London Occupy

Available for over a year

The Occupy movement sprang up in the wake of the global financial crisis of 2008. It was inspired by anti-austerity campaigns in Spain, and the events of the Arab Spring of March and April 2011, and although its aims were wide, it was broadly described as an "anti-capitalist" protest. On October 15th 2011, non-violent global protests began on New York’s Wall Street, and outside London’s Stock Exchange, then moving to Paternoster Square on the edge of the financial district. Protestors called for an end to global exploitation under the banner “We are the 99%”, quoting an American statistic on the concentration of wealth among the top-earning 1% of society. They formed a camp of tents and temporary shelters on the doorstep of St Paul’s Cathedral and the Church of England was drawn into the protests. At first, Cathedral authorities were accommodating and broadly supportive of the protests, but then, claiming health and safety concerns, they sided with the police and the City of London in calling for the removal of protestors. A simultaneous camp sprung up in nearby Finsbury Square, and protestors also occupied an empty UBS office building on Sun Street which became a social centre dubbed the "Bank of Ideas". The legal process of eviction would take several months, during which the tented community created its own Assembly. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, and the Green Party’s Caroline Lucas, were among those invited to address the protestors. Kirsty Wark is joined by a number of individuals who joined, or were caught up in, the protests around Occupy London. Producer: Alice K. Winz Series Producer: David Prest A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4