Tourists were taking pictures as masked protesters caused a massive response by police to protect Buckingham Palace tonight. ETN publisher Juergen T. Steinmetz was surprised while being driven in a taxi at around 10:00 pm London time and had to walk through the protest site to get to a meeting at the World Travel Market meeting being held at the Marriott County Hall hotel across from Big Ben.

Hundreds of masked protesters are at Buckingham Palace and Parliament Square in London as part of a worldwide march against austerity cuts. The march is part of the “Anonymous Million Mask March.”

Police swarmed into the Westminister Tube station and secured the surroundings after many police cars rushed to the scene sometimes going against traffic.

Traffic to the protest side was closed from all sides and caused major delays in downtown transportation.

Tourists had to walk back to hotels in some areas around Buckingham Palace.

Fireworks as well as glass bottles were thrown towards the palace, and a fire took hold at the Victoria Memorial. Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square was also damaged.

Police Officers are starting to take people away – at least one man and one woman were seen being led away by police, and reportedly 11 have been arrested. Also seen among the protestors was well-known comedian Russell Brand.

Protesters are being moved away from Buckingham Palace as the atmosphere took on a more and more tense energy. Barriers were being ripped from the side of the road by some of the protestors.

Other countries have had austerity marches as well, such as Japan, New Zealand, and Australia.