Activists from the Occupy London movement abruptly changed tactics on Friday, following a month of open-air tent protests, by seizing a vacant office complex owned by a major global bank.
In the early hours of the morning, protesters entered a series of interconnected buildings owned by the Swiss-based UBS bank on the fringe of the City of London — the heart of the UK financial sector — which have lain empty for several years. They immediately claimed squatters’ rights, posting a legal notice to that effect.
By mid-morning, several dozen people were inside, cleaning up patches of damp and collapsed ceiling plaster and hanging giant banners from windows, several targeting the actions of UBS, which has its London headquarters across the street.
Photo: EPA
In contrast to Occupy’s existing camps in the British capital — next to St Paul’s Cathedral and on Finsbury Square — the new outpost will not be primarily residential, but aims to act as a forum for ideas and meetings.
The buildings, called by protesters the Bank of Ideas, is holding an inaugural conference of Occupy movements from around the UK this weekend. A statement by the group promised a show by the comedian Josie Long and a seminar by Alessio Rastani, the independent financial trader who made headlines in September by telling the BBC that investment banks were now more powerful than governments.
“The Bank of Ideas will host a full events program where people will be able to trade in creativity rather than cash,” the group’s Sarah Layler said. “We will also make space available for those that have lost their nurseries, community centers and youth clubs to savage government spending cuts.”
It marks a further sign of the growing confidence of the UK movement, which sprang from an international wave of protests against the perceived excesses and inequalities of the global financial system.
Unlike their US counterparts, who have faced a number of forcible police evictions, Occupy protesters in London have been left alone.
An attempt by the City of London Corp to have the St Paul’s camp removed is set to reach the High Court on Wednesday. The Finsbury Square camp is on land owned by Islington London Borough Council, which has privately told activists it does not have the money to pursue a court case.
UBS, however, could apply very quickly for legal repossession of the buildings and request bailiffs, backed up by police, to move in. A spokeswoman for the Swiss-based bank said: “We know they’re there and we’re taking appropriate action.”
At a hastily arranged press conference inside the UBS building, about a dozen activists answered questions, while sitting on a stained blue office carpet in front of a vast Occupy London sign. The group said it hoped to avoid confrontation with police and had asked UBS about agreeing temporary use of the site. UBS said it had no comment on this offer.
There seemed little imminent prospect of detente with UBS staff: Soon after the first Occupy banners were hung, UBS workers on the other side of the street pulled down all the blinds in their offices.
MONEY MATTERS: Xi was to highlight projects such as a new high-speed railway between Belgrade and Budapest, as Serbia is entirely open to Chinese trade and investment Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic yesterday said that “Taiwan is China” as he made a speech welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to Belgrade, state broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) said. “We have a clear and simple position regarding Chinese territorial integrity,” he told a crowd outside the government offices while Xi applauded him. “Yes, Taiwan is China.” Xi landed in Belgrade on Tuesday night on the second leg of his European tour, and was greeted by Vucic and most government ministers. Xi had just completed a two-day trip to France, where he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron as the
With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of US airpower, but the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence (AI), not a human pilot, and riding in the front seat was US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall. AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the US Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning
INTERNATIONAL PROBE: Australian and US authorities were helping coordinate the investigation of the case, which follows the 2015 murder of Australian surfers in Mexico Three bodies were found in Mexico’s Baja California state, the FBI said on Friday, days after two Australians and an American went missing during a surfing trip in an area hit by cartel violence. Authorities used a pulley system to hoist what appeared to be lifeless bodies covered in mud from a shaft on a cliff high above the Pacific. “We confirm there were three individuals found deceased in Santo Tomas, Baja California,” a statement from the FBI’s office in San Diego, California, said without providing the identities of the victims. Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter
CUSTOMS DUTIES: France’s cognac industry was closely watching the talks, fearing that an anti-dumping investigation opened by China is retaliation for trade tensions French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at one of his beloved childhood haunts in the Pyrenees, seeking to press a message to Beijing not to support Russia’s war against Ukraine and to accept fairer trade. The first day of Xi’s state visit to France, his first to Europe since 2019, saw respectful, but sometimes robust exchanges between the two men during a succession of talks on Monday. Macron, joined initially by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urged Xi not to allow the export of any technology that could be used by Russia in its invasion