Remaining ‘Occupy Edinburgh’ protesters leave St Andrew’s Square

THE final few protesters occupying St Andrew Square in Edinburgh left the site yesterday afternoon, narrowly avoiding a sheriff’s eviction order.

Representing Occupy Edinburgh at a hearing, electrician Willie Black told Sheriff Katherine Mackie that the decision to evacuate the site had been made “to show our respect for the city, our city”.

“We will continue the protest,” he said. “It is a worldwide movement against corruption and corporate greed. The protest will go on, but not in the form of the protest outside the Royal Bank of Scotland”.

Sheriff Mackie adjourned the case until today, with the expectation that the site would be completely cleared and warned an eviction order would be issued if that was not the case.

Occupy Edinburgh celebrated Burns Night with some songs as the final tents were packed away.

A spokesman for the group said: “The next move is to concentrate our energies on strategy, connecting with other groups and getting more creative with our outreach. The problem for the 1 per cent is that there are lots of us with the same idea who all now know each other, and we all know you can’t evict an idea.”

Protesters occupied the square for more than three months.