Via CNN.com
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Protesters, police go online in G-20 battle
LONDON, England (CNN) — Social networking Web sites are set to play a crucial role in protests ahead of next week’s G-20 meeting of world leaders in London as demonstration organizers and police use Twitter and Facebook as key sources of real-time information and intelligence.
Flyers and posters for next week’s G20 Meltdown protests urge particiipants to “Storm the banks!”
Metropolitan Police leaders have warned that the city faces an “unprecedented” wave of protest in the run-up to Thursday’s summit talks on the state of the global economy and are set to deploy huge numbers of officers to maintain public order.
Thousands of protesters are expected to march through the streets this Saturday in a rally organized by trade unions and left wing groups.
But it is plans by anti-capitalist and environmental protesters to converge on the Bank of England next Wednesday — April 1 — for a “mass street party” dubbed “Financial Fools Day” that have prompted most concern.
The protest, organized by an umbrella group called “G-20 Meltdown,” will feature four separate “carnival parades,” each led by giant “Horseman of the Apocalypse” puppets. A flyer for the event, carries the slogan “Storm the Banks!” and features images of French revolutionaries storming the Bastille in 1789 and a mannequin of a banker hanging from a noose.
Marina Pepper, one of the organizers of G-20 Meltdown, said that Twitter, the blogging tool that allows short updates to be filed, published and read via cellphones, would be used to coordinate the protests — and warn participants of possible trouble.
“In terms of mobilizing people and shifting them around, Twitter will be used next week,” Pepper told CNN. “We can also keep people empowered, because information is power.”
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