Occupy London Latest: Police Clear Protest Camp at St Paul's Cathedral (Ball/Quinn)

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St Paul's Cathedral has been accused of "betraying" Occupy London activists after giving the City of London police permission to remove protesters from its steps and end the four-and-a-half month camp.

The cathedral's decision, coupled with a previous high court decision obtained by the City of London, meant police successfully removed the entire Occupy London Stock Exchange camp from the square outside St Paul's.

Police said 20 people had been arrested by 4.30am in the "largely peaceful" operation.

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Occupy London Feature: The Crisis Grows for the Church of England

Worryingly for the clergy, the last fortnight has raised questions not only about its authority to lead discussions on social justice in this particular instance, but for the foreseeable future as well. Put it this way: who doubts that, when the question of the relevance of the representation of the Church in the House of Lords is finally resolved, that the past two weeks will not provide most of the context for the decision?

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From Occupy Wall Street to Occupy London: The Disastrous Week for St Paul's and the Church of England

On Friday, St. Paul's Cathedral re-opened after a week's closure, blamed on health and safety issues related to the OccupyLSX (Occupy London Stock Exchange) tent village outside the iconic London tourist spot. While it was a significant seven days for Occupy London, with a second camp established at Finsbury Square and the printing of their own newspaper The Occupied Times,  but the week was dominated by the public relations battle that has erupted around the proper role of the Church of England in social justice movements.

Let's not sugarcoat the outcome. This has been a disastrous week for not only the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's Cathedral but for the Church of England as a whole, as an institution that claims to have any relevance in the modern world. There are two main charges against the Church, but both revolve around that eternal question "What Would Jesus Do?"

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Occupy London Special: Live Video Stream of This Weekend's Protests

Watch live streaming video from occupylsx at livestream.com

See also Occupy Wall Street (and Beyond) Feature: Linking Up with the Unions (Wallsten)

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UPDATE 1956 GMT: Occupy London has released a letter to the people who run St. Paul's Cathedral, addressing the concerns that the church has been closed and attempting to get clarification on "health and safety concerns" that the church may have about the protest encampment. Read the entire letter here.

UPDATE 1948 GMT: Our EA Correspondent gives his analysis of how established the Findscury protest is:

"FS is looking established. Nearly 50 tents, 2 marquees, and a gazebo. And St. Pauls is now following a daily routine schedule."

He also describes the strange kind of democracy that the two camps have established:

Separate assemblies, at the usual times, meet in both camps.

But there is constant feedback between the two groups. When one Assembly votes on an issue, the other then votes on it as well... until a consensus is reached by the two groups.

Sounds complicated and time consuming, but who would have thought they could get the participatory General Assembly idea working without significant dissension as they have.

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