This potentially lethal act may have been the last straw that triggered the most violent events of the day. In localized small scale actions buildings were targeted and serious damage occurred. A branch of McDonald's was devastated and the Futures Exchange was attacked by an angry mob. In the latter case a water main was burst outside the building, creating a street fountain, and soon after masked activists smashed they way into the building and briefly occupied it. Later it appears the building partly caught fire.
Police allege the violence was organized and premeditated.
Perhaps some individuals, with their own agenda, had planned small scale direct actions, while many more seemed well equipped to defend themselves from the later police aggression, but most of the mass activity I saw seemed driven by anger against the police, with people taking out their aggression on whatever became a focal point of attack. In scenes perhaps unseen in the City since Wat Tyler came to town. Ironically at the same time crowds began to party as small sound systems were set up and the carnival livened up at various locations. At one point mini riots were occurring at one end of streets while street parties were underway at the other. But the police entertained no discrimination, charging through revelers to get to trouble spots, and bringing more people into the violence.