Four thousand protesters clashed with police in London Wednesday, a day ahead of the G-20 summit. Police arrested 32 people as protesters vandalized the Bank of England and broke into the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Environmentalists, anti-capitalists, anarchists and antiwar campaigners marched on London’s financial center.

Police used horses, dogs and truncheons to control the crowd as people rioted outside the Bank of England. The rioters failed to enter the bank, but several hundred broke off and attacked a branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland—a British bank that the government rescued in October. The bank attracted public outrage after its former chief executive received a ₤700,000 pension.

A group of 20 managed to enter the building—which was closed for the day—and wreak havoc. They smashed windows, destroyed office furniture, ripped out phone lines and scrawled graffiti both inside and outside the building.

Fearing attacks, many city workers went to work in casual clothes yesterday—with good reason. Angry rioters burned and hung an effigy of a banker. They chanted “build a bonfire, put the bankers on the top,” and shouted “jump” and “shame on you” at financial sector workers watching the protest from their office block windows. Others chanted “Revolution,” and “Palestine will be free.” Slogans on banners included “Banks are evil,” “Eat the bankers,” and “0 percent interest in others.”

As the violence increased, officers cordoned off the streets surrounding the area, trapping the protesters in order to stop the violence spreading.

“There have been a number of missiles thrown at officers and a number of surges at the police cordons, and increasing levels of violence towards police. Cordons have been put in place to maintain safety and control the crowd,” said a spokesman for the Metropolitan Police.

A prophecy in the book of Ezekiel shows that violence in the cities will reach increasingly destructive levels in Britain—as well as America. This prophecy is explained in Chapter Five of Gerald Flurry’s booklet Ezekiel: The End-Time Prophet.

As financial problems and related conditions continue to grow worse, we should expect such bitter emotions and public disorder to increase.