Protesters have turned heritage site into a stinking eyesore

ONE OF the many ironies of the illegal "Democracy Village" in Parliament Square is that it is in the shadow of the man, who more than anyone else, fought to protect the freedoms the campers are abusing.

Sir Winston Churchill would have had a pithy opinion of the self-proclaimed anarchists, anti-war protesters and environmentalists who moved into the square on May 1 and say they won't leave until "world peace is achieved".

Does any of this matter? Parliament Square is the site of the Houses of Parliament and the Supreme Court. It is only right that people who wish to protest should be able to do so where our lawmakers gather. That's why we permit authorised protests throughout the year. We regulate protests in the square because it is also a high profile potential terrorist target. But the protesters aren't interested in authorised demonstrations or abiding by the by-laws that govern the use of the square as to do so would be to acknowledge a government and legal system that they despise.

The costs to Londoners are also mounting. In addition to the legal bills, there have been costs for graffiti and waste removal and that's before we embark on the repairs that will be needed once they are gone. Without being indelicate there are also sanitation problems. In recent weeks there has been a build up of faeces in the bushes on the Supreme Court side of the square.

The illegal encampment hasn't brought world peace, an end to capitalism or anything else the protesters claim to care about. All they have succeeded in doing is turning London's premier World Heritage Site into a stinking eyesore. If the democracy villagers really believe in democracy, they will accept the democratic rule of law and leave. If they don't, they will be forcibly removed.