Living in one of the most diverse and active cities in the world, you experience a little of everything. It is not unusual to be shopping on Oxford Circus (one of the busiest shopping areas in the world) and see hundreds of protesters expressing their opinions about various topics. While loud and boisterous, most of these protests are usually quite peaceful (and, I have to admit, entertaining). This week the G20 summit is being held in London (oh, and we saw Obama's helicopter making its way to central London on Tuesday evening...we waved but we could not tell if he waved back!) and with the state of the economy and the recent actions of many banks, the protesters have been out in the thousands (50,000 for a single protest). Because past protests of this kind have resulted in lynchings of businessmen, Jignesh's company advised its employees to dress down and take extra caution when travelling to and from work. Businesses and banks in the financial district expected the worse and boarded their windows. Many people throughout London decided to work from home and Jignesh said the underground was practically empty. Those that did brave central London opted for jeans rather than the usual suit and tie. Check out this link http://www.guardian.co.uk/video to see some of yesterday's protests. While some of them mirrored Woodstock with singing and peace, others looked more like a looting after Hurrican Katrina. Yes, it would have been extremely interesting to see all the action but I am glad that both Jignesh and I avoided the targeted areas.
Cheers!
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