© Graeme RobertsonThe Occupy London camp outside St Paul's cathedral
Occupy London protesters who took over a vacant UBS AG office building in the city's financial district won court permission to appeal their eviction after a judge ruled they weren't given proper notice of a trial.
The bank's notice to the protesters, in the form of a document posted on the building and a text message sent to a leader 45 minutes before a 10 p.m. hearing, was insufficient to give the group time to prepare or determine how to participate in the case, Court of Appeal Judge Timothy Lloyd ruled today.
There was "really no effective notice of the hearing at all -- especially in circumstances like this, where a hearing took place late at night," Lloyd said. "There is at least a compelling reason why permission to appeal should be granted."
The court victory against Zurich-based UBS comes as the protesters, who seek global economic-equality and claim the bank behaves unethically, are in a separate trial to avoid being evicted from their primary encampment outside St. Paul's Cathedral. More than 200 tents have clustered around the building since the middle of October, inspired by the Occupy Wall Street protest that has since been broken up by police.
"This ruling is a vindication of the right of everyone in this country to due process," Naomi Colvin, a spokeswoman for Occupy London, said after the ruling. "These people labor under the misconception that they can throw money at a problem; it's emblematic of what the Occupy movement is trying to combat."
UBS's press office in London didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Comment: Apparently the TSA have gone beyond transit security checks and road checkpoints and are now bringing the Gestapo checkpoints to a Wal-Mart in the middle of nowhere in Illinois. We hope that you don't shop at Wal-Mart, but if you do.. don't be surprised if you see the
TSAGestapo there wanting to search you for bombs.