Spyro Van Leenen - Occupy London organiser talking at Canadian TV channel ctvnews.ca on May day. He explain the context in UK and announced the 12 May Occupy Global day of action.
During the day - From St Paul to the Bank of England
The group had to leave St Paul as the protest was not authorised and Police was threatening them of possible retaliation. Some of the protesters got kettled while trying to run away from the police but the majority still managed to head to the Bank of England, high simbole of capitalism, where the assembly was due to take place. At the Bank of England, the police encircled the all square and then infiltrated the crowd. From this point, I knew that we had to make a move if we did not want to be arrested. At 6pm 2/3 of the crowd had left and the core group remained but debilitated. According to the mainstream media, Police said they made 11 arrests while our observers recorded a higher number. Unfortunately the Occupy organisers did not have a back-up plan in case the Police took control of the square which exposed us to potential violence.
Action on twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23occupylondon
Assembly at the Bank of England
At the Bank of England, few speakers from different campaigning groups across London (Jubilee debt, Climate Justice Coalition, UK Uncut....) came to the panel to voice what this day meant to them in the struggle for equality, a fair tax system and the protection of our welfare system, a stop to its erosion by neo-liberal government policies. Corporations dodge millions of pounds through tax evasion, loopholes and negotiation with the government while the 99% have seen their life style, access to health education and employment deteriorated since the beginning of the financial crisis created by the banks. Till the 99% demands are not met, Occupy and other grassroots movements will continue using whatever tools they have to reach the masses and tell our politicians that we are not in this together.
References:
http://occupylsx.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupy_London
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-18049010
http://www.youandifilms.com/2012/01/occupation-records-the-99-per-cent-to-launch-a-record-label/
Jamie Kelsey-Fry, The new Internationanist
and Occupy Activist taking for Russia Today
