Occupy London camp at Mile End Park

A possession order has been granted by a judge to close down an Occupy London protest camp set up in a public park in east London.

Tower Hamlets Council gained the order at Bow County Court today for the land occupied in Mile End Park since the beginning of April.

“They’ve agreed to go by the weekend,” a Town Hall spokesman told the Advertiser.

“But if they haven’t gone by Monday, we’ll apply for a High Court Sheriff to have the occupiers moved from the park.”

The camp was set up after anti-capitalist protesters evicted from Communities Agency property near the entrance to the Limehouse Link traffic tunnel in March, after their earlier eviction from the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral before Christmas.

The latest action came after complaints to police by Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park nearby, who run London’s biggest urban nature reserve at Mile End, that trees had been damaged for firewood.

The camp protesters originally asked for firewood from the Friends organisation and were allowed to take only discarded timber that could not be recycled. But cemetery managers soon discovered several sycamore trees had been damaged.

The authority came in for criticism from Opposition councillors for taking six weeks to apply for an order to reclaim Mile End Park.

But Tower Hamlets Mayor Lutfur Rahman said today: “We will now move quickly to reclaim the land with the support of the courts.

“I support the principles of the Occupy movement, but feel they have done their movement a disservice by occupying a park where kids play football and senior citizens walk their dogs.”

The notice to quit was served this-afternoon by council officials on the protest campaigners who have now promised to move on.