Occupied London.

Joining with protesters around the world on October 15th protesters in London attempted to occupy Paternoster Square opposite the London Stock Exchange. The problem was that Paternoster Square is private property and the owner had already obtained a High Court injunction that made the protest illegal. So the police contained or kettled the protesters at their meeting point - Saint Paul's Cathedral, a world famous London landmark. Without even the choice to leave the protesters decided to occupy the Cathedral's church yard instead. This back fired on Britain somewhat because it immediately pulled the relationship between the Church of England (CofE), the government, the monarchy and the judiciary into sharp focus.

So on October 21st St Paul's Cathedral announced that it was being forced to close due to health & safety concerns created by the occupiers. However the protesters have liaised extensively with London Fire Brigade (LFB) to ensure that the occupation does not block evacuation points or access to emergency vehicles. As a result LFB can't find any health & safety problems so the Cathedral's decision to shut is a bit of a mystery. It seems to me to be an attempt the shame the occupiers into leaving of their own free will in order to avoid the CofE having to apply to the judiciary for an eviction order.

Whether that happens or not some of the occupiers have set up a secondary occupation in near by Finsbury Square. On the face of it these seems like a good idea because it follows the New York model of having a small, unobtrusive camp maintained by 300-500 protesters. Numbers then swell during the day with visitors and people arriving for mass marches on the weekends. The only possible problem I can see is that Finsbury Square is relatively small and overlooked by tall buildings on all sides. This will make it very easy for the police to set up advanced surveillance on the camp which considering all decisions are made by consensus during mass, open air meetings could become intrusive. It might be a better idea then to find a wide open space preferably one with lots of tree cover. After all it's much easier to pitch a tent on grass then on concrete.

Also the media seem to be describing the occupiers as "anti-capitalist protesters" as if that should be considered an insult. I'm really not sure this is accurate though. While there are a wide range of diverse opinions on offer at the occupation it generally seems to be a protest against austerity cuts and the general economic malaise. In no small part these were caused by governments decision to bail out the banks rather then letting them fail which is what should have happened in capitalist free market. So if anything the occupiers are pro-capitalists.