* Tents pitched outside iconic St Paul’s CathedralBy Peter Apps and Naomi O’LearyLONDON, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Seen from the River Thames, the
dome of St Paul’s has been a constant in the ever-shifting
London skyline, untouched by two world wars and three centuries
of social and political change.Now the cathedral is becoming an unexpected focal point of
debate over the future of capitalism.On Saturday, several hundred protesters occupied the steps
and pitched tents outside the church as the “Occupy Wall Street”
demonstrations spread via social media to London and worldwide.
Almost swept from the area by police that night and the
following morning, they were spared when cathedral authorities
told officers to back off and allowed the protest to stay.Blocked from their original target - the stock exchange on
the other side of Ludgate Hill - several hundred people have set
up camp, promising to emulate their U.S. counterparts and stay
for weeks, months, or even longer.By Monday lunchtime, a handful of officers in fluorescent
jackets were simply looking on as tourists, students, and office
workers on lunch breaks wandered through the encampment, many
stopping to debate with protesters what the right way might be,
if any, to move forward after the financial crisis.Many seemed surprisingly sympathetic.”I came down for a sandwich and got carried away,” said Tim
Sanders, a chartered accountant working in the city, drawing a
small crowd as he held forth in his navy suit on the need to
restore balance and ethics to the financial system.”You’re seeing history right here, it’s going to sweep the
world. These failing institutions are in the pockets of an
elite. It’s morally corrupt. “The protesters themselves appeared a disparate group, a
range of veteran campaigners, leftists, environmentalists,
students and job seekers. A large proportion said they were in
employment and aiming to continue to work in between shifts at
the encampment to stop it being cleared by police.One tent rota seen by Reuters included an engineer at
Heathrow airport, a university biologist, a web designer and
several other professionals. Some other protesters were recent
graduates who had struggled to find jobs. Many of the initial
organisers were foreign: German and Spanish in particular.Like many other protest movements this year, they appear
almost completely leaderless, initially co-ordinated via social
media platforms, inspired by events overseas and now making
decisions through long, consensus-based meetings on issues from
sanitation to their wider agenda.With their generally peaceful approach and hope of finding
an ill-defined “better way” to manage international capital and
politics, the largely educated crowd appeared in stark contrast
to the tough, angry urban youth who brought chaos and looting to
London and other cities in August riots.CHURCH VERSUS CORPORATION?A church warden told the protesters the Corporation of
London - the local government body that represents London’s
financial district - was putting the greatest pressure on police
to end the occupation.Late on Monday, a Corporation spokesman denied that was the
case and said there were no plans to clear the demonstration
“today or tomorrow”. But he said the protesters were wrong to
try to scapegoat the City of London.”The banking sector is a major driver of growth and tax
revenue in the UK and elsewhere,” he said. “The City has been a
centre for trade, banking and now financial services for 2000
years and it is important it stays that way.”Reverend Rob Marshall, spokesman for St Paul’s, said the
church had a long tradition of engaging with both the City of
London’s businesses and its people and that while it welcomed
peaceful protest it also needed to guarantee that worshippers
and tourists could continue to visit.”On one hand, debate about the economy and financial
structures is vital,” he said by telephone. “But practicalities
are the concern today.”The Church of England was at the forefront of the campaign
to write off debt in the developing world. It is also one of
Britain’s largest landowners.Beneath the massive dome, built by Sir Christopher Wren from
1675 after the church’s destruction in the Great Fire of London,
church services continued with prayers for those camping
outside. Tourists and school groups visited untroubled.Don Court, a 22 year old politics student, said the decision
of the church to allow the protesters to stay had proved the
turning point and he had been amongst several protesters to
attend services since. At one, Canon Giles Fraser told the
congregation many of the world’s problems were caused by
financial greed, Court said.”I’ve always thought of churches as conservative
institutions, as protective of the status quo,” he told Reuters
on the cathedral steps. “But I went in there yesterday and I saw
a reverend of a huge cathedral essentially agreeing with what
protesters are saying out here.”“THE PEOPLE ARE TOO BIG TO FAIL”Much may depend on exactly who is deemed to own the land on
which many of the tents stand. Currently, there is little
clarity on where church land — were the protesters appear
currently safe — begins and Corporation land starts. Around the
corner, police riot vans stand ready.Signs and banners on tents made it clear those at St Paul’s
viewed themselves as part of a much larger global protest
movement.”Banks, IMF are global Mubarak,” said one, referring to
ousted Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak.”The people are too big to fail,” said another.Holding repeated public meetings and listening to a range of
speakers including academics, journalists, writers and on
Saturday, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, the protesters said
they were just beginning to decide on their demands, already
producing an initial statement around key principles.Exactly what that might mean in terms of policy demands was
far from clear, but long term campaigners for greater regulation
and accountability in the financial sector say they believe that
with events on Wall Street and elsewhere, the global debate is
finally beginning to turn their way.With its reputation as a leading banking centre for the
world’s richest, critics say London law firms and wealth
managers have grown increasingly adept at attracting Russian
oligarchs, Arab potentates and sometimes dubious clients.”WORLD’S MONEY LAUNDERERS”Members of the Mubarak and Gadaffi families both held
expensive London properties through front companies registered
in offshore tax havens such as Panama, believed to be only the
tip of hidden investments. Inflows of foreign wealth have pushed
up top end house prices and left many complaining of a widening
and obvious income gap.John Christensen, former economic adviser to the government
of Jersey and now head of the Tax Justice Network which works to
close loopholes, said he had travelled to London to talk to the
protesters about London’s status as what he calls the “world’s
largest money launderer”. “These protests are hugely
symbolically important,” he said.For most of the protesters, however, the target for their
outrage remained the bailout of major banks by taxpayers. Even
some staff at financial institutions happily told reporters and
activists they believed populations were getting a rough deal.”I don’t think the public should be bailing out private
institutions who are making billions, because it is not in the
public interest,” said Joe Lungu, who identified himself as a
consultant for Germany’s Commerzbank, “The public is being asked
to clean up again and again and again.”“BANKERS WELCOME”Several others expressed similar views, a few bringing
coffee to give to the protesters. Some banking staff wore casual
clothes to work in the area on Monday, fearing attack. But the
mood was peaceful. “Bankers welcome,” said one chalk pavement
scrawl.Whether such sentiments will end up influencing policy in
Britain is far from clear. Many passersby and even some veterans
of earlier bouts of UK protest - including student
demonstrations last year that failed to block tuition fee rises
or wider austerity measures - are openly sceptical.”They are just a few hundred people,” said one senior
investment banker, adding that after a miserable third quarter
most of the sector were more worried about their jobs.The protests look to be attracting wider sympathy. “I think
this is just going to get bigger and bigger,” said London taxi
driver Robert Fenlon. “And that has to be a good thing.”For St Paul’s itself, with its gilted interior and tombs of
soldiers, merchants and empire builders, its new role as a
centre for dissent marks a radical departure.”St Paul’s has always been iconic,” said Cathy Ross,
director of collections and learning at the Museum of London.
“But it has always been very much an “establishment” church. For
it to become a centre of protest is something very new — and
interesting.”(editing by Janet McBride)
