Occupy London protesters criticise police surveillance
Occupy London protesters at St Paul’s Cathedral rubbish claims that only 10 per cent of tents are occupied at night and tell Channel 4 News police are wasting taxpayers’ money on surveillance.
One banner propped up by protesters in the shadow of St Paul’s reads: “All day, all week, we’ll sleep on London’s freezing streets – in solidarity.”
But is that really the case? On Tuesday morning the Daily Telegraph claimed that only one in 10 of the tents has anyone inside in the early hours of the morning.
Apparently a police helicopter, hovering over the cathedral, has infra-red cameras revealing the part-time nature of the protest come darkness.
The City of London Police have since refused to confirm their surveillance methods.
Lots of ‘normal middle-class people’
Some of the campaigners do admit to going home at night.
Robin Smith, a 48-year-old former Conservative councillor for Wokingham Town Council, said he was one of many part-time protesters at the camp.
“I’d say about 25 per cent of the people go away and come back. There are lots of normal middle-class people turning up and helping but they have to go back home and some people come once and go away,” he said.
“They’ve got jobs and a family to keep, so they’ve got to look after their kids or go to work. I met one guy who comes in then goes home to go to work.”
He said many of the demonstrators went home to wash rather than paying to use public showers.
Read more from Jon Snow: Are the St Paul's protesters part time?
‘Most people’ sleep in tents
But a spokesman for the Occupy London movement told Channel 4 News that it is “simply not the case” that 90 per cent of tents are empty at night.
Spyro Van Leemnen said: “We were very surprised to hear what the newspapers were reporting this morning. The numbers published are not accurate.
“Most people sleep in the tents at night – some tents are empty but definitely not 90 per cent.”
Mr Van Leemnen questioned whether the police should be using helicopters with infra-red cameras to monitor the protests.
“It’s interesting to see taxpayers’ money is being wasted by monitoring how many tents are occupied.
“Who signed off the project to send a helicopter to monitor how many tents are empty?”
Police ‘not commenting’ on numbers
Asked if protesters were leaving the camp at night, David Murphy, a spokesman for the City of London police, said: “Police are monitoring that and using various techniques. Clearly if we were trying to get a picture of the protest, we’d want to use a range of techniques.
“We’ve not been commenting on numbers and obviously that won’t be changing.”
The anti-capitalist protests outside St Paul’s have forced the cathedral to close for the first time since the Second World War.
The Occupy London movement says it has no plans to leave the site.