Occupy London protesters face eviction from St Paul's

Occupy London protesters have received an eviction notice after legal proceedings resumed to remove them from their camp at St Paul’s Cathedral.

The protest against corporate greed has now been interned at St Paul’s for more than a month but faces the threat of ejection after a similar order forced ‘occupy’ protesters from Zuccotti Park in New York, US.

Fortnight-long talks between the City of London Corporation and Occupy London broke down on Monday, forcing Corporation policy chairman Stuart Fraser to restart legal action to remove the protesters.

“It is sad to see the steps they [London Corporation] have taken, we made three simple requests after which we would have happily engaged in dialogue,” Occupy London protester Ronan McNern told Yahoo! News.

“Those requests were to open up themselves to freedom of information requests, to open up their cash accounts and to detail the lobbying they have done on the behalf of the banking and financial sector since 2008”.

“Occupy London is open in everything that it does, our general assembly cannot engage in proper and transparent discussion with an unjust, undemocratic corporation,” he added.

City of London Corporation’s Stuart Fraser said that the occupy protesters rejected a “reasonable offer” that would have let them “stay until the new year”, after legal action was stopped for two weeks in favour of talks between the groups.

“We are getting reports about vulnerable people, cases of late-night drinking and other worrying trends, so it’s time to act,” said Mr Fraser. “Lawful protesters who stand or walk are a regular part of London. Tents, equipment and now, increasingly, quite a lot of mess, is not what a highway is for and others are losing out”.

Responding to the City of London Corporation’s statement, protester Ronan McNern told Yahoo! News, “He [Stuart Fraser] was attempting to give us an offer that had plenty of caveats to it. What he is saying is that he just wants to get rid, this is very typical of the corporation and what it has done to people over the years”.

“We need to work towards a better society, they need to think about their actions and open themselves up,” he added.

The Corporation posted a notice to Occupy London protesters on Wednesday to remove their tents, with a 24-hour deadline. Proceedings will then be issued in the High Court if the demonstrators remain while further attempts will be made to “reach an agreement”.