Night time eviction for St Paul’s Occupy

Last night the iconic occupation at the steps of St Paul’s cathedral was finally evicted. Along with a second occupation, the “Bank of Ideas”, the small tent city was removed piece by piece.

The eviction was largely peaceful but did see protesters create a small fort of palettes (that had been used to as under-flooring for the tents so they could be pitched on the unforgiving concrete) to delay the process.

Protesters stood on top of the make shift structure making it difficult for bailiffs and police to take the “fort” to pieces without risking injury for those on top of the structure. At one point flares were set off and throughout the process the few dozen remaining protesters attempted to go peacefully, but noisily.

There is one remaining Occupy site in London in Finsbury Square and the Occupy protesters have declared that they will be back and that “May is our favourite month”.

Green Party Mayoral candidate Jenny Jones, who had spent time at the protest including staying the night in one of the tents said that “The protesters should have been allowed to appeal over their eviction. Although this may be the end of the camp this is not the end of this conversation. As suggestions today of a bank using a loophole to avoid paying £500m tax indicate, reform to the financial sector and on areas such as tax avoidance is urgently needed.”

The Green Party’s Spring Conference in Liverpool last weekend declared it’s support for the global Occupy Movement. A motion was passed saying the party “applauds the audacity” of the protestors.