ONLY ONE IN ten protesters stayed overnight at the Occupy London base outside St Paul’s Cathedral yesterday – but they left their tents on site.
That is according to The Telegraph, which used thermal imaging and filmed the camp site last night.
It says its footage discovered that only around 20 of the 200 tents outside had people staying overnight inside them.
A London councillor described the campsite as a “charade”.
It was reported yesterday that the City of London Corporation might take legal action against the protesters outside the cathedral – as they have said they will remain there until after Christmas.
Here in Dublin, one Occupy Dame St protester told TheJournal.ie that it is not unusual for people to leave the camp on Dame St during the night to go home and sleep.
Aubrey Robinson said that there is always a core group of people outside the Central Bank, but that many people including himself leave the camp at night time to get some sleep before returning early in the morning.
“There’s always been a core team and we’ve been trying to rotate it a bit. Most of the tents are normally occupied. We encourage people to rotate,” he said.
“After the march this weekend there were quite a few tired heads and quite a few people headed home but I’m seeing a lot of people coming back.”
The camp wasn’t badly affected by the deluge of rain over the last few days – mainly due to the installation of a yurt on the site which could comfortably house a number of people.
Robinson said that the Occupy Dublin protest is “building momentum” and that they will stay there for as long as it takes.
People are very strong here. We’ll have to look at it in terms of a brutal winter. We’re tough but we’ve got to look after ourselves. Spirits are high and we’re surviving.
He added that the main thing was to have “fresh minds and fresh faces” working on the plans for the weeks ahead.
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