ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND RIOTS

Parece que se confirmam os indícios de que haverá muita gente irada por esse mundo e em especial por essa Europa. Vendo oportunismo e tacticismo esbulhador dos clientes por parte de tantos bancos, os ganhos escandaloso dos seus administradores. Bancos protegidos de um modo automático pelos governos e a sua dualidade perante a Banca e perante os Indivíduos, de repente privados de trabalho e sem quaisquer outros meios de subsistência, essa gente aguarda por uma oportunidade para desferir aquele golpe físico e simbólico que depois correrá o mundo e fará milhões perguntar-se. «Mas afinal, o que fez o Royal Bank of Scotland para suscitar estes motins?» Parece-me estulto que se apresse alguém a considerá-los folclóricos e espectáculo de conjuntura: «Alguns manifestantes que declararam que hoje é o "Dia das Mentiras dos Bancos" conseguiram passar a barreira da polícia anti-motim e entrar dentro das instalações do Royal Bank of Scotland. Outros manitestantes quebraram computadores, um tentou pegar fogo a cortinas, descreve um repórter do "Guardian". Depois de partirem a fachada de vidro, entraram no banco onde estava também a polícia que começou a fazer detenções.O jornal dizia que as escaramuças tinham passado oficialmente a motins. Começaram entretanto a aparecer agentes da polícia anti-motim a cavalo.»; No Guardian.co.uk, pode ler-se: «The last time bankers faced angry demonstrations, some responded by pouring champagne or photocopied £50 notes from windows, but it is unlikely that protesters targeting the City next week during the G20 summit will be met by similar shows of bravado. Many staff are being advised to dress down next Wednesday and Thursday to avoid being marked out as City workers - if they cannot avoid the protests entirely by working from home. Others have been advised to avoid leaving the office to attend meetings. Concern about possible violence heightened when the home of former Royal Bank of Scotland chairman Sir Fred Goodwin was vandalised early yesterday morning, leaving three windows shattered and the rear window of his black Mercedes smashed. An anonymous email was sent to media organisations shortly after the attack threatening further action against "criminal" bank bosses. The former RBS boss, who had not been at home and is at the centre of a row over the size of his pension from the taxpayer-owned bank, was said to have been "shaken" by the incident. Many in the City believe aggressive media coverage of the financial crisis has declared a virtual open season on financial sector workers. The financial advisory group Bluefin, which employs 500 staff in London, has set up a phone line offering staff updates next week. Staff have been told not to go to its office in Mark Lane in the City unless absolutely necessary. "As a responsible employer, the safety and wellbeing of our staff is always considered of paramount importance," a spokesman said. A UBS spokesman said the bank would continue to assess the level of threat as it got nearer the time. "We are telling people to be cautious. If you have client meetings, do you need to have them here? Some of the banks have said dress down or try not to move around. It is all pretty obvious. "It is quite co-ordinated among the banks. We all talk to each other. I think it is different if you are in a landmark building, some are more obvious than others." Another banker complained that we "are in an era of the demonisation of financial services". World leaders, including Barack Obama, are due to begin arriving early next week with the summit beginning on Thursday at the ExCeL centre in London's Docklands. The G20 Meltdown campaign is a loose alliance of organisations that will set off from four locations in London a day earlier and converge on the Bank of England, each marching behind one of the "four horsemen of the apocalypse". A separate climate change protest group intends to set up camp outside the European Climate Exchange on Bishopsgate. Further protests are to take place outside the offices of RBS and there will be marches on ExCeL during the event. Other action is rumoured to be planned to disrupt transport and cause chaos in the City in what many believe could be the biggest protests since the poll tax riots. An additional 2,500 police have been drafted in at a cost of £7.5m and plan a "ring of steel" around ExCeL. Police chiefs last week called City firms to a briefing that gave advice on how to beef up security.The protesters say they plan peaceful demonstrations. "This is not a problem about a few greedy bankers or regulators who were asleep at the wheel, it is a systemic problem," said Michael Rainsbro, who has helped organise the protests. But even a cursory search on the internet finds more chilling threats, with one organisation, London Class War, showing Goodwin's head in a guillotine on the front of its G20 newsletter and suggesting in its manifesto: "Direct action is necessary against the individuals and institutions". The email that followed the attack on Goodwin's house was sent from the address http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/mar/26/g20-summit-protests and said: "We are angry that rich people, like him, are paying themselves a huge amount of money and living in luxury, while ordinary people are made unemployed, destitute and homeless. This is a crime. Bank bosses should be jailed. This is just the beginning."But many appeared to be relaxed. "If you turn up for work in a bold pinstripe that might be an issue," said a Merrill Lynch spokesman, "but we have all been here before."»