I remain very suspicious about the fact that the RBS, which is right next to the Bank of England, was left completely unguarded at the height of the G20 demonstration. The attack on it has already been used as an excuse to attack social centres around London and arrest a number of people, as this sickening report attests.
I spent a couple of hours yesterday arguing about this with a banker in Barclays and although he conceded that the demonstrators had a point, and that the police may have been a little rough, the main focus of his argument was that the protestors were there to smash things up and had to be stopped. This coincides exactly with the story that the police and the media have been telling, and the only evidence he had for it was the attack on the bank.
I am not a conspiracy theorist, but I am of the firm opinion that the attack on the RBS was essentially orchestrated by the police in order to provide the media with images of violent destruction of property. Just look at this photo: *dozens* of photographers, and *no* police. At the time, as anyone who was there knows, the police were *everywhere*. And, as this one shows, the RBS – the country’s most hated bank, and a blindingly obvious target – is *right next to the Bank of England*. In this video we can hear the news presenters trying very hard to convincingly explain to themselves and the viewers why it is that the police are standing back and doing nothing while the bank is trashed.
And according to someone who actually witnessed the attack:
‘There were a load of police further down from RBS who could have EASILY stopped the damage being done. Which for the record was done solely by about 10 people. The rest being a weird circle of cameras, waiting for the next kick. One guy started lighting the blinds on fire. I have footage also of a guy in a suit, maybe a bank worker, or police not in uniform, filming it, smiling, and laughing with another cop up above from the opposite building. They watched on amongst many other policemen with cameras as a fire was attempted to be lit. A photographer blew the small flames out before it got out of hand. Some protesters then went inside. Only after a while did the police then go into the building, and take a load more pictures of us all for their snatching operation later on in the day.’
Also, and I may be going slightly bonkers here, look at this clip, and watch the guys provoking the police from about 15 seconds in, two in black and one in white. They seem to be acting, acting in fact with a certain amount of impunity. The guy with the metal bar is by far the most violent of the protestors, and his identically dressed friend seems to be trying to egg the crowd on to more acts of bravado. The guy in white was on the front of several of yesterday’s newspapers, sneering in the faces of the police, covered in what appeared to me to be fake blood. Imagine that scene without those three guys, and then watch this. Ring any bells? I suggest that those three protestors are in fact police provocateurs.
I predict that given this kind of policing, and the ease of creating and distributing footage which exposes the lies of the police authorities with regard to who did what to whom, it is only a matter of a couple of years before the British Government follows the examples of China and Pakistan and clamps down on access to youtube!
Infinite Coincidence 
Your argument is convincing.
At Gleneagles in 2005, “the attempted breach of the security perimeter” was so clearly organised by the state as to be laughable, taking place just at the point where the TV crews had parked their cherry picker lorries for a good view.
It’s only really shocking if you are still mired in a “I live in a liberal democracy” mindset, which clearly your analysis suggests you are questioning.
May I recommend M. Guy Debord’s “Society of the Spectacle”?
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You are certainly correct,people were kettled in then a forward line withdrew exsposing rbs bank.
Rbs was originaly attacked via the front door behind the pillow upon which some merry protester entered then noticed rbs security guards seemingly scared behind a security door.
The protester didnt smash anything and tryed to leave when a policeman tryed to grab him,the protester was slightly hurt but escaped after diving through peoples legs into the crowd.
This first smashing was not covered by the media as it was not in the pre planned position and was not easily viewable by all media.
The smashing of windows to the side of rbs was the planned photo spot hence all media on hand to get their shots.
The first guy to enter the bank is the masked guy that can be found on some photos hanging on the blinds out of the side window.
I didnt damage anything or hurt anyone yet i am typing this with a broken hand…..
The kettle tactic wasnt used to protect people it was used to heat people up and cuase a reaction thus enabling the media to get their shots and thus legitamising the policing costs.
The first window smash can be viewed here
also if you check youtube there are some videos from sky news or the bbc shot from their helicopter that shows police kettling in 30 or so “anarchists” dressed in black the only problem is that you can clearly see a breach in the wall of police and the people in black slipping out one by one.
The whole thing was a setup anyone there must realise this by now.
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by the way i mention the video from the helicopters as you can clearly see police encircling theese protesters in black but also seemingly leaving a 2 man wide gap continously so that they could escape.
this is of importance as the forward line that withdrew encountered slight resistance from the protesters that got out of the kettle after they linked arms and encouraged others to do the same.
just study the pictures available on non main stream news sites such as indy media and you will peice together my account,i was right at the front line in threadneedle street and say the first window pop behind the main door,thats how police were inside rbs when the windows on the side were smashed for the photo op.
After press had their photos/videos of the side window the crowds thinned right down as the press were allowed to leave.
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Thanks for those comments, in the video you link to it’s clear that the protestors can’t believe their luck, I reckon if someone had cottoned on that it was a trap and made the call then they might well not have gone ahead. Once tragic aspect of all this is that at least three young people including a 17-year-old face jail for simply doing what the police were implicitly encouraging them to do. I’m certainly no naive believer in the fundamentally decent institutions of our liberal democracy – we all know that the instinct of the Met is to lie first in the face of blinding evidence to the contrary – but I do find it surprising that mainstream media outlets, most notably the Guardian, don’t seem to be able or willing to put two and two together and raise these questions.
I’m a big fan of Societe of the Spectacle, there’s a film of it too on google video did you know, and there’s also a fantastic exegesis (I think that’s the word) of it in this brilliant, brilliant book (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Metromarxism-Marxist-Tale-Andrew-Merrifield/dp/0415933498).
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Agree with you about the ninja with the metal bar, it had no purpose other than to wind up the police and folk in the crowd should’ve picked up on the guy earlier than they did. Totally counter-productive, was never going to help people break through police lines.
The guy in white, though: I watched him for a while on the BBC and he seemed genuinely distressed in close-up. To say that he was goading the polis doesn’t seem right to me. Looked more like he was shocked and trying to get them to acknowledge the damage they’d done to him.
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