The Occupy London Stock Exchange protests are underway and progressing peacefully, however, numbers are far lower than organisers anticipated, and there was little evidence of the kind of grassroots pro-democracy movement that has captured the public imagination in New York.
The protesters, denied access to the LSE and to Paternoster Square itself by a thin line of police, were held by a loose cordon near the steps of St Paul's. Tourists made their way in and out of the crowd to get views of the cathedral, and there were more cameras on show than placards. Activists in the Guy Fawkes masks favoured by the online Anonymous group queued in Starbucks.
Far from being the diverse mass of interest groups and average Londoners that organisers had predicted, the crowd, briefly led in a call and response by megaphones from the steps, were a mix of students and familiar left wing activists.
There were brief scuffles when a few protesters tried to block Ludgate Hill, and when Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was spotted and run to ground in a souvenir shop, but the bulk of both scrums were made up of photographers and film crews.
'via Blog this'
No comments:
Post a Comment