Defend the Right to Protest
  • Home
  • About
    • Defend the Right to Protest in the Press
    • Campaign Statement
    • Supporters
    • Why You Should Get Involved
  • Get Involved
    • Defend the Right to Protest in Education
    • What You Can Do
    • Donate
  • Campaigns
    • Defence Campaigns
    • Defend Trenton Oldfield!
    • Justice for Alfie Meadows
    • International Solidarity
    • Justice Campaigns
    • Defend Legal Aid
  • Support
    • Defendants Support
    • Prisoner Support
    • Know Your Rights
  • Comment
  • Press

Who Killed Blair Peach?

About Us

About the campaign

Defend the Right to Protest was launched in response to violent police tactics and arrests at the student protests of November and December 2010, with the support of activists, MPs, trade unionists, student groups and others. We campaign against police brutality, kettling and the use of violence against those who have a right to protest. We campaign to defend all those protestors who have been arrested, bailed or charged and are fighting to clear their names.

Postal address

Defend the Right to Protest
BM DTRTP
London
WC1N 3XX
Email info@defendtherighttoprotest.org Phone 07928 579605

Twitter: righttoprotest

righttoprotest
  • RT @GSU_President: I'll be talking about this for the next few days so be prepared - BLACK LIVES MATTER at the Stretch this Thursday! about 5 hours ago ReplyRetweetFavorite
  • RT @GSU_President: The family of Sheku Bayoh and Sean Rigg, speakers from @LCAPSV , Y-Stop, @righttoprotest and Mr Eric Huntley will be dow… about 5 hours ago ReplyRetweetFavorite
  • RT @LCAPSV: Join the family + friends of Ricky Bishop who died in #Brixton Police Station. This Sunday at 12pm, Windrush Square https://t.c… 05:33:41 PM November 20, 2021 ReplyRetweetFavorite
  • RT @GreenJennyJones: Finally! But does that mean officers are BANNED from state sponsored sex? Term 'risking prosecution' is too weak. http… 12:20:12 PM November 20, 2021 ReplyRetweetFavorite
  • RT @helensteel12: Met Police finally apologise to us for abusive relationships we were deceived into by undercover police. https://t.co/1xn… 10:12:39 AM November 20, 2021 ReplyRetweetFavorite
@righttoprotest

Donate

Appeal for donations from John McDonnell MP & Louise Christian, human rights lawyer

Read the appeal (PDF)

Help Fund DtRtP Flyer (PDF)

Support DtRtP with a monthly donation

One off donation:

>> More Info

 

Occupy London protesters accuse St Paul’s of betrayal

Mar 01, 2022 ~ Leave a Comment ~ Written by admin

City of London police say St Paul’s gave them permission to remove activists from cathedral steps during eviction. See footage and article written by James Ball and Ben Quinn

 

 

St Paul’s Cathedral has been accused of “betraying” Occupy London activists after giving the City of London police permission to remove protesters from its steps and end the four-and-a-half month camp.

The cathedral’s decision, coupled with a previous high court decision obtained by the City of London, meant police successfully removed the entire Occupy London Stock Exchange camp from the square outside St Paul’s.

Police said 20 people had been arrested by 4.30am in the “largely peaceful” operation.

Police and bailiffs moved in to begin clearing the Occupy London encampment in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Activists protesting against the financial and banking elite were told by bailiffs that they had five minutes to pack their tents and leave or they would be obstructing a court order.

Dozens of activists started clearing away tents and belongings, but others began building a barricaded enclosure using wooden pallets and debris.

Hundreds of police officers with riot helmets ready by their sides and dozens of bailiffs in yellow vests waited alongside rubbish lorries and watched the eviction.

One protester, Ed Greens from north London, said he had been with Occupy since last year. “We were expecting them on Monday night or soon after,” he said. “Some people will resist things like this, but for me personally there is nothing wrong with self-defence.”

At midnight five spotlights illuminated the square as the standoff continued. At 2am the lights were briefly switched off. When turned on again, four people, believed by protesters to be police officers, were standing on the balcony of the cathedral. Soon after, police revealed to press that they had the cathedral’s permission to remove protesters from its steps.

“I was shocked to see policemen on the balcony,” said Naomi Colvin, a spokeswoman for Occupy. “It seemed to be collusion. Tammy [another activist] just gave an interview saying how betrayed she felt when she learned the cathedral gave permission for us to be removed from its steps.

“That wasn’t covered in the high court orders – it’s like St Paul’s has learned nothing from the last four months.”

The canon chancellor of St Paul’s, Giles Fraser, resigned in October over attempts by the cathedral to remove protesters by compulsion. Fraser was on the edge of the eviction, but police refused to let him cross a cordon to get closer.

Shortly after 3am police removed around a dozen demonstrators standing on kitchen shelving as a makeshift fortress as other riot officers with shields advanced along the cathedral steps removing protesters, some of whom were praying.

Among those protesters was Jonathan Bartley, director of the Christian thinktank Ekklesia, who claimed he was kicked repeatedly by police and dragged away from the cathedral.

“What happened is a great sadness – it is exactly as Giles Fraser warned might happen,” he said.

“The tragedy is that while Christians were praying on the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral, the cathedral gave permission for them to be forcibly and violently removed. The cathedral has backed and colluded in this eviction.”

By 4am, no protesters or camping equipment remained in the square.

No one from St Paul’s Cathedral was available to comment.

A City of London statement said: “We regret that it has come to this, but the high court judgment speaks for itself, and the court of appeal has confirmed that judgment. High court enforcement officers employed by the City of London Corporation are undertaking the removal with the police present to ensure public safety and maintain order. We would ask protesters to move on peaceably.

“The City of London Corporation is ensuring vulnerable people are being helped and supported to find appropriate accommodation in partnership with Broadway, a charity for the homeless.”

An Occupy London spokesperson said its School of Ideas in a disused school building in Islington, north London, had also been evicted.

Supporter Kai Wargalla, a 27-year-old student from Germany who has been camping at St Paul’s since the occupation began on 15 October, said: “It’s really sad what’s happening today but I think we can be proud of what we’ve achieved. Our community is being attacked here, but we’re going to reconvene and come back stronger.”

Wargalla, one of several trained “legal observers” who were monitoring the eviction on behalf of campaigners and reminding them of their rights, said many of the campers planned to go to one of the group’s other sites in Finsbury Square instead, and extra tents would be put up following the unexpected eviction from the School of Ideas.

“We hadn’t expected to be evicted from the cathedral steps because previously the church has said it would give us sanctuary when there’s a violent eviction,” she said.

“There was also some really unnecessary tension and stress caused by the police when they told us we had five minutes to take our things from the camp.

“It wasn’t that violent today, but the violence we did see came from the police and the bailiffs.”

An Occupy press release sent early on Tuesday morning said the movement would continue.

“The natural question to rush to in these moments is: ‘What next?’ In the short term, there will be a GA [general assembly] at 7pm on Tuesday by the steps of St Paul’s,” it said.

“In the medium term, it is only right that people will need time to rest, reflect and recharge, to take stock and learn the lessons of the past four and a half months. But be assured that plans are already afoot: plans of some ambition, employing a diversity of tactics and delivered with the aplomb you would expect from us. All will be revealed in time. May is one of our favourite months.”

———————————————————————————

An Occupy London activist will be speaking at our Defend the Right to Protest Public Forum: Stand Up For Justice on Monday 5th March, 7PM @ Euston Friends Meeting House, opposite Euston Station.

Posted in Uncategorized
Twitter • Facebook • Delicious • StumbleUpon • E-mail
←
→

No Comments Yet

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

Events

Events Local Events National Events
  • No upcoming events
AEC v1.0.4
  • No upcoming events
AEC v1.0.4
  • No upcoming events
AEC v1.0.4
>> View All

Resources

Downloads

Alfie Meadows / Zak King Victory Leaflet
pdfjpgjpg (high resolution)

Justice for Alfie Meadows & Zak King Motion
pdfjpgjpg (high resolution)

DTRTP Bust Card
pdfjpg (front)jpg (high resolution front)jpg (back)jpg (high resolution back)

Placard
pdf (b&w;)pdf (colour)jpg (b&w;)jpg (colour)jpg (high resolution b&w;)jpg (high resolution colour)

Model Motion
pdfjpgjpg (high resolution)

Sticker - Justice for Alfie Meadows
pdfjpgjpg (high resolution)

Videos

The Battle of Parliament Square DTRTP Public Meeting after Royal Wedding arrests, 2011 Stand up for Justice Public Meeting, 2012 Policing on Trial - How do we get Justice - Marcia Rigg et al NYE Noise Demo at Holloway Prison Picket outside Alfie Meadows hearing Conference Promo A Three-Fold Attack On Protest March 26th London Protests – What Really Happened >> More Resources

Blogroll

  • Brighton ABC
  • Campaign for Justice for Smiley Culture
  • Fitwatch
  • Green & Black Cross
  • Injustice Film: Ken Fero
  • INQUEST
  • Joint Enterprise: Not Guilty By Association
  • Justice4Bolton
  • Legal Defence & Monitoring Group
  • London Campaign Against Police and State Violence
  • Network For Police Monitoring
  • Newham Monitoring Project
  • Pageantry & Precrime
  • Parents For Real Justice
  • United Campaign Against Police Violence
  • United Families and Friends: For an End to Deaths in Custody

Archives

  • October 2015 (2)
  • September 2015 (3)
  • July 2015 (1)
  • June 2015 (2)
  • May 2015 (6)
  • April 2015 (3)
  • March 2015 (3)
  • February 2015 (4)
  • January 2015 (1)
  • December 2014 (6)
  • November 2014 (15)
  • October 2014 (11)
  • September 2014 (6)
  • August 2014 (5)
  • July 2014 (3)
  • June 2014 (3)
  • May 2014 (3)
  • April 2014 (6)
  • March 2014 (4)
  • February 2014 (8)
  • January 2014 (16)
  • December 2013 (15)
  • November 2013 (23)
  • October 2013 (4)
  • September 2013 (8)
  • August 2013 (12)
  • July 2013 (14)
  • June 2013 (20)
  • May 2013 (30)
  • April 2013 (20)
  • March 2013 (21)
  • February 2013 (4)
  • January 2013 (13)
  • December 2012 (8)
  • November 2012 (20)
  • October 2012 (24)
  • September 2012 (12)
  • August 2012 (16)
  • July 2012 (24)
  • June 2012 (13)
  • May 2012 (8)
  • April 2012 (6)
  • March 2012 (23)
  • February 2012 (4)
  • January 2012 (12)
  • December 2011 (11)
  • November 2011 (16)
  • October 2011 (14)
  • September 2011 (9)
  • August 2011 (21)
  • July 2011 (19)
  • June 2011 (7)
  • May 2011 (8)
  • April 2011 (5)
  • March 2011 (4)

Pure Line theme by Theme4Press  •  Powered by WordPress Defend the Right to Protest