Police clashed with demonstrators gathered around the Bank of England in the heart of London’s financial centre on Wednesday during a day of protest against the G20 summit.

Riot police staged baton charges to try to disperse several hundred people protesting against a financial system they said had robbed the poor to benefit the rich.

Demonstrators earlier attacked a nearby branch of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), shattering three windows.

Rescued by the government in October, RBS and former boss Fred Goodwin, who controversially refused to give up a pension of 700,000 ($1 million), became lightning rods for public anger in Britain over banker excess blamed for the financial crisis.

During the protests one man died after he collapsed and stopped breathing. Police said they tried to resuscitate him but that they came under a hail of bottles. The man was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead.

A police source said it was likely the man died from a medical condition but that a post-mortem was needed.

The protests in London’s City financial area coincided with a G20 meeting of the world’s leading and emerging economies.

Protesters hurled paint bombs and bottles, chanting: “Our streets! Our banks!”

RBS said in a statement it was “aware of the violence” outside its branch and “had already taken the precautionary step” of closing central City branches.

As dusk fell, police charged a hard core of anti-capitalist demonstrators in an attempt to disperse them before nightfall. Bottles flew through the air towards police lines and police on horseback stood by ready to intervene.

Some protesters set fire to an effigy of a banker hanging from a lamp post.

Police brought out dogs as they tried to channel the few hundred remaining protesters through the narrow streets surrounding the classical, stone-clad Bank of England.

Police said 63 protesters had been arrested by late evening and at least one officer was taken to hospital for treatment, although he was not believed to be seriously hurt.

Some 4,000 protesters had thronged outside the central bank. A Gucci store nearby was closed and had emptied its windows.

Demonstrations were planned for Thursday at the venue in east London where world leaders will discuss plans to fight the financial crisis, police said.

HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE

During Wednesday’s protests, demonstrators marched behind models of the “four horsemen of the apocalypse” representing financial crimes, war, climate change and homelessness.

Some threw eggs at police and chanted, “Build a bonfire, put the bankers on the top”. Others shouted “Jump” and “Shame on you” at financial sector workers watching the march from office block windows.

“I am angry at the hubris of the government, the hubris of the bankers,” said Jean Noble, a 60-year-old from Blackburn in northern England.

“I am here on behalf of the poor, those who are not going to now get their pension or who have lost their houses while these fat cats keep their bonuses, hide their money in tax havens and go and live where nobody can touch them.”

A smaller demonstration against Britain’s military role in Iraq and Afghanistan attracted several hundred people in Trafalgar Square, not far from parliament.

The protests, which brought together anti-capitalists, environmentalists, anti-war campaigners and others, were meant to mark what demonstrators called “Financial Fools’ Day” — a reference to April Fool’s Day which falls on April 1.

Police stopped a military-style armoured vehicle with the word “RIOT” printed on the front and a police spokesman said its 11 occupants were arrested for having fake police uniforms.