Occupy London falls

Occupy London protest camp evicted from St Paul's

Police and bailiffs dismantled the Occupy London campsite outside the city’s iconic St Paul’s cathedral in an overnight raid Tuesday, ending a four-month protest against corporate greed and economic inequality.

By FRANCE 24 (video)
News Wires (text)

REUTERS - Police and bailiffs cleared an anti-capitalist camp from outside St Paul’s cathedral in London early on Tuesday, ending a four-month protest which resonated with Britons angered by huge bonuses awarded to bankers during an economic slowdown.

There was no violent resistance from the Occupy London activists as bailiffs employed by the City of London Corporation, which owns the land on which they were camped, removed around 50 tents within an hour shortly after midnight.

The urban camp was set up as part of an international movement inspired by the U.S. Occupy Wall Street against what the activists say is corporate greed and economic inequality.

It was one of many protests across Europe in recent months as the continent struggles with a debt crisis.

Authorities in some North American cities have used violence to forcibly remove similar camps but in London the action was largely peaceful.

“It is a sad evening, but it has been coming,” Dan Ashman, 27, said. “The saddest day was when the courts didn’t recognise reality, but the reality that the authorities put before them.”

The protesters themselves had removed around 100 tents after they lost their legal battle to stay last week.

After dismantling the remaining tents, bailiffs took down a barricade of wooden crates where about a dozen activists had stood, chanting “Occupy Everywhere”. Police shunted others across the cathedral steps.

The protesters chose to pitch their tents outside St Paul’s in October after they were blocked from their intended target, the nearby square at the London Stock Exchange.

Debate

The 300-year-old baroque cathedral is one of central London’s most recognisable landmarks, a favourite with tourists and likely to be thronged by Olympic visitors this summer. It was also where Prince Charles married Princess Diana in 1981.

The arrival of the camp prompted a debate about the role of ethics in finance in Britain, where many people are angry that banks, some of which took billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money in a government bailout, continue to pay out big bonuses despite being largely blamed for the 2008 financial crisis.

The cathedral appeared divided on how to handle the sit-in, resulting in the resignation of two senior Anglican clerics and another debate, about the relationship between the Church and the City, London’s financial district.

Two people appeared to have been wounded. Sky news said 20 people had been arrested.

By early morning many of the activists had drifted away and most were resigned to the eviction.

George Barda, 36, who went to court to fight the eviction, said it was important that activists left peacefully.

“I am sure we could have put up more of a show by chaining ourselves to railings, but it is not a question of matching the power of the authorities,” he said.

The activists, who were joined by homeless people at the camp, received support from some celebrities including designer Vivienne Westwood and playwright Alan Bennett, who dropped in for tea and left signed copies of his work at its library tent.

But it was also accused of being too diverse in its cause.

The Corporation won its right to remove the camp after arguing in court that it hindered planning control, attracted crime, and interfered with a public right of way and the rights of those who wished to worship in the cathedral.

It won a case in the High Court last month for the tents to be taken away. The protesters went to the Court of Appeal arguing that their case had “unique and global” significance but the appeal was rejected.

The protesters could still apply to the European Court of Human Rights.

some endless spume. . . La Push

spume !

my spaceship moves closer to the water every year
people love to shoot things / everything
portal
yarn-bombers attack
recliron

hurricane force winds /sideways rain / hail
young logonauts
within the log

Spume !!!!
spume diver

why they're called fir trees

oh, the things he could possibly see
from the playground you could see the swell breaking outside of James Island, way outside
like fingers about to grab him way from the ocean
he must have dove too hard~ Dashiell told me



it was the annual kayak contest/ but it was much too big for mortals in plastic shells and Vanagons
what i live for~ first light
brushed against the lips of rushing waves





these could never replace / these



this could have been his last camp
check out my foot print~ scale reference
the trees don't need the wheels of the world

and, i almost fucking paddled out
what stopped me ?
NE!L~ away from all the seals

victory

everything in the world should come with casters and adjustable lights and be painted bumpy grey
and Mimeographic
i have never heard this machine make sounds but gather it's dusty covers around it's ears
if you wonder where i am at six fifteen in the morning~ hello !
been looking at different parts of the world with differnt parts of my eyes~
a few steps over the rail lines
caught out in the rain
i love the height bounderies of street art, if you have a ladder you have unlimited canvas
for a new Victory !
coping posters from Japan 1960's thanks to Shigeo Fukuda
and bombing the city
but i can't stand the damn Read books propaganda~ i will repeat ~ what if we are wrong about reading and books in general~ burn em' down !
i love this little glue up
art behind fences


White Center cutie
white coffins at night prepare to protest China's destruction of Tibet
i drove passed this gorgeous mess and had to pull over, but was so excited i couldn't take pictures and then a gang of homeless guys talked my ear off and~ this is what the cities like, isolated homeless camps out in the industrial wastes, behind buildings~ kind of hidden
apparently one man created this vortex, the roof was being used as food storage and rat protection which collapsed on him~ where he was trapped for hours beneath four-hundred pounds of canned things
so many interesting things lay in groups and piles and trashy
Occupy the streets~ alone
FREE~ ATW
free ! against the wall~

NE!L~
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