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Alastair Jamieson / msnbc.com
Jim L., left, and other members of the Occupy Mile End protest group at their camp in east London on Thursday.
LONDON -- An eviction notice has been served on dozens of Occupy protesters who have set up camp in a park next to Team USA's Olympic track and field training base.
About 50 demonstrators are occupying Mile End Park – two miles from the main London 2012 site and next door to a sports stadium where American athletes will prepare for events in July.
The park is also visible from the priority traffic lanes that will be used to whisk VIPs and other participants from central London to the Olympic Village, which is located to the east of the U.K. capital.
The protesters say they are part of the anti-capitalist Occupy movement, which has seen sit-ins and clashes with police in cities including New York, Seattle, Washington, D.C., and Oakland.
An Occupy London camp was forcibly removed from the grounds of St Paul's Cathedral by police at the end of February, resulting in 20 arrests.
Local authorities have now secured a court order to close down Occupy Mile End, which began five weeks ago and includes about a dozen tents, a campfire and makeshift toilet facilities.
Police evict Occupy London protesters from camp
Tower Hamlets Borough Council applied for the order following complaints from local residents. The manager of a nearby nature reserve also accused camp members of damaging important trees by taking branches for firewood, according to a report in the East London Advertiser newspaper.
One of the protesters, who gave his name as Jim L., told msnbc.com the group had agreed to leave the site voluntarily on Sunday.
"This is one of Britain's poorest boroughs and we don't want to take council resources away from things like schools and hospitals so we have agreed to vacate the site without costing the council a penny," he said.
Mark Taylor, spokesman for the Mile End Residents' Association, said locals were "looking forward" to a "constructive and companionable relationship with Team USA."
He said: "We are very pleased that the council has secured a possession order to reclaim the park for its intended purpose. It's very sad that trees had to be pulled down for firewood and children's activities disrupted before the council acted."
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A diverse community in East London will welcome the world to Britain for the 2012 Olympic Games. Meet residents and hear how they feel about having a huge, world stage in their backyard.
Council officials insisted that nobody from the United States Olympic Committee, Team USA or the London 2012 organizers had expressed concern about the Occupy protest on their doorstep.
A spokesman for the council told msnbc.com: "The USA track and field team will be training at Mile End Stadium during the Olympic Games. They have funded extensive improvements to the stadium, and will be providing a variety of community benefits including free coaching sessions and opportunities to watch the team training.
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"We are working with the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) on security issues, understandably these issues are sensitive and therefore we are not able to comment in detail, but we do not anticipate that these will impact on the local community."
The council said it would go to the High Court to have the protesters moved if they did not leave the site, which is owned by a private trust on behalf of the council for use as a public park.
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Jim L. said the Occupy camp would move to a new, unidentified, site on Sunday. He added that there was little chance of protests targeting the Olympic Games.
"It would be impossible because of the security, in my own view," he said. "We're not against the Olympics as everybody likes a bit of sport, but I believe it is just one big advertising event for the benefit of corporate sponsors."
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He said the camp location had been chosen to highlight the issue of poverty in Tower Hamlets and not because of the proximity to Team USA's stadium.
Oda / Getty Images
From Wimbledon to Wembley Stadium to The Dome, a look at the venues for the 2012 London Olympic Games.
"There are huge problems here -- lack of affordable housing, unemployment and poverty," he said. "This is not so much a protest as a process, which is why we've come here – to listen to people and gather support. There isn’t much point in trying to occupy private land in order to disrupt the institutions of capitalism.”
American competitors at the Games will have several bases across London for different sports. Other sites include the University of East London campuses in Docklands and Stratford.
Langdon School, in the nearby Poplar area, will be home to the Canadian Olympic team.
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Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world
Leave a Comment:
Occuturds!
Worthless on the east coast!
Worthless on the west coast!
Priceless in Britain!
Please, Occuturds, please all of you damned worthless trash, go to Britain and take that stupid bitch Pelosi with you!
Those who make blanket statements regarding the personal Hygiene of these individuals, or the Laziness of those who are unemployed should be made to walk a mile or two in their shoes.
The fact of the matter is, some of those people were not lazy and in fact worked so hard most of their lives they have worn out Joints, have back problems and other medical troubles related to Working hard Building America.
Get off your High horses for just a minute and use your grey matter for something other than arrogant assinine statements.
Truthfully, you know absolutely nothing about these people because you made up your mind they are beneath your notice, and why is that? Because you are still working? Because you have not been taken advantage of yet by your company? You have not had your Retirement stolen from you to finance yet another toy for someone in Upper management?
These things are very real and have happened and are still happening. They are happening to Your neighbors, Your relatives and your friends. How long will you turn a blind eye? What will it take before You wake up to reality....When it happens to you will you then say..Oh, I just didn't realize.
McDonalds hires all the time! Even in Britan, so I don't need to know these people, I lived with them not on purpose but I did and 95% of them didn"t want to work. Why you ask? so they can file for SSI because they say their big toe doesn't work any more, the Goverment gives them free money, so as they say Why work! Who knows you could be on it because we will never know. As far as we know none of this ever happened to you and your just the same as the people you speak of so highly.
These people who are out of work and living in tents, Well where were they whan they were building the Olympic Park? I bet there was plenty of work then, and I hear it took quite awhile to build it. There was a way out of tents and into homes.
Occupy has some legitimate gripes, but the current focus seems to be wrong. Instead of being "anti-capitalist" they should be pointing out that the current US economic structure itself is anti-capitalist, in the sense that it is overly pro-monopoly." Socialism is not the opposite of capitalism. Monopoly of wealth IS the opposite. Occupy should be talking not so much about fairness, but about what we need to do to strengthen the US economy, which is to oppose the powerful few at the top who are pushing this game of Monopoly too far toward wholesale bankruptcies, just as happens in the board game Monopoly.
OMMH (OccupyMyMommysHouse) crowd are finally making another break with home! There are a lot of happy older parents out there at the momemt!I'm sure the parents drop by the OWS hovels to bring Junior and Janie cookies and clean underwear!
Last week Sean Hannity had one of the top OWP on his show,was trying to take over his show and didn't give a decent answer to the questions--Hannity invited him to his radio show and was going to help him get a job--if it took all day---this guy finally told Hannity that he would not work for less then $80,000-100,000 a year and for less hours--this guy HAD a good job to begin with and all they want is to have the Gold plate handed to them--alot of it is --Unions,socialists and Soros-----I don't feel for these FREE-Loaders at all
The Police in England do not carry Guns but use Billy Clubs and they do not have a 1st Amendment. I hope they do not damage their Billy Clubs.
I love Americans who think that the Bill of Rights applies to everyone, everywhere. It's one of the reasons so many people in the rest of the world have the opinion of America that they do. Actually, the protections for human rights in Britain (and also Australia, Canada, and New Zealand) are some of the best in the world, but they have their own Bills of Rights which do not precisely mirror ours.
I never understood the American OWS "movement" at all, and well, let's face it, neither has OWS. If they did, they'd be able to succinctly tell us what they want, but I digress...
Here in the US, they literally try to use the first amendment to justify camping out and trespassing indefinitely, generating piles of garbage, urinating and defecating in public and creating other health issues, vandalizing property and hindering others from using public parks and getting to work.
I wonder which "protections for human rights" in the UK (and other countries) do OWSers try to bastardize to legitimize this kind of behavior in their respective countries?
Because here in the US, the vast majority of people believe they're nothing more than an expensive waste of time and a nuisance that is costing our tax payers a lot of money to police and clean up after.
Somehow, I think it's a stretch to say that the "right of the people to assemble peacefully to petition for a redress of grievances" means "the right of people to camp out anywhere they want to for as long as they want to", and, as you note, the apparent corollary right to urinate and defecate publicly.
Like you, I never understood what OWS was supposed to be about other than, "Greed is bad" and "We should get the things that we want at no charge to us." I think that we can all agree on the first point, but not on the second.
Sure, the homeless and troublemakers seem to jump right into OWS because it is conveniant, and OWS could definately use more intelligent and goal-focused leadership, but I actually support their concept. It kind of reminds me of back when "the tea party" was more than a group of gabby politicians.
The rich have become indifferent to the lives of anyone outside their personal focus. That doesn't seem very American to me. If OWS finds the right leader, they could actually go down in history as more than "lazy people".
In order to be a protester, you have to be protesting something. OWS people are just homeless people, the mentally ill, drug users, bums, and people looking for a good time. Camping out is not protesting.
And this whole (bowel) "movement" is so 20-minutes-ago. We all stopped caring last year.
Go home. Get a job. Stop blaming your problems on vague "others" like "bankers" and politicians.
Look inwardly and try to figure out why you have no salable job skills.
And camping in a park for a year is not a resume-enhancer.
Could not agree with you more.
Occupy protester becomes capitalist:
Now she’s occupying her own business.
Tracy Postert, a former down-on-her-luck Occupy Wall Street protester, is now a capitalist running her own financial business.
Postert got her big break when Wayne Kaufman, an executive at John Thomas Brokerage, befriended her at Zuccotti Park last October and helped her get a job at his company.
Now she’s in business for herself, looking to sell investors comprehensive reports on biotech companies.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/the_solution_1IpZhQB6KQJgfFNn9ANwZO#ixzz1usrVtUae
If you ever wondered what facism looked like, well this is what facism looks like the repression of dissenting points of view, regardless of your political views non violent protesters deserve a voice.
Since they don't like capitalism, carth them off to Russia after they are evicted. Or maybe they would like American since our country is heading toward socialism anyway.
Why look for a job! With Obama handing out welfare checks and freebees to millions so they will vote for him there is not sense to even look for a job. They would not work if they found one. There are more people on disability now then ever. Many are disabled and many are cheating the system on the backs of the taxpayer. Of course there are about 49 percent who pay no taxes anyway. He plans next to let anyone who crossed the border on a Saturday to become a legal citizen as long as they vote for him. Holder also supports no voter ID because they can cheat and get more votes from illegals, convicted felons and the dead!
Most of us cling to our religion and guns while Obama clings to his teleprompter. Senator Lucas and Maxine Waters the two bigots in Congress cling to their racists views!
Get out, losers!
Don't fret my little OWS'ers..Get an effin' job..We, the working people don't owe you a thing..We don't give trophies for just showing up..Life doesn't grade on a curve or give a kerap that your mommy didn't give you the toys you wanted. But have faith, Obama UNDERSTANDS where you are coming from and he's got your back. Tell you what. give me your back(side) and I'll kick some sense into you. Tell you what, why not occupy some of the tupperware style parties to show people how to sign up for food stamps that are not eligible. Would love to have you involved in a fraud.
to all occupiers!!! If you're against capitalism who the hell do you think is going to give you a job. Here's a great idea. Listen to Obama and demonize capitalists. Then start your own companies and hire nothing except occupiers. Then pay them what they tell you they are worth. Then go bankrupt. Now let the next idiot srtart a company. Repeat the steps above. See how easy this is?