London protestors vow to stay until Christmas

Anti-capitalists protesters have warned they are in it for the long haul and are prepared to spend Christmas staked out at St Paul’s Cathedral in London.

The cathedral is closed to thousands of Sunday worshippers today because of the Occupy London campaign outside the historic building.

The church is losing around £16,000 per day as a result of the decision to close its doors amid health and safety concerns.

An even larger sum is expected to be lost today when the cathedral would usually raise vital revenue from Sunday collections.

The protesters said the closure of St Paul’s was an unfortunate decision and unnecessary.

“As far as we are aware, we abided the fire inspection and environmental and health inspection,” a 41-year-old protester named Jo said.

Jo, who declined to give her surname, is unemployed after living abroad.

She said she and many others were prepared to continue the stance as long as it took to effect real change.

“I’ll be sitting here until there’s real evidence the underlying system that allows a few to get very rich while others starve will change,” she said.

Sean, an 18-year-old civil servant who also withheld his surname said he had taken a week off work to join the protest and was prepared to camp at the cathedral on Christmas Day and beyond.

“We have the food and power to stay on and we are abiding by hygiene standards,” he said.

He said the cathedral did not have to be closed.

“It would have been great to have kept them on side. We are not against the church,” he said.

“We haven’t had much communication from them since Friday.

“There’s confusion as to who owns this land so until they sort that out they cannot move us on.”

Another protester Sam Shaw, 22, said he’s also fitting the protest around work.

“It feels like I’m doing something worth standing up for so yes I’ll be here for Christmas,” he said.

“It’s a bit cold at night and the bells are really loud but it’s still a great atmosphere.”

Protesters from the Occupy London campaign have insisted they will stand their ground despite being publicly asked to move on by Dean of St Paul’s, the Rev. Graeme Knowles.

However they have established a new site on Finsbury Square in Islington in order to minimise the numbers camped outside St Paul’s.

The ongoing stand-off at the cathedral did not prevent couple Natasha Ighodaro and Nick Cunningham from marrying in one of the building’s chapels yesterday.

They entered through a side door for the ceremony, and Miss Ighodaro said: “There hasn’t been any disruption at all – it’s been wonderful, really amazing.”

Around 300 people have moved to the new site, which is less than a mile from St Paul’s.

Supporter Ronan McNern, 36, said: “We want to let St Paul’s know that we have an overflow camp so we won’t be stressing them out so much.

“It was obvious that the camp at St Paul’s was expanding and expanding, and this way we can limit the numbers there and ensure there is a site there which fits within the regulations.”

Hundreds of visitors have been turned away from the cathedral since it closed on Friday for the first time since the Second World War.

The decision to shut the cathedral – which costs £20,000 per day to run and draws between 2,000 and 3,000 worshippers each Sunday – came after independent health and safety and fire officers said the protest camp raised public health issues and compromised fire exits.

But activists questioned the motivation of those behind its closure.

One protester, who gave her name only as Jenny, said: “I think the closure is political. I think there are people who really don’t like the fact that protesters are here but we are making a legitimate statement.”

The 23-year-old human rights student from Harrow, north London joined campers on Friday in “solidarity” against capitalism.

Mr McNern added: “Closing it (St Paul’s) doesn’t make sense.

“But it was their choice to close. We made sure the steps were clear so people could get in.

“There are people here who are wondering where the pressure to close came from.”

Occupy London insisted it would co-operate fully with fire authorities and has sought clarification of the health and safety issues raised.

A spokesman said the camp had also been “completely re-organised” in response to feedback from the fire brigade.

The Reverend Canon Dr Giles Fraser, Chancellor of St Paul’s, defended the move to turn away visitors and dismissed rumours the monument had been shut for commercial reasons.

“I remain firmly supportive of the right of people peacefully to protest,” he said.

“But given the strong advice that we have received that the camp is making the cathedral and its occupants unsafe then this right has to be balanced against other rights and responsibilities too.”

Gerry Clarkson, founder-chairman of the Firefighters Memorial Charitable Trust, said a statue near St Paul’s Cathedral has been defaced.

The letters CAC have been scrawled in white paint on the memorial to fallen firefighters.

Mr Clarkson said: “To deface a national memorial is just beyond the pale.”

He has reported the vandalism to the City of London police.

A spokesman for the protesters condemned the vandalism, adding: ``I 100% doubt that it is anything to do with us.''

“People in our camp are so respectful of different people, of different religions and different causes,” he said.

“This doesn’t fit at all with what we are doing.

“In previous times there have been saboteurs that do this kind of thing.”

Tents, a large tarpaulin covering a makeshift kitchen and a yurt with a sign inviting people to come in and reflect have sprung up near major financial institutions including Deutsche Bank in Finsbury Square.

There were no portable toilets today with protesters instead relying on facilities at nearby cafes.

Occupy London spokesman Bernard Goyder, 20, said up to 100 people were camping in the square at a time.

“We have prioritised health and safety,” Mr Goyder, from London, said.

“We have families with children here too, so there’s no alcohol or drugs, but that’s not the point. We’re here as part of a political protest.”

The university student was part of protests against tuition fees earlier this year.

“We are not the Government. We are not prepared to pay for the crisis caused by the banks,” he said.

“We’ll stay here as long as we have to.”