At the moment, the Police have just released the bulk of the Occupy London protest. They had kettled them in and were refusing to allow them to leave, and had already made a number of arrests.

Despite earlier reports, they do not appear to be taking action against the encampment at St Paul’s – this was another demonstration that was taking place in front of Parliament.

Livestream here. Video from about an hour ago here. Twitter.

Tensions have been high, as the City of London, the mayor, and the authorities at St. Paul’s have been agitating for the removal of the large Occupy contingent encamped around the cathedral.

Three officials of St. Paul’s have resigned in protest over the decision to expel the occupiers, including the Dean.

Ken Livingstone, who was a candidate in the last election against London Mayor Boris Johnson, said:

“The mayor of London’s office has wildly misjudged this issue, making the Occupy movement the enemy but failing to act on public concerns about jobs and growth. “This has been a peaceful protest, and it should be approached on that basis. City Hall has a duty to accommodate those who wish to protest in London and ensure their safety whilst ensuring the London does not grind to a halt.” “No one wants or expects there to be permanent camps – all protests have a beginning and an end – but the scale of the problems ordinary people are facing mean these international protests are inevitably not yet over.”

Whether they’re evicted tonight or next week, it appears the occupation has accomplished something. At the Guardian newspaper, Andrew Rawnsley says it is “It is twisted knickers time among pundits, politicians and prelates”:

You have brought a frown to the forehead of the prime minister,

hyperbolic froth to the lips of [Mayor] Boris Johnson,

attracted the disdain of a pomposity of pontificators

and thrown the state church into something approaching a constitutional crisis.

Imagine what might be achieved if this movement can get really serious and starts taking its protest more directly to the avaricious bankers, corporate larcenists and crony capitalists who are the central source of their discontent with how we live now.

One of the things the demonstrators are protesting is the uniquely undemocratic setup in London itself. George Monbiot explains how the Corporation of the City of London is unique among city councils. The municipality is divided into 25 “wards”:

In four of them, the 9,000 people who live within its boundaries are permitted to vote. In the remaining 21, the votes are controlled by corporations, mostly banks and other financial companies. The bigger the business, the bigger the vote: a company with 10 workers gets two votes, the biggest employers, 79. It’s not the workers who decide how the votes are cast, but the bosses, who “appoint” the voters. Plutocracy, pure and simple.

I had no idea the city of London itself is one of the biggest lobbyists in England for the banking industry. Monbiot, again:

The City of London is the only part of Britain over which parliament has no authority. In one respect at least the Corporation acts as the superior body…

It possesses a vast pool of cash, which it can spend as it wishes, without democratic oversight.

As well as expanding its enormous property portfolio, it uses this money to lobby on behalf of the banks.

The Corporation boasts that it “handle[s] issues in Parliament of specific interest to the City”, such as banking reform and financial services regulation.

It also conducts “extensive partnership work with think tanks … vigorously promoting the views and needs of financial services.”

And because Parliament has no authority to regulate London and its banks, London was ground zero for the meltdown:

It has also made the effective regulation of global finance almost impossible. Shaxson shows how the absence of proper regulation in London allowed American banks to evade the rules set by their own government. AIG’s wild trading might have taken place in the US, but the unit responsible was regulated in the City. Lehman Brothers couldn’t get legal approval for its off-balance sheet transactions in Wall Street, so it used a London law firm instead. No wonder priests are resigning over the plans to evict the campers. The Church of England is not just working with Mammon; it’s colluding with Babylon.

On November 12, the City of London holds an annual Lord Mayor’s Show, basically a celebration of the banking industry. There will be protests at that… as Monbiot says, “Expect fireworks – and not just those laid on by the Lord Mayor.”

(Photo by Kerim Okten)