St Paul's camp protesters evicted

28 February 2012

The area around St Paul's has been cleared after police and bailiffs evicted anti-capitalist protesters who set up camp there on 15 October last year.

It took just over a couple of hours for protesters to be removed after police arrived at 1am in the morning. The area was then cordoned off for the council to carry out a 'deep clean'.

Action to remove the camp was given the go-ahead when the Court of Appeal rejected an appeal by protesters, freeing the City of London Corporation to clear the site. The High Court had previously sanctioned the corporation's move to evict the camp as "lawful and justified".

In the end, the eviction was carried out fairly peacefully, although there were 20 arrests and some resistance as tents and equipment were removed from the area.

Businesses in and around St Paul's and Paternoster Square, like Paternoster Chop House, can now breathe a sigh of relief and welcome a return to normal conditions, after months of disturbance, cordons and security checks.