LONDON – Thousands of G20 protesters jammed downtown London on Wednesday, storming and smashing the windows at a Royal Bank of Scotland building. Others tried to storm the Bank of England, pelting police with eggs and fruit and rocking the barricades designed to control them.

One police officer was injured after being hit with a large pole during the demonstration and other officers were forced to retreat behind metal barriers as scuffles with the crowd intensitied, Sky News reported.

Demonstrators shouted “Abolish Money!” and clogged streets in the financial district known as “The City” even as Prime Minister Gordon Brown and President Barack Obama held a news conference elsewhere in the British capital.

Protesters had branded the day “Financial Fool’s Day” ahead of Thursday’s summit of world leaders who are gathering in hopes of resolving the global financial crisis that has lashed nations and workers worldwide.

Demonstrators hoisted effigies of the “four horsemen of the apocalypse,” representing war, climate chaos, financial crimes and homelessness.

At least eight people were reportedly arrested for having police uniforms. One police officer lost his helmet and demonstrators tossed it around like a trophy and chanted slogans.

Helicopters hovered above the protests and some buildings were boarded up in case the protests turned ugly. Many banks had extra security and hundreds of police officers lined the streets.

Fearing they would be targeted by protesters, some bankers swapped their pinstripe suits for casual wear and others stayed home. Bolder financial workers leaned out their office windows Wednesday, taunting demonstrators and waving 10 pound notes at them.

Especially in Britain, bankers have been lambasted as being greedy and blamed for the recession that is making jobless ranks soar.

(Source: Fox News / Sky News / Associated Press)