Occupy London Is Occupying the City

Squatting—the occupation of land and buildings by people who have no legal title to them—has a long history in Britain. Participants in the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 squatted on uncultivated acreage. In 1946 thousands of homeless British occupied abandoned homes in London as well as empty military bases. A squatters’ advisory service publishes a guide to the practice of finding and living in unoccupied property. In London, Bristol, and Brighton, three of Britain’s big squatting centers, it’s never too hard to find a place. The government estimates 20,000 squatters live in Britain.

Now the British followers of the Occupy Wall Street movement are fusing old-fashioned squatting with the sophistication of 21st century protest. For more than two months before their peaceful eviction on Jan. 25, members of Occupy London lived and worked in a vacant building across from UBS’s London headquarters in the City. The squatters suspended banners from the windows proclaiming such slogans as “UBS You Owe Us” and “You Can’t Evict An Idea.”