Occupy Protesters Evicted From St Paul's

Occupy protesters have been evicted from St Paul’s Cathedral in London.

Police and bailiffs moved in just after midnight and began removing the encampment, 20 arrests were made in an otherwise peaceful operation.

Set up on October 15, the Occupy protesters were last week refused permission to appeal the High Courts eviction decision.

As City of London Corporation said it “regretted” that it had become necessary to enforce the eviction the protesters insisted their action was far from over.

The majority of the protesters offered no resistance as police dismantled the camp but a small group defied the eviction by building a structure from wooden pallets in the square outside the Cathedral but this was eventually removed.

The High Court had ruled that City of London Corporation’s move to evict the protesters was “lawful and justified” and refused to allow an appeal leaving the corporation free to begin clearing the site.

One of the five protesters who had raised the failed appeal said last night he had “mixed emotions” but added, “"It's not the beginning of the end, it's the end of the beginning.”

He went on to say, “My personal concern is that we don't allow the drama of this event to eclipse the huge and important issues that we in this country and billions across the world are increasingly facing.

…I have no doubt that as the economic situation gets worse in the coming years, more and more people will be joining this movement."

A statement from the City of London Corporation read, “High Court enforcement officers employed by the City of London Corporation are undertaking the removal with the police present to ensure public safety and maintain order.

We would ask protesters to move on peaceably.”

There was also an eviction of an Occupy site at Featherstone Street in Islington, north London, which campaigners say was a legally occupied squat.

(H)