These are the kind of thugs that Gordon Brown feels he needs to protect his guests when he invites war criminals to dinner.
The demonstration took place, but there was no march up Whitehall (despite hopes that it might be permitted). As a result there was a long standoff over the crash barriers between the police and the protesters at the entrance to Parliament Street. Although there was absolutely no way that anyone could have got past the riot police, the mounted police and the police vans blocking the entrance to Whitehall, the police were very aggressive and used their batons and truncheons to hit people about the head and arms, apparently just for pushing on the metal barrier.
However this all happened in a small area, until the riot police decided to come into the square from the other side and provoke a confrontation. At that point I decided to leave.
Notice Bianca Jagger and the usual police photographers taking photos of everybody.