Occupy Liverpool has been forced to go underground after a succession of evictions by the police and council officers has left the protesters without a permanent base.
Within the past ten days, the squatters have been evicted from their new camp in Liverpool One’s Chavasse Park, and then moved on from their site at Exchange Flags behind Liverpool Town Hall.
In recent weeks, the group has also been forced to leave their occupations at the Tinlings Buildings in Crosshall Street, and the old Rapid Hardware store in Renshaw Street.
A statement on the Occupy Liverpool website reads: “As a temporary measure, Occupy Liverpool are getting their heads down and out of the spotlight (police like us a little too much at the moment), but we will be back soon in numbers superior to all previous days we’ve occupied for in the open.
“We will be back to defend your right and to help end the tyranny of the financial banking system upon the people of the world and more importantly Liverpool. Peace and Solidarity.”
Speaking to JMU Journalism during their short stay at Chavasse park, a spokesman for Occupy Liverpool said they have turned their efforts fully towards their anti-capitalism aims after their spell of occupying buildings had ended.
He said: “There are homeless people getting kicked out of perfectly good buildings because it’s making someone money by being empty, that’s unfair when those people have nowhere to sleep.”
The group also complained at being fenced in by Liverpool One officials, adding: “It’s arbitrary and it’s childish, it’s petty. It’s like they’re trying to get at us by fencing us in, I think it’s ridiculous, they’re clearly out of their minds.
“Being in Liverpool One is great for the public eye; it is the first time we’ve been in public since we moved away from St. George’s Hall where we started so it’s good to talk to the public in person again.”
Occupy Liverpool began on October 15th following a protest outside Barclays Bank in the city centre.
The first camp was established on St George’s Plateau in November and remained there until January before taking over the Tinlings Buildings, in the shadow of the Radio City tower.
The Occupy movement is an international protest which is primarily directed against economic and social inequality. The main Occupy protest in the UK centred around St Paul’s Cathedral in London, though police disbanded the camp at the end of February.