No matter how cold it gets through rain or snow, the anti-capitalist occupiers outside St Paul’s Cathedral are more determined than ever to stick it out, ensuring they stay there indefinitely.
Sandra said: ‘I do not care how cold it gets. If it snows, it snows. If we need more blankets, we will get donated more blankets.
‘I am absolutely confident that we will stick this out and see through Christmas and the New Year and push our idea forward.
‘They have no power over us, we know what we want, we know why we are here.
‘This system is designed to keep the rich rich and the poor poor, and the whole world has woken up to the fact that we cannot and will not continue as we are, it is physically impossible!’
Conor said: ‘I am absolutely frozen and my whole tent was damp when I woke up this morning but I am not moving!
‘Come this Spring, this occupation is going to swell in numbers and go on to bigger things, the whole movement will re-erupt!
‘I went on the Chase Farm March and I was impressed, particularly by the young people that joined in and with the commitment and the organisation.
‘It impressed me that people are definitely committed to occupying Chase Farm.
‘The way that some of the older women were talking it seemed that they were genuinely going to occupy it to keep it open.
‘There was no smoke and mirrors, just a determination to see the job through.’
Ranji Vijayan, an international student who had come down to support the occupiers, said: ‘I am studying at City University in London and I am doing an MSC in electrical engineering.
‘I support the occupation at St Pauls, it is good for people to stand up for what they believe in.
‘It is very hard as a student as I have to pay £11,500 tuition fees because I am from India.
‘It is very expensive and there is no consideration for students.
‘I have to work part time, I work hard, pay taxes and study at the same time.’
Elle Bradbury from Chicago had also come down to support the occupation of St Pauls.
She said: ‘There is an occupy movement in Chicago, I support this movement.
‘This is a great form of free speech and a way for people to be heard.
‘If it is done in the right way it is something that is very powerful.’
Steve, an occupier who has been at St Pauls from the beginning, said: ‘This is a totally new experience, there has never been anything like this in my lifetime and this is the beginning of something. There has to be a massive change to the normal order.
‘Because the normal order is showing itself more and more to be not only redundant but also highly destructive to the security and welfare of ordinary people’s lives.
‘The global nature of the movement is not a random accident, it has happened for very specific reasons.
‘This is a system which depends on selfish taking advantage of others, whose key drive is profit at all costs, where nobody really matters except for the cold robots who try and run everything and just make themselves fatter and richer.
‘This system is getting extremely close to reaching its critical end-point and we are on the edge, the precipitous edge of who knows what breaking loose.
‘The only answer to this chaotic and selfish way of the world is for human beings to begin to become humans.
‘We have to start to begin a serious process of caring and sharing for one another.
‘Everyone working together as one.’
Eve Emanon from Anonymous UK said: ‘We are staying all winter, the hardcore protesters have stayed at St Pauls rather than move to “The Bank of Ideas”.
‘We are bracing ourselves for the cold weather, we have come this far and we are not going to let a bit of cold weather stop us now.
‘The corporation of London are constantly threatening us with eviction. We are not going anywhere.
‘I really admire the US occupation movement, every time they are evicted they bounce back and I am sure that the UK occupations will follow suite.
‘We will not be evicted. You cannot evict an idea.
‘The threats of eviction have made us even more determined.
‘It is just outrageous, the divide. Capitalism has been allowed to run away with itself.’
Occupier James, aged 28, said: ‘I came here out of curiosity. I wanted to see if people could co-operate in England under the values of mutual participation and consensus decision making.
‘This is something that has been lacking in politics and has always seemed facile and irrelevant, just a source of satire.
‘But as you get older you want to actually find ways of making it happen.
‘I was at Occupy Bristol and the camps in Spain.
‘I think it would be naive to attempt to forge an identity under the “occupy” banner, it leads to exclusivity.
‘In Spain there was a lot of talk of forming political parties like the Basque separatistists and so on.
‘Anarchism has never really been able to address how to deconstruct a power structure.
‘The next step is for people to reclaim the fields and to do it now, before spring, by planting foods and food production is the best means of self-empowerment.
‘Planting carrots is an act of rebellion!’
Pedro Lima who had come from Portugal to join the Occupy movement at St Pauls said: ‘In Portugal it is pretty bad, we have a very low minimum wage.
‘It is not enough to live on because inflation is pushing prices up.
‘People are finding it harder and harder to live, it is squeezing the middle class like an orange.
‘I have been at St Pauls since day one, hour one.
‘We are going to keep growing, to keep occupying. I am against any form of ownership, I am against all private ownership.’
Da’Vaine said: ‘The movement against the corruption within the banking system is awesome and we are going to win!
‘The whole camp is going to spend Christmas occupying and there will be a great big party.
‘I do not want to spoil the surprise yet but I can say that there may well be plenty of Santas involved.
‘The government is useless at tackling the problems we face and they seem to be deliberately avoiding the issues to push their own agenda.
‘We most definitely should kick them out!’
