Protesters against capitalism in London have refused to heed a plea to move from the dean of St Paul’s Cathedral, who closed the building yesterday to visitors for the first time since the height of the second World War.
The hundreds of tents that had been erected on the square outside the cathedral since the Occupy London protest began on Sunday had badly hindered access to the building, while fires and stoves posed a fire-risk, he said. Saying closure was “unprecedented in modern times”, the Rev Graeme Knowles appealed to the protesters to leave.
Occupy London’s “general assembly” rejected the appeal, saying the peaceful demonstration sought “to highlight and challenge the social and economic injustice in the UK and beyond” without threatening the cathedral.
After talks with firefighters, they had “completely reorganised” and accepted the erection of two large barriers to keep access to the side door of the cathedral clear. Occupy London had itself become a tourist attraction, they added.