Please Close the Door Behind You

"The whole thing is farcical. You couldn't make it up. It's gone from the sublime to the ridiculous."

Who could argue with that statement? The Anglican Church, in its desperate wish to do the right thing, threw its support behind the Occupy London protesters. They were viewed as the young and the idealistic, earnestly seeking to add their voice to the hushed voices of the desperately impoverished, victimized by a society that comforts those who have the greatest share of the world's goods, instead of those whose meagre incomes leave them in poverty.

"The events of the last couple of weeks have shown very clearly how decisions made in good faith by good people under unusual pressure can have utterly unforeseen and unwelcome consequences." Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, Head of the Church of England

Queen Elizabeth, Defender of the Faith, is also no doubt in distress over the events that have taken place and continue to play out. Not only in her country, but now worldwide, having been adopted from the Occupy Wall Street movement that began its life in New York City, then matured and spread like a night-time miasma - or sprinkling of fairy dust - over the Globe.

In London, the OWS me-too group were given permission to set themselves up in front of St. Paul's Cathedral, by a sympathetic clergy. Thinking, no doubt, that they would set up their tents, make their point, then disband and all would return to normal, nice and proper. Supporting the protest was simply the right thing to do, the Christian thing.

This was a social-political movement with meaning and socially required to be supported, as the responsible thing to do. Weren't the authorities at St. Paul's surprised when 200 tents sprang up instantly before the steps of the cathedral. Weren't they taken aback when a loud party resulted, the protesters drinking alcohol, smoking weed in their churchyard well into the night and beyond.

And the constant stream of rappers and singers, and the entertainment of a 300-strong crowd of revellers who partied into the early hours. Making a stage out of pallets.

"While no one expects anti-capitalism to be a 24-hour activity, I would have hoped the protesters would show a little more respect for the sanctity of St. Paul's." Mark Field, the local Tory MP

That unfortunate sequence of events led to church authorities second-guessing their original welcome. And eviction of the squatters looked to be in the offing. People were unable to comfortably access the cathedral. The Church authorities fretted about lack of hygiene and unsafe conditions that were resulting from the tent city they were reluctantly accommodating.

They shut down their own operations. Leading to the prevention of worshippers from accessing the site, and tourists losing the opportunity to view the architectural wonders of the cathedral. They were losing up to $37,000 in revenues daily. One after another, three church leaders resigned, because the situation had become "untenable", they were "under a great deal of strain", facing "insurmountable issues".

Canon Chancellor Giles Fraser, in stepping down from the Church hierarchy, warned that the proposed eviction would represent "violence in the name of the church". Dr.George Carey, former archbishop stated "One moment the church was reclaiming a valuable role in hosting public protest and scrutiny, the next it was looking in turns like the temple which Jesus cleansed."

A good time was not being had by all.

In other parts of the world OWS groups were squatting magisterially as is their right under free democracies on both private and public properties. Distressing those owners and those in authority no end, by the flotsam they were attracting; Marxists, Anarchists, bigots and anti-Semites among them. Some very rude things were being done in the name of freedom of assembly.

Parks were being demolished, detritus accumulated, and what was once well ordered and civil was becoming anything but. And the authorities, becoming ever more nervous, some ordered security to use forceful measures to 'persuade' the protesters to decamp. It was also as Dr. Carey further commented:

"Their intransigence, once the cathedral stopped welcoming them with open arms and began to plead with them to leave, did them no favours. Ironically, they started off fulsomely thanking the Church for allowing them to stay, but then repaid that generosity by refusing to leave when asked."

Indeed, indeed.