Although Occupy Sheffield regret that the Cathedral has decided to take this very expensive legal route, the group is pleased that the Judge did not grant the possession order the Cathedral were seeking today. Instead it was decided that a full 2 day hearing should take place to give consideration to the wider implications of the protest. A proper proportionality review has been scheduled for the 21st February, giving both sides time to marshal their arguments.

Prior to today’s hearing, Occupy Sheffield offered to move the camp no later than 7 days before the Cathedral required the land for building works.  This offer was declined by the Cathedral.
 
Occupy Sheffield did not choose its location in order to enter into conflict with the staff and management of the Cathedral.  The Occupy movement worldwide is a people’s movement for social and economic justice and a prolonged dispute of this nature is an unwelcome distraction from our primary purpose.
 
The invitation to the Dean and Chapter to join the Occupiers in the marquee in order that there can be substantive face to face discussions about the future of the camp remains open.
 
Occupy Sheffield

Follow us: on Facebook and @OccupySheffield on Twitter

As with the case of the City of London Corporation v Occupy London, this case is being heard by a High Court Judge, namely Mr Justice Foskett. Unlike in Occupy London case, Sheffield Cathedral are seeking costs which already amount to over £8000 and have chosen to name 14 individuals (& “Persons Unknown”) in the court documents. Through fundraising efforts Occupy Sheffield has managed to raise enough funds to be represented by Barrister Michael Paget who also represented Occupy London in the St Pauls case.
This week the camp offered to leave the Cathedral forecourt seven days before the land was required for planned building works. This was the latest offer from Occupy which the Cathedral found unacceptable.

Occupy Sheffield feels strongly that all legal costs could have been avoided if a substantive discussion had been entered into at an earlier stage (and not 24 hours before a court case, a belated offer which we could only decline as the subject of our proposed eviction was not to be discussed!).

Occupy Sheffield believe that for the Cathedral to name individuals is unwarranted, and they should be removed. But this should not be a distraction from the fact that by naming ‘Persons Unknown’ the Cathedral are indicting working people, disabled people, Christians, homelesss people, unemployed people, young people and pensioners. ‘Persons Unknown’ are the 99 per cent.

If you are poor, take heed. If you are unemployed, take heed. If you are disabled and losing funding, or young without a job, or sick but made to work, take heed. If you are a worker who sees your wages stay the same, your conditions of employment ever weakened while the Chief Executive of your company walks away with more and more, take heed. Objecting to this situation may cost you dearly. Occupy Sheffield will soon find out if there is a price on the head of protest and protestors, and implore the court to determine that access to basic democratic freedoms is not contingent on access to funds.

We know already that the influence of finance on democracy is corrosive at the highest level. We await to see if access to funds will be determined a necessary entry point to democracy at the grass roots, and hope that the Judge will see that it is in the service of democracy to allow sustained and peaceful protest to take it’s course. We passionately believe that access to democracy is a basic right not contingent on wealth, and it is now clear that at the heart of our peaceful fight for economic and social justice is the struggle for democracy.

Occupy Sheffield

We are pleased to have been able to engage the proprietor constructively in a progressive and forward looking manner and that the time and energy of costly legal wrangles has been averted and our energies can be more effectively focused.

It is worth noting that the council have an active ‘temporary use’ strategy in this part of the city, and we certainly hope that the use of the Citadel by Occupy Sheffield would be supported by Sheffield City Council.

Occupy Sheffield is also engaged with Sheffield Cathedral in another legal action due in Court on 26th January. We would like to be able to engage with the Cathedral in a similarly progressive and open manner, and save all parties the considerable time and energy of a prolonged dispute. Therefore our invitation to the Dean Peter Bradley to visit the camp remains: We would love him to engage with us directly, and experience some of the love, enthusiasm and generosity of spirit which has marked the Occupy camp. In recent radio interviews, Mr Bradley has raised his concerns over attending the camp, and has cited his fear that he would be subject to ‘the anger of 30 people’. We would like to reassure Mr Bradley that this will not be the case. We certainly do not see him as a Daniel and ask him not to see us as Lions!

Occupy Sheffield

Whilst we are raising queries with our legal advisors, Occupy Sheffield strongly believe that the solution to this situation is not legal action. Such an option would not be in keeping with the shared values of the Church and the Occupation. We continue to extend our invitation to Peter Bradley and the Cathedral Chapter to work with the Occupation to find a well reasoned and mutually acceptable resolution. The words of Canon Giles Fraser (who resigned over similar proceedings being brought by the City of London Corporation against Occupy LSX) are relevant here: “One has to be very, very careful that we distinguish between the needs of a building and the Church as an organisation that spreads the gospel…Now there are times when the two things are in tension…you have to ask yourself about extraordinary compromises and balances”. Examples of such compromise and balance have already been evidenced. We would urge Peter Bradley and the Chapter to adopt the stance of other Anglican leaders such as Desmond Tutu, Emeritus, Archbishop of Cape Town, Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, The Bishop of Wales, and The Dean and Chapter of Exeter Cathedral.

Peter Bradley and the Chapter of Sheffield Cathedral should be in no doubt that by taking legal action to forcibly evict the Occupation could result in them being the first British church in recent times to condone violence by enforcement bodies against members of their own church. They would also be condoning the use of force against vulnerable pensioners, disabled and homeless people, such as users of the Cathedral Archer project. All of these vulnerable groups are regularly represented at the Occupy Camp.

Occupy Sheffield believe that compromise can only be reached by keeping open our lines of reasoned communication. All parties must dig deep and consider that if Peter Bradley, The Chapter and Occupy Sheffield embark on a long and costly legal battle it will ultimately reveal a collective lack of wisdom that this was allowed to happen at all. Occupy Sheffield are disappointed that Peter Bradley has never visited the camp to talk to us. We do not enjoy the vested ecumenical power of Peter Bradley or the Chapter; we believe they are vulnerable to abuse such power and make uninformed decisions about people who do not enjoy this advantage, and with whom they have had very little engagement.

Occupy Sheffield has taken a stand on Church St because we believe our world has become dominated by a competitive, “dog eat dog” mentality. We will become perilously close to our darkest of days if this attitude is not tempered by the duty to see each other as valuable human beings and act with the respect that we all deserve.

Our appeal is for all parties to see the humanity in each other, to seek compromise over conflict, and peace over violence.