City of London Corporation Gives OccupyLSX ultimatum

Last week both St Paul’s and the City of London Corporation suspended their plans to evict the OccupyLSX camp, and the City called for a meeting with representatives from the occupation.

At the time of print, nominated members of  OccupyLSX had attended one meeting with the City, which laid out three options; leave now, scale back the tents and leave within two months, or don’t do anything but expect an eviction.

The City said it did not have a problem with protest, but the tents were blocking access of their “public highway’’ and it considered the tents “permanent erected structures”.

Occupier James Albury, who attended the meeting, said the intention was just to listen to what the City wanted, and only respond if there was consensus at a later General Assembly.

Though there was no set plan on how to proceed after last week’s meeting, James said “it’s likely we will get about five reoccurring themes of what people want, then put those proposals to the General Assembly.”

He said they will “respond (to the City) in the fashion the GA wants.”

The City’s requests were discussed at two different General Assemblies last week, and were branded an “ultimatum” by those present.

Occupiers’ views ranged over the issue, some believed the occupation should not have attended the meeting at all, others were receptive to moving the tents, but many said they wanted to come back with counter-demands; what they want from the City, before they committed to anything.

Mark Weaver who is camping at St Paul’s, said leaving was not an option.

He was more receptive to moving some tents back and suggested either sending them to Finsbury Square or starting a new occupation. He said the occupation could agree to the two month time frame, and use that time to win over public support, ”then who knows how powerful we will be.”

However, in a statement, the City refuted claims it gave the occupiers the two month option. It said it had asked the camp to indicate when it planned leave.

Policy Chairman of the City of London Corporation, Stuart Fraser, said the City wanted to “ensure the highway is cleared and this issue is resolved peacefully.”

He noted there were different voices to consider in the matter, and that the City had received complaints from surrounding businesses and residents.

He said the City needed to be balance its legal responsibility to maintain the highway with the right of individuals to participate in lawful protest.

By Stacey Knott