Protesters on the brink as legal bid fails
PROTESTERS from Occupy London appear set for an angry confrontation with bailiffs after they lost a last-ditch legal bid to preserve their camp outside St Paul’s Cathedral.
Yesterday three judges dismissed the activists’ applications for the right to appeal against an earlier eviction order, paving the way for the City of London Corporation to clear around 120 remaining tents.
The Occupy group vowed “peaceful resistance” after Stuart Fraser, the City’s policy chairman, called on them to pack up their tents and equipment immediately. Fraser said: “Peaceful protest is a democratic right but the camp is clearly in breach of highway and planning law.”
The City will press ahead with an eviction as the protesters consider whether to take their case to the European Court of Human Rights. It raises the prospect, however, that much of the camp could have disappeared before a hearing in Strasbourg.
Earlier yesterday three judges, headed by the Master of the Rolls, Lord Neuberger, said the protesters did not have an arguable case to appeal under English law.
“The freedoms and rights of others, the interests of public health and public safety and the prevention of disorder and crime, and the need to protect the environment of this part of the City of London all demand the remedy,” they said in a written summary.
The City is expected to begin an eviction soon but said it could not reveal the timing for “operational reasons”.
The Occupy group said: “This is just the beginning. The movement is growing and evolving beyond its spiritual and symbolic home by the steps of St Paul’s near the London Stock Exchange.”
The camp, set up on 15 October, held more than 200 tents at its peak. Activists have denied accusations of drug use and vandalism.