Protestors gather in London ahead of G20 summit
- 00:03:05
- ITN
Protestors gather in London ahead of G20 summit
Tens of thousands of protesters are taking part in rallies, marches and stunts to coincide with the G20 summit in London. Campaigners waving flags and placards have braved wet weather to be part of the Put People First march, which comes amid anger at the £19 million cost of staging the conference at a time of economic downturn. Climate change activists, anti-war campaigners, trade unionists, charity workers and students will take part. Organisers of some of the protests have complained that police briefings have given the impression that the demonstrations will be mounted by anarchists intent on causing trouble. Thousands of police officers will be on duty in central London next week for the run-up to the summit on Thursday and to deal with any violence in the run-up to the conference. The series of events will start later with a march for "jobs, justice and climate", organised by an unprecedented alliance of more than 150 unions, environment, charity, faith and development groups. Thousands of people from across the UK will join a rally at Hyde Park, which will hear calls for action to save jobs, support a low-carbon economy and stricter control of the finance sector. Organisers of the protest rejected as "smears" claims that the event will be anything other than peaceful and law-abiding. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "Never before has such a wide coalition come together with such a clear message for world leaders. "The old ideas of unregulated free markets do not work, and have brought the world's economy to near-collapse, failed to fight poverty and have done far too little to move to a low-carbon economy. "Of course the G20 will not solve everything in a day's work, but leaders must sign up to both boost the world economy and govern it better, and show us that they are trying to build a better world."
ITN | March 28, 2009
