I’m watching the news on the TV right now all about the G20 protests going on throughout London today- I should probably go out and take pics but it just looks a little too crazy for me to go out there and feel safe, I think. I mean, I’ve read articles about how today, a bank was looted and there are serious questions about whether police are getting violent with the protesters. I’m a bit bummed, because I’d really like to meet Russell Brand in the flesh. I saw him tweeting earlier that he was going out to the protests and I’d love to see if he gets into shenanigans while he’s there- I mean, this is the guy who stripped naked at the fountain at Piccadilly Circus once.

What I love though is that this event really has been told through twitter and new technology. Here’s an interesting look at how professional journalists are covering the protests using twitter. I’m now following the designated Financial Times G20 twitter feed and keeping an eye on the Guardian @ G20 Live. Here’s the Telegraph’s coverage.

My flatmate Ashley has to go through Canary Wharf where all the banks are to get to work. Because of the G20 protests today, all the bankers were told to dress down for work so not to stand out- an effort to be incognito. Apparently nearly all of them wore jeans, nice button-down shirts, sweaters, with briefcases and blackberries, or some variation thereof. HAH.

Photos from the G20 protest in Rome I observed last Saturday.

I’ll be honest, I didn’t figure out exactly what was going on for a while, because it was all in Italian. I only figured it out later by looking it up online. I was walking to a church from the Colosseum and I heard all the screaming so I went down to see what was going on. I took these pictures from on top of a building lining Via del Corso, where the protest went down.  (This article gives more in-depth info on the protests around the world last Saturday)

According to that article, over 50,000 people marched in Rome. I think I came in towards the middle/end of the protest march so I didn’t see that many. But then, I wouldn’t know what 50,000 people looks like. Maybe something like this?

So many people- lots of shouting and chanting and flag-waving.

I liked the balloons. They were a nice touch.

So many signs in a language I don’t understand!

I heard several very loud sounds that were like bombs- this was the only thing I saw though, so I think it was just really loud paint bombs. “Take that you bad bad bank” I really want to see someone attacking piggy banks now- it would be entertaining.

And then the cops came. The type in the black uniforms with red stripes are the carabinieri, one of three different types.

So yeah. It was really random and unexpected but fun to see. Protests always are so exciting to watch, even in a completely different language.