Riot police are in the capital as planned protests take place against the G8 summit. Follow the latest here.
More than 100 officers surrounded a reported squat in Beak Street, Soho, London, occupied by anti-G8 protesters ahead of the “Carnival Against Capitalism". Photo: PA
By Alice Philipson, Ben Bryant, Radhika Sanghani and Claire Carter
4:33PM BST 11 Jun 2013
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• Riot police descend on central London as G8 protests begin
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Police say 32 arrested so far
Latest
19.00 That's it from our live coverage of the protests tonight. Good night.
18.55 Ben Bryant is still out there following the protests. He reports:
There are as many as 250 protestors gathered around the statue of Eros at Piccadilly Circus now as the street carnival kicks off with a promised 'party atmosphere'.
Protestors have come prepared with beer decanted into plastic bottles and banners emblazoned with slogans like 'make extreme wealth history' and, more cryptically, 'if you're not vegan you're part of the problem'.
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As with any carefully planned outdoor soiree, however, they couldn't prevent the rain, which is threatening to turn the whole thing into a damp squib - not that that is likely to encourage this bunch of stoic, monochrome revellers from removing their sunglasses...
17.45 Police have said they also raided an unoccupied building in Norton Folgate near Liverpool Street this afternoon after reports of criminal damage.
Around 20 people were inside at the time and officers made three arrests for alleged criminal damage, Scotland Yard said.
17.20 Our reporter on the ground Radhika Sanghani updates us on the squatters evicted from Beak Street earlier:
Around 80 protestors were led out of the Beak Street squat after police entered with a saw and pick axes.
Most were carrying trolleys full of clothes while others left with guitars.
One 24-year-old protestor who did not want to be named said he had been in the squat for almost 24 hours when the police entered.
He said: "One of them almost hit my face with a pick axe. I left peacefully so they led me away. I'm just waiting for my friends to come out now."
He described the atmosphere in the squat and said: "It was great, there was a really good vibe."
Another protestor who had been staying in the squat for a few days said there were around 250 people in there this morning including an 8-year-old child and some in their sixties.
As protestors were led out of the building by police down a side street, they were greeted with cheers.
Crowds also chanted "shame on you" and "murderers" to the police after an ambulance was called to the premises.
16.50 The number of arrests in central London has now reached 32, according to the Met.
16.32 Riot police clash with G8 protesters. Police clash with scores of anti-G8 demonstrators in central London and surround a building where protest organisers are meeting before a summit of world leaders in the UK next week.
16.14 German, French, Dutch, Belgian and Spanish anti-capitalists were among around 50 squatters evicted from a former police station in Beak Street in central London.
They claimed riot police were very 'heavy handed' when they raided the building earlier today, hitting them with police shields, punching people and spraying protesters with CS gas.
One masked protester who identified himself as Francois from Berlin in Germany said he had come to London to take part in a week of action.
He said: "We have come here to come together against the G8 summit. We are together against this, we have joined together.
"I came here when someone told me about this squat as somewhere to stay while we are here. This is a peaceful, but they did not give us a chance to march. They stopped us marching.
"They came in with shields hitting people and had some kind of spray, like a pepper spray."
Another masked squatter said he had travelled from Holland to join the protests. He said: "I came to London because it was the right place to protest against the international governments."
The top floor of the building had been occupied by squatters for the last few months, with G8 protesters moving into the bottom two floors last Friday, according to one long term squatter.
The man, known as Jay, said: "We allowed the bottom two floors to be used by anti-G8 protesters. We have been for a few months.
"We were upstairs when the police moved in. It was very violent. I have been in quite a few squats when cops come and I have never seen anything like that."
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