A blow for the right to protest...?
At London's High Court Mr Justice Lindblom ruled in favour of the City of London Corporation which launched a legal bid before Christmas to have them evicted.
It ended a tortuous wrangle on both sides involving land ownership, highways regulations and whether or not the cathedral had tacitly granted permission by not booting them off in the first place.
And yes, in the final throws of battle the spectre of human rights appeared after national legislation seemed likely to look unfavourably on the plight of the demonstrators.
The “anti-capitalist” campaigners, as they have become known although many vehemently reject that label, have until next Friday to launch an appeal.
I was at the High Court today where Occupy London's defence confirmed that process would be kick started first thing Thursday.
But in two weeks we could see scenes similar to those outside Parliament Square this week where peace demonstrators (all but one) were forcably removed from the area.
After today's decision, I am still undecided about the whole thing.
I was given the task of following the story for the Express since it all kicked off in October.
My initial thoughts while sitting on the Central line to St Paul’s were “here we go, another mob of great unwashed moaning about something”.
On first sight, that was exactly what I appeared to be greeted with, a bunch of dreadlocked, pierced, tatooed no-hopers looking for an excuse to sit around doing nothing, avoiding work, claiming to be crusading for the greater good of society.
After spending a few days down there, not under canvass I hasten to add, I have to admit my feelings changed.
I think the one question on everyone’s lips has been what is the point they are all trying to get across, and, do they even know what it is?
There were, of course the usual suspects clearly taking advantage of an excuse to protest about something/ anything, and push themselves in the faces of as many people as possible.
But I was surprised to meet, and I have to say in the majority, many highly intelligent, employed, “decent” people.
There were those that were rude and even aggressive when I told them out which newspaper I worked for.
I was the literal personification of their nemesis.
But I have to say the majority were honest, open and articulate.
It was sometimes hard to tease out the exact message they are trying to get across as I think everyone had their own axe to grind about some form of injustice.
But I sincerely believe they are protesting for the good of society and genuinely believe in a change to a fairer system.
I am the first to demand feckless fathers with 16 kids, should be handed a mop and bucket and frogmarched to the nearest public toilet before collecting their weekly benefits cheque.
But I don’t think supporting the lazy and workshy is what Occupy London is actually all about.
We have all been stiched up by the banks.
Even without a degree in economics, most people know that people who earn massive salaries employ accountants to help them dodge every penny of tax they can, while the rest of us slog our guts out five or six days a week and meekly cough up a third of our salary to the taxman just to keep out of trouble.
We all know that the banks are paying out huge bonuses to the very people we bailed out in the first place – and it is not fair.
I think that is the message, and the fight the St Paul’s protesters lost today.
I think they have succeeded in raising the issue in the minds of thousands of people who plodded on without knowing what is really going on around them – me included.
On a visit to St Paul’s I chatted at length to one of the protesters, Robin Smith, a former county councillor from Wokingham who falls firmly into the category of “decent”.
I didn’t know whether he would send me away with a flea in my ear or deliver a string of incoherent answers to questions no-one seemed to be addressing.
Robin turned out to be one of the most sincere, open and interesting and interviewees I have met:
What are you doing here?
Middle class people are being swept into poverty and fleeced by the system, it is now happening to the middle classes and I’m middle class.
A lot of people here are middle class and they are saying "we have worked hard all our lives and now we’re being robbed".
It is about everyday people like me and you making a stand against the system that is corrupt.
What message are you are trying to get across?
Firstly I am not “anti-capitalist”.
I am on the same side as enterprise, of putting wealth into the system. I have nothing against people with large salaries who work hard, they are not the subject of this protest.
The battle must be taken to those that are taking wealth out of the system, the biggest land owners and bankers.
What have you achieved so far?
People are talking about the issue and whether you agree with it or not, that is all we want people to do.
I have had bankers come up to me and say the system is wrong.
I don't think anything is going to change overnight, and maybe not in my lifetime, but the discussion has started. By being here were are bringing the issue to people's attention and that always preceded change.
What do you ultimately want to achieve from this protest?
We are not going to change the world, but at least we are talking about it.
If the camp closes down tomorrow at least thousands and thousands of people would be aware of the issues.
Follow @ExpressNathan
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