Man dives from tower bridge in Olympic cab protest

British police on Monday rescued and arrested a man who dived off London's iconic Tower Bridge during a protest by taxi drivers against travel restrictions imposed by Olympic Games' organizers. A statement issued by the city's Metropolitan Police force confirmed that officers from the marine policing unit pulled the man out of the River Thames at around 16:00 local time (15:00 GMT) before arresting him for a public order offense. Taxi drivers staged the go-slow protest on the bridge over being barred from accessing special Games lanes, which will be available only to Olympics officials, athletes and other approved vehicles. The demonstration followed a similar protest on July 17. In a statement, TfL's managing director of Surface Transport Leon Daniels condemned the protest. "It is a real shame that people who claim to represent some of the honest and most hardworking people in London, the taxi trade, have acted in this way," Daniels said. Daniels explained that taxis, although banned from using the Games lanes at certain times, still had full access to the wider Olympic Route Network (ORN).