After initially being ejected from the lobby of Millbank by police and security staff, the protestors smashed their way in through windows.
Using sticks and chairs they destroyed CCTV cameras and broke windows from the inside of the office block. Employees had to be evacuated as masked youths rampaged through corridors and onto the roof.
Dozens of police officers stationed outside the entrance were overwhelmed as the crowd of thousands pelted them with rocks and bottles.
BBC video (not embeddable)
The sleeping beast that is the British working class is beginning to stir. There have been several bank occupations across the UK recently and the Vodafone shops in Glasgow and else where in the UK were closed for several hours on at least two occasions in the last week or so. Vodafone fiddled £6 billion in taxes in recent years. Anger can be slow to rise but difficult to suppress.
I should add the obvious, this picture is not “anarchy”, it is the usual misuse of the word every time the media display any scene of disruption and or violence. If I remember right anarchism is something to do with free association, voluntary co-operation and mutual aid. Of course I am getting old, so perhaps I have got a little bit confused.
I know, I was being cute.
that was so fucking stupid – the people that destroyed the building weren’t even students – just giving a bad name to those of us who are.