G20 Excel Protests - a second lesson in being in the right place at the right time

With another day of demonstrations ahead of me, the Thursday 2nd April was a bit of an early start, even though I was staying in East London (thank you!). With information pointing to a 7am kick-off outside Excel. Arriving on time I found that I wasn't alone, at the beginning there were as many photographers/reporters as police and a steady stream of limousines arriving with delegates for the first day of the summit.


Although not much went on (other than several of photographers talking, jumping up and down to keep warm, trying to yawn away early morning starts and extreme lethargy), I did manage to grab a couple of images of Cadillac One and Two arriving with a small (but still rather huge) chunk of President Obama's huge security detail.

After several hours of waiting, a slow trickle of protesters started to arrive, setting up in an area surrounded by barriers put aside for their use. Again the groups represented were rather diverse, with a sprinkling of communists and quite a few from the Stop the War Coalition but, most apparent were those protesting against the Genocide in Ethiopia.



By far the largest group evident there, the Ethiopian group were adding to the relaxed atmosphere; singing songs, chanting slogans, dancing and generally having a good time.

Again, certainly a learning experience, knowing that most of the images I took there would be of a similar look and feel I should have headed back to the Bank of England to get images of the clean up (which would have meant covering the second mini protest that, unknown to me, was taking place there). Equipment, was again a bit of an issue, though more on the lens front this time.




Some more of the images can be found on flickr here.

Hopefully have more blatherings soon...