London cathedral suspends legal action against protester

LONDON (RNS) Authorities at London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral have decided to suspend legal action against scores of anti-corporate protesters who have occupied tents on the church’s doorstep for more than two weeks. St. Paul’s officials said Tuesday (Nov. 1) that they “are committed to a peaceful solution at all costs” to the impasse that had […]

LONDON (RNS) Authorities at London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral have decided to suspend legal action against scores of anti-corporate protesters who have occupied tents on the church’s doorstep for more than two weeks.

St. Paul’s officials said Tuesday (Nov. 1) that they “are committed to a peaceful solution at all costs” to the impasse that had closed the cathedral’s doors for the first time since World War II.

Meanwhile, the City of London Corporation, the local government entity with jurisdiction over St. Paul’s, said it would give the protesters 48 hours to decamp with their tents, or else face legal action to evict them.


The corporation said it would oust the protesters on grounds that their demonstration outside the cathedral is an “unreasonable use of the highway.”

However, as of mid-afternoon Tuesday, there was no sign that any eviction letters had been sent.

The dispute around the 300-year-old cathedral has cost the jobs of two of its leading clerics — Dean Graeme Knowles and Canon Chancellor Giles Fraser — who both resigned over how to handle the demonstrations.

The protesters, identifying themselves as the Occupy London Stock Exchange movement, set up camp on Oct. 15 as part of a global demonstration against “inequalities and greed” in the corporate world.

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