police stormed the camp. Videos show the demonstrators holding up their hands and chanting "this is not a riot" as they are batoned and assaulted with riot shields by charging riot police.]
Size: 5040px × 3347px
Location: Bishopsgate, London, England, UK
Photo credit: © Peter Marshall / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1, april, bishopsgate, camp, camping, carbon, city, climate, demonstration, environment, environmental, european, exchange, global, ice, level, london, melting, mermaid, protest, rising, sea, tents, trading, warming
