´óÏó´«Ã½

As Occupy London Stock Exchange protesters have set up camp outside St Paul's Cathedral, commentators ask if there is merit in their protest and who they represent.

The the protesters misjudge the causes of the financial crisis:
"This protest is wrong-headed and there is little purpose in being polite about it... The protesters think that they are standing up for the little guy; in fact their mish-mash of proposals makes for a muddled charter of stagnation in which he would suffer most. The fact is that economic liberty enables the little guy to stand up for himself."

In the Independent James Harkin dishes out a scathing attack of the protesters:

"Any protest is better than nothing, but if there's one thing that's shocking about these demonstrations, it's how weak and inarticulate they were. Fine to speak up against greedy bankers, but without any other political arguments - who needs arguments when you have Facebook? - it rather seems like you're damning the millions who lived off their loans in the first place. And why would they want to do that?...
Ìý
"Unless these new anti-capitalists find a way to hitch their demands to the interests of the rest of the population - the 99 per cent they claim to speak for - they're stuck in a self-righteous bubble. And until they do so, their tirades against greed reek of the worst kind of Victorian self-righteous puritanism. It used to be that workers occupied factories, but now these sons and daughters of the bourgeoisie have seen fit to occupy the space outside a church. If there's a spectre haunting capitalism today, it's nothing more than its own self-loathing."

But the , saying that most people would have the same opinion as the Occupy protesters:

"Is it a finely worked out plan B? No, but no one else has much of one either. Labour's five-point plan is at the other end of the spectrum, small, timid and unlikely to stir popular enthusiasm."

The the idea in the Independent that the protesters are not from the general public:

"What is different this time is not so much the quantity as the quality of the protesters. Last time around it was largely long-hairs and scrumpy-fuelled students. It's a more mixed bunch today, including some who have never protested before, and others recently shunted out of respectable jobs. The argument of this diverse crowd is drawing support from equally diverse quarters."

Also suggesting the majority of public opinion is :

"We all kind of know they are right, the protesters I mean, even if we cannot quite bring ourselves or our lives make it impossible to express it on the same, devoted scale. Opinion polls published today show public approval percentages in the high 80's.
Ìý
"Not all agree of course, but recall the tree-dwelling 'swampy' of the 1990's, of how initially he and his kind were derided for their activism, and slowly but surely the green movement grew, entered all of our homes and minds and is now hard wired into government policy, domestic planning and common behaviour."

Swampy is also , but in a less flattering light. Littlejohn argues that he isn't against the protests, just the protesters:

"Friends of mine who run their own companies say they spend half their life trying to keep government off their backs. So it would be understandable if the crowd demonstrating outside St Paul's was entirely comprised of self-employed small businessmen and women.
Ìý
"Predictably, though, it was the usual gormless rent-a-mob you always find on these anti-globalisation demos - Toytown Trots from Mickey Mouse universities, social workers, lecturers, full-time mature students and Swampy wannabes."

Finally, that the global Occupy protests may actually threaten democracy rather than strengthen it:

"Democracy requires institutions, elections, political parties, rules, laws, a judiciary, and many unglamorous, time-consuming activities, none of which are nearly as much fun as camping out in front of St. Paul's cathedral or chanting slogans on the Rue St. Martin in Paris... Protesters in London shout that 'we need to have a process!' Well, they already have a process: It's called the British political system. And if they don't figure out how to use it, they'll simply weaken it further."