Friday, October 21, 2011

#OccupyLSX - a week later

Protesters are still camping near the St. Paul's. The Canon welcomed the tent site five days ago but today the statement was issued asking people to leave peacefully. It was printed and distributed at the camp, and occupiers were gathering in circles to read it aloud. Then a general meeting was called, and now "consensus seems to be to stay".

Occupiers discuss the statement from the Dean

The cathedral remains closed but to be honest the protesters aren't creating much mess. Everything is very well organised - there are, for example, separate rubbish bins, volunteering janitors and toilet schedules:

Separate rubbish bins Volunteering janitor Toilets

The main stairs and side entrances are also kept clear most of the time:

Empty stairs, doors accessible Way to the side door kept clear

Solar panels and people offering free refreshments in convenient packages:

Solar panels Free juice

I might be wrong, but I'd say tourists create more problems generally for anybody wants to access the building. However, with the cathedral being shut, there were very few people just visiting, so two crowds together might be indeed creating an effective blockage.

There were some amusing Easter eggs among the endless slogans, posters, signs and stickers:

An Easter egg from the capitalists An Easter egg from the capitalists

Or, for example, a leaflet which suits the Tea Party more than the OWS movement:

IMAG1180

But these were of course exceptions. The main message remains clear:

"Capitalism means war" "Capitalism is crisis"

I talked to some of the occupiers and found out that not only Londoners or even Britons were participating in the protest. People came from all over the word, so I myself eased somehow as it always feels a bit weird being a foreigner when internal affairs are being discussed. This guy was very nice to talk to, and also his outfit was fabulous:

I did some sketches of the site. There were at least four more people drawing around - thing is contagious!

OccupyLSX tents OccupyLSX Occupiers and bypassers

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I have also updated the Flickr set I linked to before.

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