Finsbury Square – How the Camp was Established

To anyone visiting the St Pauls site of Occupy London, it would be painfully obvious that even if you did manage to convince yourself to brave the wind and join the occupation, there simply was no more room in the inn. Fire regulations and sheer popularity meant that tents were now being refused and that new visitors would have to try and find an empty tent to sleep in for the night.

What better solution then but to go on a march?

At around 16:30 on Saturday, a huge mass of people set off from the steps of St Paul’s to the sound of the samba band. Dancing and chanting their way down the street, they had certainly taken the spirit of the camp with them. Some played football as the walked, some stopped to wave to all those confused about why their buses had stopped.

‘The people, united, will never be defeated’ was one of the more popular chants. There is a somewhat chilling element to its truth – that if we were all united, there certainly wouldn’t be anything to stop us – perhaps a better summing up of the occupy movement than ‘We are the 99%!’, but as we walked through the city to samba rhythms the onus was on us to convince the collection of confused tourists and shoppers that they should in fact join us. It was clear that our numbers swelled even before the group made it to Bank where the Ten City University joined us.

Still, neither the police nor most of the marchers knew where we were off to. While we were content dancing along until we finally got there, it was clear that the police were on edge. I could not blame them – they’re probably not entirely used to impromptu marches through the city with no apparent direction.

To most it became abundantly clear as we came nearer to the end of Moorgate that something was about to happen. Off to our left was a section of grass, perfect for occupying and ready with tripods to defend the space.

It became a mad dash for a few at the front as tents were popped up, occupied and the new space claimed. The first general assembly met and consensus reached that Finsbury Square would be the second London occupation of the movement. That we would stay at St Paul’s, but also claim this space, right next to the headquarters of RBS, as an expansion of what has already begun.

Certainly some stuff would be different. Firstly, it seemed that police numbers had dwindled rapidly and it soon became clear that we were no longer in the City of London which had prompted this force to head back. Secondly, we were on grass – perhaps this time people would be able to sleep with a little more hope that their tent would not blow away in the night. It was also decided from the start that the new occupation would have a greener and quitter feel to it; that noisy generators would be used incredibly sparingly and that we would look into using solar energy instead.

Our famous ability to organise ourselves in to a productive group quickly became apparent. Media, tech, kitchen, info, night watch, process and shelter working groups were all quickly formed and set to work making OccupyFS a worthy companion to OccupyLSX.

The two groups have decided to work together as closely as possible, holding joint general assemblies regularly – setting a great trend for further expansion of the occupy movement in the London and throughout the UK.

By Wail Qasim