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LONDON'S ROYAL WEDDING


The squatters installed in washed-out tents opposite Westminster Abbey will have the perfect view of the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton -- as long as they have not been evicted by then.
"We've been here for ten years. We had three prime ministers, two lord mayors, they keep saying we should leave," said Stewart, known as "The Beard", as he sat on his folding chair opposite Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.
He is among a disparate group of anti-war protesters and homeless people, including a Moldovan who speaks no English, who live on Parliament Square, a small green surrounded by traffic right in the heart of London.
But their presence is viewed as an embarrassment by the city authorities ahead of the royal wedding on April 29, when William and Kate will ride past the little encampment on their way back from the abbey as husband and wife.
Stewart says he won't leave "until they bring our troops back home, not until they admit the truth behind the lies they told" about Britain's involvement in the 2003 Iraq war and the continuing operations in Afghanistan.
Among the tents set up at the foot of the statue of World War II prime minister Winston Churchill, placards call on ministers to "bring our troops back home" and denounce "two million dead" in Iraq.
In graffiti on a makeshift shelter, Queen Elizabeth II is pictured crying tears in the red, white and blue of the British flag.
The camp was first set up in 2001 by pacifist Brian Haw in protest against the UN sanctions imposed on Iraq. He has made the square his home since then, although he is currently in Germany being treated for cancer.
But faced with the prospect of Haw and his fellow squatters sharing television coverage with the royal couple on their big day, the authorities are doing their best to get rid of them.
"We are determined to ensure Parliament Square can be enjoyed by everyone and is in a fit state for the royal wedding when it will be the focus of national and worldwide celebration," a Home Office spokesman said.
Westminster Council, the local authority, began a legal process in January to remove the squatters because they were blocking traffic.

14:52 | |

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