Despite threats of violence from the authorities and anti-activist propaganda from the media, Occupy London has gone from strength to strength. The leaderless representatives of the 99% celebrated their first week in occupation by taking a second site at Finsbury Square (about 5 minutes walk from the first site). The second site is still growing, and they need equipment and people. They’ve a special callout for drivers to haul the tat they’ve collected on site.

The resignation of the Canon of St Pauls, Dr Giles Fraser, has grabbed everyone’s attention.  In his resignation statement he explained that “I cannot support using violence to ask people to clear off the land.”  No wonder this has caught the mainstream media by surprise - this must be the only time that City figure has resigned on principle.

The fake scandals, that the church ‘had’ to close due to health and safety (the deadly presence of tents and stoves), and that the tents were empty at night have both unravelled due to them being total bollocks.

Occupy LSX now boasts its own newspaper, The Occupied Times of London. The first edition came out on Wednesday, with more to follow. Read all about it here: http://occupylsx.org/?p=509 .

Meanwhile Outside of London...

Fashionably late, but guaranteed to be fantastic darling, Occupy Brighton is holding its first General Assembly this Saturday at 2pm, Victoria Gardens.

Unfortunately up in Occupied Glasgow things have taken a turn for the tragic. After a turnout of over 500 on their demo and a decent presence at the occupation, they looked set to defy the authorities and protest bankers’ greed. According to media reports, on Wednesday night one of the protesters was raped by a group of drunks who had invaded the site. Now Glasgow Council has ordered an eviction of the site.

Other occupations continue both in the UK and abroad. SchNEWS’ award for ‘Most Interesting Foreign Occupation of The Week’ goes to Occupy Oakland  where particularly oppressive policing has seen tents getting routinely destroyed and one protester get a tear gas cannister fired into his face.