© Demotix
Members of Occupy movement celebrate the "reopening" of the UBS building as a discussion venue.
Members of Occupy movement celebrate the "reopening" of the UBS building as a discussion venue.
The Occupy movement continued to acquire momentum on Saturday as protesters from camps across the country converged in London to begin shaping a national campaign.
The supporters - from more than 10 Occupy sites, including Plymouth, the Isle of Wight and Edinburgh - gathered as the campaign opened an empty office building owned by the Swiss bank UBS as a venue for discussions, after taking control of it on Friday. Christened the "Bank of Ideas", the vast complex on the periphery of the City is the third London site to be occupied, following encampments at St Paul's Cathedral and Finsbury Square. Organisers said that more sites would follow as the movement grew.
The fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, 70, became the latest high-profile supporter to address protesters on Saturday, on the steps of St Paul's. She said that the global financial crisis was intrinsically linked to the world's ecological travails, and called for people to embrace culture as a means to help wean them "off the drug of consumerism".
