1 Apr 2009

G20 protests: riot police clash with demonstrators

G20 protest in central London have turned violent ahead of tomorrow's summit, with a hardcore band of demonstrators close to the Bank of England storming a Royal Bank of Scotland branch, smashing its windows and wrecking the interior.

G20 protests and security: Police attempt to subdue the crowds near the Bank of England.

Riot police are struggling to remove the 20 protesters, some of whom have emerged from the ruined building holding aloft computers, telephones and files.

Although the demonstrations began peacefully, bloody skirmishes have erupted as police try to keep thousands of people in containment pens on Threadneedle street.

G20 protests and security: Police control protesters outside the Bank of England during G20 protests.

Protesters targeted RBS, which is at the centre of a row over £703,000-a-year pension payments to Sir Fred Goodwin, the disgraced former chief executive.

Earlier, Gordon Brown met Barack Obama in Downing Street and later announced that the G20 leaders were "within a few hours" of agreeing a global deal for economic recovery.

guardian.co.uk