THE CHURCH of England’s crisis over the handling of an anti-capitalist protest outside St Paul’s Cathedral in London has led to the resignation of the cathedral’s dean, who decided last week to take legal action to evict the Occupy London demonstration.
Saying that he was no longer the person to lead St Paul’s, the Rt Rev Graeme Knowles said it had become “increasingly clear to me” that his position was “untenable” and that “a fresh approach” is needed to resolve the situation.
Hundreds of protesters who have congregated over the last fortnight outside St Paul’s refused last week to leave but the church’s handling of the protest has infuriated many of its members, who believe the church should be supporting the demonstrators.
Last night Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams said the “urgent larger issues” raised by Occupy London “remain very much on the table” and must be “properly addressed”.
The cathedral was closed for several days by the church authorities but has since reopened, although two legal actions – one by the church, the other by the City of London – to evict the protesters are now in train. Meanwhile, the protest has become an issue in the election battle for the London mayoralty next year, with Labour candidate Ken Livingstone saying mayor Boris Johnson was wrong to call on the protesters to leave.
“No one wants or expects there to be permanent camps . . . but the scale of the problems ordinary people are facing mean these international protests are inevitably not yet over,” said Mr Livingstone.