Digital Journal Reports
Occupy Edinburgh - peaceful protest in St Andrew's Square Special
By Gemma Fox.
Edinburgh - The Occupy movement has spread steadily around the world and now the Scottish capital becomes part of that as Occupy Edinburgh takes over St Andrew's Square.The Occupy Movement started on September 17 this year in America where a peaceful protest was organised to take place in Wall Street in New York. The idea was that protest would be against the greed and corruption of the wealthiest 1% of the American population.The idea was that people would gather and make a difference but the first day, when the turnout was thousands less than expected, the idea was deemed a failure but people still persisted. The occupation went relatively unnoticed and mainstream news channels failed to report on it.
However, as the days and weeks went by the numbers occupying Wall Street Grew, people started to take more notice and the movement spread across the USA and Canada and then throughout the world.
Occupy Edinburgh first arrived just over a week ago in the Scottish Capital. Tents sprung up in St Andrew's Square and since then protesters have peacefully and patiently spent hours speaking with members of the public whose interest they have drawn, explaining the reasoning behind the Occupy Movement and the part Occupy Edinburgh plays in that.
St Andrew's Square is a busy thoroughfare in Edinburgh, with people cutting through who have come from the St James shopping mall or from the Leith area of the city through to the shopping areas of Princes Street and George Street. The Square is the location of the city's bus station.
Members of the public have no problems with using St Andrew's Square as they did before the occupation. The protesters don't hinder their passage through the Square and certainly, on Saturday, it seemed that the passing public were more than happy to stop and listen to what the occupiers had to say.
Over all the atmosphere was carnival with people enjoying themselves and listening to music while having picnics.
