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Protesters set up second camp in London’s financial heart

22 October 2011 23:49 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Anti-capitalist protesters outwitted British police on Saturday and succeeded in setting up a second protest camp in the heart of London’s financial district, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

A column of 700-1000 protesters set off from the first tented protest camp, set up a week ago in the churchyard of St Paul’s Cathedral, at 4.10 p.m.on what one organizer described as "a tour of corporate greed".

The column was led by a band of drummers, about 10 strong and mostly women, and passed through several streets in the City of London, temporarily halting traffic. Protesters chanted "Whose streets? Our streets!", and "We are the 99 percent."

Dozens of police and 10 riot vans kept track of the column as it went past targets of previous anti-corporate protests such as the retail chain Topshop, which drew boos from the protesters, and the Bank of England.

However the protest was peaceful and good-natured with protesters and police swapping pleasantries.

The column headed north up Moorgate before police realized they had been outwitted by protesters, about two dozen of whom had gone ahead by different routes and pitched tents in Finsbury Square.

The marching column joined the protesters in the square at 5.10 p.m., despite a failed attempt by police to block the entrance to the square because they did not have enough officers.

Within five minutes, organizers declared "this is an occupation of the square", and opened a ’general assembly’.

Organizers announced that "the occupation at St Paul’s will continue". They also called for protesters to "respect the environment of Finsbury Square as we will be living here for a very, very long time".

One organizer added "if there is even a little bit of destruction, that will get us kicked out".

Finsbury Square is in the north of the City of London, in the heart of the financial area. Organizations with offices on the square include the news agency Bloomberg.

The protest camp at St Paul’s Churchyard was set up last Saturday after police foiled an attempt by a crowd of several thousand people to occupy the London Stock Exchange, next door to the cathedral.

Cathedral authorities initially cautiously welcomed the occupation, but on Thursday they closed the cathedral for the first time in nearly 70 years and asked the protesters to move because their presence was creating a health and safety danger.

The foiled occupation was inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement in the United States and was part of a day of protests in cities across the world at the bankers’ crisis.

No police spokesman was available to speak to Xinhua about what action they intended to take about the new protest camp.