page_title: 2009 G20 London summit protests
section_title: Timeline of the protests
hierarchical_section_title: 2009 G20 London summit protests / Timeline of the protests
caption_attribution_description: Crowd at the G20 Meltdown protest in London on 1 April 2009 in the early afternoon.
context_page_description: The 2009 G20 London summit protests occurred in the days around the 2 April 2009 G20 London summit. The summit was the focus of protests from a number of groups over various long-standing and topical issues. These ranged from disquiet over economic policy, anger at the banking system and bankers' remuneration and bonuses, the continued war on terror and concerns over climate change.
  Although the majority of the protests and protesters were peaceful, the threat of violence and criminal damage were used by police as a reason to detain, or "kettle", protesters as part of Operation Glencoe. A bystander, Ian Tomlinson, died shortly after being pushed to the ground by a police officer. A second post-mortem revealed that Tomlinson may have died from an abdominal haemorrhage. The inquest into Tomlinson's death found that he was unlawfully killed.
context_section_description: 28 March 2009
  35,000 people joined the peaceful "March for Jobs, Justice and Climate" in central London, which was organised by Put People First, a civil-society coalition of more than 160 development non-governmental organisations, trade unions and environmental groups, organised in response to the London summit .
  Their 12-point economic plan for democratic governance demanded democratised financial institutions to deliver secure jobs and public services, an end to global poverty and inequality, and a green economy. The movement was initiated by the Jubilee Debt Campaign, Trade Justice Movement, British Overseas NGOs for Development and TUC.
  A peace activist climbed over the railings into the Houses of Parliament as a symbolic gesture of "power to the people". When arrested by police he explained that "This is the people's parliament, and I am one of the people".
  28 March 2009
  Marches in several French cities were organised by Association for the Taxation of Financial Transactions for the Aid of Citizens.
  1 April 2009 12 noon
  Around five thousand people joined the "G20 Meltdown" protest outside the Bank of England. G20 Meltdown was a radical anti-capitalist, socialist organisation conceived in Paris and formed in London in January 2009 prior to the G20 summit. As well as the protest, they organised four nearby squats. Much of the protest, which was "kettled", was peaceful although there were violent confrontations. The police used batons and dogs and at least one policeman was injured; some protesters broke into a branch of Royal Bank of Scotland and a bystander, Ian Tomlinson, died after being hit with a baton from behind by a police officer near the protest.
  1 April 2009 12:30 pm
  About two to three thousand people joined the "Climate Camp in the City" outside European Climate Exchange on Bishopsgate, which was peaceful except for when minor scuffles occurred after riot police "kettled" the event at 7:30 pm. The street was cleared at about 2 am the following day.
  1 April 2009 2 pm
  Several hundred people joined a peaceful Stop the War Coalition march from the American embassy in Grosvenor Square to Trafalgar Square which brought together protesters from the Stop the War Coalition, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, The British Muslim Initiative, and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
  1 April 2009 4 pm
  An "alternative G20 Summit" with speakers including Tony Benn, Ken Loach, Ken Livingstone, John McDonnell and Caroline Lucas was scheduled to take place at the University of East London which was close to the main G20 Summit venue. At the last minute the university announced that the whole university would close for the duration of the summit on safety grounds, also that Prof Chris Knight, an anthropologist at the University for 20 years, had been suspended and the alternative summit was cancelled. In the event, the summit did go ahead and was held on the lawns of the university and started an hour later than planned and an attendance of 200–300 people.
  2 April 2009
  Around 200 people gathered for a vigil outside Bank following news of Ian Tomlinson's death, and were subjected to a police "kettle" despite the vigil being peaceful.
  200 anti-war protesters from the Stop the War Coalition protested at the ExCeL Centre.
  2 April 2009
  "Spiderman", the French climber Alain Robert, climbed the Lloyd's building and unfurled a banner saying "100 months to save the world" in reference to the urgency of tackling climate change.
caption: G20 Meltdown – 1 April 12:30 pm
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