Occupy London considers expanding to other sites

The Occupy London campaign, encamped outside St Paul's Cathedral for the past six days, is continuing to grow and is considering expanding its protests against the global financial system to other sites in the capital. Suggested additional locations include Hyde Park, Trafalgar Square, Imperial War Museum, Victoria Park and even to the eastern side of St Paul's, but no decisions have yet been voted upon, according to the working group. The protest started as part of the global day of action in more than 900 cities around the world last Saturday with the number of tents pitched outside the cathedral. An Occupy London activist told IRNA that there was no immediate decision likely on expanding to another location but said the working group was aware of the disruption being caused by the growing number to St Paul's, which has been supportive of the protest. “We are currently arranging a re-organisation of the camp taking in concerns raised by the London Fire Brigade about health and safety, which we take very seriously,” the female campaigner said. She said that she expected an announcement to be made later about the re-organisation, also taking into consideration that the camp wished to cause as little inconvenience as possible to the cathedral. Occupy London, which was prevented setting up a camp outside the London Stock Exchange, has been asked by St Paul's to “acknowledge the risk to the life of the cathedral”. But it has denied asking the protesters camped out on its piazza to leave following the dean and chapter, the governing body of the cathedral, expressing concern about the disruption which has lead to the closure of its restaurant and gift shop. Officers from the London Fire Brigade have visited the site and have raised concerns about the proximity of the some 219 tents with as many up 1,000 people attending during the day. On Monday, the cathedral's cannon chancellor, Giles Fraser, defending the right to protest and said the camp was welcome to stay as long as they remained peaceful.