Police remain on alert as Mayday protests continue

Disturbances in London escalated tonight as anti-capitalist protesters caused widespread damage to property. A group of Mayday demonstrators attacked more than 20 shop-front windows on Tottenham Court Road. Buildings were smashed with rocks and other missiles. Included among the properties damaged were those of Bank of Scotland, Abbey National, Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays Bank, Coffee Republic and Habitat. However, police are tonight continuing to contain a large group of protesters in the Oxford Street area of London.

Earlier, some protesters broke through police lines on Oxford Street, foiling the police plan to keep different groups of protesters separate. The protestors had engaged in a battle with police as they tried to break out of Holles Street on to Oxford Street. Officers used batons to keep back protesters, who taunted them with chants of "scum, scum". Several protestors were injured in the fracas. A group of around six police was forced to flee on New Bond Street after they came under attack from several hundred protesters who threw bottles at them. Assistant Police Commissioner, Mike Todd, conceded that officers needed to regain control after protesters broke through police lines in Oxford Street.

Police in Holles Street had broken forcible through a group of protestors that surrounded them after breaking through the police line on the street. The police came under a torrent of abuse from demonstrators who pressed in from all sides. Police attempted to disperse the crowd with the use of a loudspeaker before breaking out. They pushed protesters away with shields. Officers had then regrouped at the junction of Holles Street and Oxford Street.

Hundreds of protesters have been blocked in Holles Street by a line of police, including mounted officers. Police vans raced ahead of another large group of protesters heading along Holles Street towards Oxford Street. Mounted police stopped the peaceful group, who banged drums and waved red flags. Protestors have built a small bonfire outside a shoe shop in Oxford Street.

Mounted police blocking the entrance to Margaret Street from Regent Street withdrew at around 4.30pm, as hundreds of dancing protesters moved towards them accompanied by dozens of drums and whistles. The mounted police and six police vans moved down Margaret Street and turned left into John Prince's Street. This allowed the protesters to occupy Margaret Street. Hundreds of protestors danced down Margaret Street into Cavendish Square, where they reached the line of police blocking the route into Holles Street.

Police on Regent Street launched another baton charge in new clashes with demonstrators. Police have closed Waterloo, Lambeth, Vauxhall and Hungerford bridges to pedestrians. Ten people have been taken to hospital with minor injuries, with five more treated at the scene. Twenty-nine people have been arrested, according to Scotland Yard. A police spokesman has said that eight of those arrested are foreign nationals. Two of those arrested have been detained for allegedly causing criminal damage in a Sainsbury's store in Victoria Street in Central London.

Police officers had been trying to contain anti-capitalist demonstrators by keeping different groups of protestors apart. Lines of police, up to three deep, surrounded a central group of protesters in Oxford Circus. Cordons of police vans were set up on all sides of the main group on Oxford Street in an attempt to stop further crowds joining. More protesters were gathered to the north and south along Regent Street. The police were bombarded by a hail of bottles and sticks as protests continue to mark Mayday.

One group made an attempt to break down boarding outside the store Niketown. Mike Todd, the Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner, said: "We have had very, very good intelligence about a hardcore, far more interested in violence and criminality than actual legitimate protest."

Meanwhile, firms and businesses in London issued guidelines to their employees in advance of the protests. Employees were warned that their firms may be targeted by protesters and were therefore advised to take certain precautions. Employees were told that they should keep the blinds in their offices closed for the day and they were also advised to "dress down". One firm encouraged its workers not to travel into the city by car. Strict security precautions were in operation all day.

The day's demonstration began with a "Critical Mass" bicycle protest, where hundreds of cyclists blocked off streets in the city. A crowd of 600-700 people then held a mini-carnival in Euston Road outside King's Cross Station for about 30 minutes. They brought traffic to a standstill, before beginning a slow march towards Euston Station under a heavy police escort.

Fourteen people have been arrested in London. About 6,000 police officers were drafted in to prevent any repetition of the violence that marked anti-capitalist demonstrations in the city last year. Three people were arrested in advance of the protests. Two protesters were arrested in Southwark, Southeast London, on suspicion of being in possession of drugs. A third person was arrested for being, what police described as, "equipped to cause criminal damage".

Police have said that there was a hardcore of about 1,000 people who would be intent on violence. All police leave has been cancelled and the protesters' likely targets, including statues, banks, offices and shops, have been boarded up. The demonstrators range from class war activists and hard-line anarchist groups, who use the Internet to organise direct action against globalisation, to more peaceful anti-car environmental groups.

About 400 demonstrators gathered for an anti-capitalist protest in Glasgow. The demonstration was peaceful and police have reported no arrests. Children as young as three joined the march which brought traffic to a standstill at times. The protest peacefully passed a number of major high-street chains, such as McDonald's, Gap and HMV. An earlier flashpoint came as the parade passed by the Armed Forces Careers office and the Army Information Zone, both in Queen Street. Around 50 protesters gathered around the windows of both premises and repeatedly banged on the glass and shouted anti-nuclear slogans.

Around 60 protesters staged a protest march in Manchester City Centre. The demonstrators called for an end to globalisation. They were prevented from entering Manchester Town Hall by police and were halted as they approached the city's Piccadilly Railway Station and asked to disperse. They were then told that the march was not being allowed to proceed under the 1996 Public Order Act and they dispersed peacefully after half an hour.