The Beginnings of Occupy London

“The current system is unsustainable”. This is the opening line of Occupy London’s statement to the world, and it represents the desire of the worldwide movement for an alternative to the system that has been given to them. What remains to be seen is if this occupation, by now looking more like a small village than a campsite, can prove to be sustainable over the coming weeks and months.

As the clock chimed midday on Saturday morning, several hundred people had gathered around the church’s steps. At this point the largest visible presence was the Socialist Workers party; a regular fixture at these types of events and an early warning that this movement may be the same old faces and lack the wide support enjoyed by Occupy Wall Street.

However this early lull was soon to put to rest. Cut to twenty minutes later and the crowd had easily doubled with hundreds more filtering in from the four roads that lead into the cathedral.

The police presence was easily visible and the faint humming of a chopper above reminded everyone that while there is strength in numbers, there’s a lot more of it in truncheons and horses. Both of which had started to gather at the entrance to the Stock Exchange north of the cathedral. While an army of journalists were crowding around the opening speeches of Saint Pauls, many decided to jump the gun and make a push to break police lines guarding Paternoster Square. Things were getting tense; hundreds began chanting “shame on you!” as lines of officers blocked off every entrance. The appearance of some vicious looking dogs being held on standby made it clear that the decision to try and enter the exchange by force could easily go wrong. I was reminded of the G20 in 2009; a minority decide it’s a great idea to smash a window and moments later noses will start getting broken.

By two that afternoon the bulk of people had defaulted back to the original meeting place; Saint Pauls square. This was to be the first test of the ‘horizontal democracy’ that has become the hallmark of the occupy movements. The process was surprisingly successful; although there was a vocal minority intent on keeping pressure on the police and even marching on Canary Wharf the majority were adamant that staying put was the best course of action. While there were many veterans of direct action among the crowd, few seemed to be experienced in occupation. Most activists are very good at turning up, making a loud noise, and then going home, but when it comes to the nuts and bolts of decision making there are some here who have much room for improvement.

The arrival of Julian Assange during the general Assembly, flanked by two heavies looking suspiciously like Agent Smith from the Matrix, was an immediate disruption. Cheers erupted from the back of the square and followed as Julian climbed the stairs as journalists were running from all corners to swamp the front of the stairs.

The Assange speech was much as you would expect. He told the crowd we face a “systemized destruction of the rule of law” and complained at how difficult it was for him to get here. Whether that was just due to his house arrest was unclear, but there were reports from other demonstrators that Assange was very close to being arrested while trying to pass the police.

By three o clock the police line, initially twenty or thirty metres from the boundaries of Saint Pauls, was gradually inching forward up the boundaries of the square. Up to a thousand were behind the police lines being denied entry, and from the viewpoint of the steps of St Pauls were becoming far more agitated than the occupiers themselves.

This situation continued for a couple of hours until more police began to arrive at five in the afternoon. The Territorial Support Group, kitted out in trademark blue hats and attitude problem, were present, as well the Met in riot gear. I asked an officer whether they considered this operation a Kettle and it turns out there is a new distinction being made. As people were technically free to leave this was “containment” rather than a kettling. I’m sure this distinction good for the police’s public relations but practically it doesn’t make much of a difference.

At this point the police line moved from the road and into the square and reached the beyond the statues and small conflicts began to break out as officers ripped tents out of their path. It seemed that tensions were rising across the square with many occupiers certain that police were preparing to clear the area. Throughout the day there were more than one reports that an eviction was imminent, all of which turned out to be baseless. The Assembly was also taking the rising police presence seriously. By early evening cards were being passed around with a specialist solicitors contact details and advice was given by a young lawyer on about what to do if arrested.

As half seven approached the message came through that the Met wanted occupiers to leave the church stairs, claiming there was a risk of damage to the church’s columns. This claim was met with scepticism by those who have assumed a leadership role over the day, with the fear being that the police wanted to claim the higher ground to make eviction easier. I suspect both claims had some degree of truth to them; however it should be noted that the stairs were more or less spotless at this point. The only groups with a presence by the columns were Anonymous UK and the Zeitgeist Movement, who had set up banners placed outside the church doors.

It turned out the police were very serious about wanting to take back the steps. A flood of TSG and riot officers pushed through the crowd and began to forcibly remove occupiers from the steps, leading to some punches and kicks being exchanged on the south side of the stairs. It wasn’t clear who started this; the police were adamant they were responding to threats from occupiers and many occupiers were equally adamant it was the police threatening them. What was clear was that there were a minority of officers who were repeatedly accused of heave handed tactics. In particular, I witnessed an “officer 229” being reported to legal observers by several people. The presence of legal observers led to a strange exchange with the police, who were complaining that the legal observers were biased against the Met. The TSG officer shouted at one; “you’re quite happy to write down when we hit someone but not when people hit us!!” I feel this somewhat overlooked the fact that the guys sitting on the stairs weren’t carrying truncheons, making and conflict a bit one sided.

By quarter to nine the confrontations had spread to behind the police lines on Canon Street, where several hundred people have gathered in the road and were stopping busses passing. From the top of the church stairs, it looked as if people were chanting and banging on the bus windows which created two fronts for the police to monitor.

By this point, perhaps in response to the trouble on Canon Street, people were let through the containment in small numbers. The police policy on strictness of the containment was inconsistent throughout the day as different officers were giving different answers as to who can come and go. By this time there was an uneasy stalemate; occupiers were still linking arms on the steps and police were refusing to leave the area in front of the entrance. The samba band that has been playing throughout the day fired up, which was a relaxing break to the day’s events.

This situation continued until midnight when the riot police and TSG began to exit, leaving only a few regular Met officers around the perimeter of the square and at the top of the stairs. It’s not exactly clear what caused this fall back, but it was later found out the Giles Frasier, the Canon Chancellor of Saint Pauls, requested the police to leave the stairs and return to their position on the road as he felt they were infringing on the right to protest. The police did not do this until the next morning, and I can guess that this reduction in numbers was the compromise made by an unwilling police.

 

Overall, the first day was a success for the Occupy London crowd. Despite falling short on their aim of getting into the stock exchange, a functioning camp has been set up remarkably quickly. A successful assembly, kitchen, and media, and technology tent was set up in a matter of hours. Despite the difficulties between occupiers and police throughout the day, the two parties have come to an easy truce and can now be seen chatting freely throughout the site. I believe this has much to do with the Canon Chancellor and his support for the right to protest, which has largely prevented police from making any serious attempts to shut the occupation down. The camp looks set to become a successful mirror of the many other Occupy movements that have spreading across Europe and America, and now the occupiers have to get down to the hard part of this project; getting the world to take notice

 

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