Occupy Norwich protesters begin to break down their camp on Hay Hill, Norwich. Photo by Simon Finlay
Occupy Norwich camp to be cleared today
Monday, February 20, 2012
4:21 PM
Occupy Norwich protesters are this afternoon dismantling their encampment on Hay Hill after Norwich City Council was granted an order to remove them from the site.
They say they expect to have cleared the site by Tuesday morning, bringing to an end their four-month occupation before a visit from council bailiffs.
At a hearing this afternoon, attended by two members of the council’s legal team but no one from Occupy Norwich, District Judge Philip Rogers granted the order, stating that adequate notice of the council’s legal action had been given to the protesters.
He said: “It looks like you have been working with the people occupying your property and you have tried to come to an arrangement which doesn’t seem to have worked.”
Solicitor Nigel Brims, representing Norwich City Council, said the council had tried to balance the “qualified right of the group to make its protest” with “the need to ensure even-handedness with other community groups and ensure no one group monopolises Hay Hill.”
Kitt Moorhouse, of Occupy Norwich, said the camp had come to an end “but Occupy will never die”.
“The camp’s coming down today. We’re doing it nicely and peacefully before the council arrive to force us to do it.”
“We all knew the court case was coming and all they had to do was cross the t’s and dot the i’s.”
He said the movement would continue, possibly through smaller, weekend Occupy camps.
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24 comments
Dirk yes the protesters are taking the tents down themselves, but there were still legal costs incurred for the council to even go to court in the first place. Which Council tax payers will fund, why do you think nobody from the group turned up in court cause the Council said anyone representing the group would be billed.
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chebram71
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
@ Dirk - I trust that you now no longer keep your money in one of these nasty banks and instead keep it under the bed? @Foxglove - That sincerely is great to hear and I would hope that the individual continues to do so. They hopefully acheive more with that, than they did with the movement. Whiley is finished with this topic. Back to making my beans on toast :o)
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Whiley Boy
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Dirk, what action are you now taking? How are you going to bring the walls of capitalism tumbling down?
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robotsthatcare
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
WhileyBoy: I did not become involved with Occupy but help administrate a community project and can testify to at least one of the long-term Occupiers having been involved with the project long before Occupy Norwich appeared.
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Mr Foxglove
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
@robotsthatcare, well yes, me! You speak of conversion as though there is only black and white! Before and after the occupy movement I was and am opposed to the behaviour of large multi-national companies and banks etc. Before I felt there was no hope, now I feel there is. Occupy showed me that there are people out there willing to commit selfless acts for the larger benefit of all people in the face of huge corporate power. I'm not particularly sad that the camp has been dismantled, perhaps it is time for the movement to evolve and grow, perhaps find new creative and constructive avenues.
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Dirk Gently
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Dirk, can you hand-on-heart say that anyone has been converted by this activity? I suspect the answer is no and that this camp has served no useful purpose whatsoever.
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robotsthatcare
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
How about they contribute in a more positive way? How about working for a charity? A community project? These are of benefit, not sitting around all day eating McDonalds and drinking Starbucks. Their cause was lost long ago and became more an eyesore than a movement. Public support was not there and the decision not to move on when they said they would, was the final nail in the coffin. Thank goodness we have our public area back, so that the rest of the city can enjoy it once more. Nuisance removed, normality restored. Regards, Whiley.
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Whiley Boy
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Dirk Gently - whatever credence the Occupy group had was lost when they publicly agreed to voluntarily leave Hay Hill then very publicly changed their mind to suit themselves. Their word no longer is their bond hence whatever they say, agree or propose is now under suspicion as far as I am concerned. As I have stated before, it all reminds me very much of Orwell's Animal Farm where a group promised a system change based on some very loosely translatable rules, then once they got in power ended up worse than the system they overthrew.
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expat
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
So many disparaging comments! To call them soap dodgers just makes you look ignorant IT Man. As for the costs incurreed chebram 71, the story says that the protestors are taking the site down themsleves. And as for achieving sweet fa Norfolk n' Good they certainly changed my outlook from one of no hope and despair to one of hope and looking forward. I doubt many of the people leaving negative comments here actually witnessed what took part within the camp and the positive influences upon those individuals who took part. Sure the camp looked a little scruffy but hey, nature itself is scruffy at times. It's important to remember that Occupy wasn't just about offering alternative solutions it was about inviting them. Occupy was a forum that all those leaving negative comments here could have (and still could) use to help evolve a new future and if that sounds too airy-fairy for you then I'm sorry. If you want change then be the change and I think we all want things to change. If you guys want to leave insulting and offensive comments perhaps it would be more constructive to offer better methods of change.
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Dirk Gently
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
a lot of the comments on here are boring, repetitive and peddled by trolls with nothing good to say, you are free to air your comments, however, to me, you seem like fools. Occupy movement is a force for good, a lot of the comments focus on irrelevant things, enjoy your pancakes today!
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Al
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Good riddance!
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Whiley Boy
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Good riddance! I just hope that the City council do NOT allow them free use of a stall in Hay Hill now. It was offered and accepted as part of a deal which the soap dodgers failed to stick to, therefore, offer should be withdrawn.
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IT Man
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Any costs involved to remove them should be made to each protester. They claim to have their own homes and some may have jobs ? hmmmm but regardless of their financial circumstances they should pay not the tax payer. Be glad see see the back of them!
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chebram71
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
what do these people think they have acheived other than clutter up a fine part of the city and turn their so called encampment into some kind of freak show !.
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ratboy7545
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
I would like to know just what they have achieved that could not equally be achieved protesting in an orderly fashion on Hay Hill without that squalid, dirty camp site for weeks on end? In fact have they achieved anything at all?
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mike smith
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
How on earth does a load of unwashed muddle headed protesters camping in the middle of our City help anybody understand anything? This whole thing has gone on too long to the detriment of the the people and traders of Norwich. As usual the council seems to care more about a foolish minority group rather than the vast majority of council tax payers.
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Brian the Snail
Monday, February 20, 2012
I would just like to give a big shout out of thanks to all those hardy souls that spent this horrid winter under tarpaulin. Im sure there are many people in Norwich who now have a better understanding of the issues we face as a society thanks to the Occupy Norwich camp. Its a shame that people have to go to such lengths just to highlight issues that we all need to be facing up to. That is because the people we voted for to do those very things have clearly been shown to be part of the problem and cannot be trusted. Well when that is the case then it is everyones right to stand up and voice their dissent. That is something Occupy Norwich did for us all very well.
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spamfish
Monday, February 20, 2012
they now camping in the woods at heathgate so puts paid to us walking our dogs there
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bernie
Monday, February 20, 2012
HOORAY!!!! Now whos going clean their filth from the pavements?
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outspoken
Monday, February 20, 2012
About time too. I agree with Mr Jarse - make them pay the clean-up costs.
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Disgusted of Norwich South
Monday, February 20, 2012
I don't suppose they are to be made to pay for the cost of getting rid of them.I don't see why local tax payers should pick up the bill for their removal & associated legal costs.
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Dick Turnip
Monday, February 20, 2012
Common sense prevails at last.
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expat
Monday, February 20, 2012
Hooray Hooray they,ve gone away,but this situation should never have been allowed to develope in the first place,should it.
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Albert Cooper
Monday, February 20, 2012
About time
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robotsthatcare
Monday, February 20, 2012