"Indignant" Protestors at St. Paul’s

The "Indignant Movement" protestors encamped in front of the magnificent St. Paul’s cathedral in London are, finally, not to be evicted by the police. The church authorities eventually decided that it is not within the Church’s rights to expel hundreds of people opposed to capitalism — the "Indignant" of today — whose message could resemble the teachings of Jesus, who defended the poor against the rich two thousand years ago.

However, the Church took several days to see this truth. Two highly regarded cathedral officials gave their resignations before the management, encouraged by the Bishop of London, reversed its position by withdrawing the legal petition asking for the protestors to be removed. It is said that the protestors can now, they say, stay until the New Year.

For the moment, thousands of tourists are entering and leaving the cathedral without obstruction; services and weddings are being celebrated once more, and an animated discussion is going on in front of and within the great cathedral at the heart of London’s financial district, an iconic 300 year old building, which took its architect, Christopher Wren, over thirty years to construct.

On Wednesday, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, joined the debate initiated by the protestors. In an article for the Financial Times, the leader of the Church of England recognised the movement as "the expression of a deeply rooted and widespread frustration with the financial institutions, a frustration that is there to stay."

He called for a "Tobin tax" to collect millions of pounds from all financial transactions, in the interests of the economy. Later, in the Commons, the prime minister David Cameron gave approval of the Archbishop’s remarks concerning the greedy bankers; however he did not suggest any measures to control their boundless appetites.