Riot police clashed with anti-capitalist protesters in running confrontations through the streets of central London and arrested 32 people as activists targeted some of the world's biggest companies before next week's G8 summit.
About 100 protesters gathered outside oil company BP's headquarters, while others chanted "war criminals" at the office of US defence company Lockheed Martin yesterday.
Police used chainsaws to break into a four-storey block in the Soho district where the StopG8 protest group had been staying before a "Carnival Against Capitalism" to coincide with the G8 meeting in Northern Ireland.
Aerial footage showed a man on the building's flat roof confront three police officers and charge towards the edge before being wrestled to the ground.
Several more police, some wearing abseiling ropes, rushed over to restrain him, inches from the roof's edge. More officers carried away the man, who appeared to have a bloody face.
The rooftop drama came as other protesters - who had threatened to target hedge funds, banks and multinationals - played cat and mouse with riot police through some of London's most fashionable streets.