St Paul's: Bishop and Dean meet protesters

protesters beside St Paul's

The Bishop of London, Dr Richard Chartres, and the Dean of St Paul's, Rev Graeme Knowles met protesters for a discussion in front of the Cathedral on Sunday morning. On Friday, the City of London Corporation had voted to begin court proceedings to evict them from the churchyard where they had initially been made welcome.

Dr Chartres began by saying that democracy was about listening, and that he and Rev Knowles wanted to hear what the protesters had to say. Rev Knowles denied that local businesses had asked the Cathedral to remove the protesters. "That's totally untrue" he said. "Nobody wants violence," he said. "We all want to avoid violence."

One person said: "some of us are not camping, but we are coming here every day. If the decision has been made to evict us then violence will be visited on these people. Please think about this." Rev Knowles replied: "I hear that. We will strive to achieve a solution."

Another said: "We didn't choose this location. We were moved from outside the Stock Exchange over there. We don't want to cause any inconvenience." He pointed out that they have complied with all health and safety regulations and went on to say that the protesters shared the same values as Christians - the same values that were being preached in St Paul's each week. "St Paul was a maker of tents, not a destroyer of them," he said.

Another speaker pointed out that when the High Priests wanted to attack Jesus they first used the 'Purity Laws' - just as St Paul's was doing to them now. This is "an historic opportunity for the Church" to help bring about change. "We are part of a large peaceful movement - there are currently more than 800 peaceful protests taking in 80 countries all calling for change."

A young Anglican woman said: "I've just been to a service. How can you bless me inside the church and threaten me with violence outside?"

Rev Knowles said: ""God blesses everyone inside and outside. I find it quite difficult that you assume that I do not hold the same views as you simply because I don't use the same methods of expressing my views as you. If dialogue will get us closer, then dialogue we will have.

"But I do think we have to allow ourselves space to do things in different ways as well as doing some things together."

One person asked whether the investment bankers on the board of St Paul's were putting pressure on the church to evict the protesters. Rev Knowles said they were under no pressure.

Bishop Chartres concluded: "These are very complex matters. If we are going to talk seriously about them we've got to move beyond slogans."

In response to a question about a St Paul's Institute report on the moral standards of bankers, which was meant to have been published last week, Bishop Chartres said it "would be published."

The meeting ended with a blessing from Bishop Chartres before the bells began ringing for the start of the morning service.

Anita, one the campaigners, said: "I'm glad that we have met them but I don't think we got any clear answers. I think they were speaking rather vaguely about dialogue but it doesn't look as though they have any plans to stop the eviction."