People arriving for work in the City on Monday have been met with demonstrators beginning the third day of anti-capitalist protests.
A number of demonstrators are still holed-up in a makeshift camp outside St Paul’s Cathedral, where they have been protesting against “corporate greed” under the banner of the Occupy London protests.
By Sunday night the 2,000 to 3,000 people who had gathered outside the church on Saturday to urge ministers to listen to people rather than bankers had dwindled to 300.
Kai Wargalla, 26, who started the Facebook page which kick-started the protests, said: “The financial workers will be coming to the City and it’s hard to say how they will react to us but we are planning to be open and inclusive.”
- Make sure you come back later to see our video coverage of the third day of protests.
The Canon Chancellor of St Paul’s, Reverend Giles Fraser suggested he had little problem with “peaceful” protests taking place outside the cathedral.
The London events came after a month of similar protests in the US under the Occupy Wall Street banner.
Roy Alexander, 39, from Surrey, said: “We’re planning to stay here indefinitely, we’ll stay here and make a stand.
“If the church let us use their electricity or anything they give us we would then like to give them a donation as a thank you as well.”
However, Foreign Secretary William Hague thought that deficit-reduction programmes were the way forward rather than demonstrations.
Speaking to The Andrew Marr Show, he also highlighted the importance of Governments having a better handle on their debts.
He backed plans to stimulate apprenticeships and offer more university places, suggesting progress could be made by boosting “the human capital of our country”.
“These are the real positive answers that will address it. I’m afraid these protests on the streets are not going to solve the problem,” he said.
Police made eight arrests at the protest over the weekend, and six men were charged. Michael Firth, 39, of Claremont Road, Surbiton, Surrey, was charged under the Public Order Act. Benjamin Marsh, 28, of no fixed address, was charged with the possession of cannabis. Justin Nickol, 30, of High Street, Walton-on-the-Naze, Essex, was charged with failing to remove covering, contrary to the Public Order Act. Nigal McCorkell, 24, of Belgrade Road, north London, was charged with affray. Daniel Walsh, 21, of no fixed abode was charged under the Public Order Act and with possession of cannabis.
A final man, whose details were not released by police, was charged under the Public Order Act.
Those charged will appear at City of London Magistrates Court on October 21.
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