The Chancellor of St Paul's, the Reverend Canon Dr Giles Fraser, said he supported the right to peaceful protest but defended the move to turn visitors away.

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In opposing the commission's recommendations last year, panel member Rev Canon Dr James Woodward argued there was not a sufficient ethical, moral and social consensus behind calls for change.

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The cathedral's former canon, the Reverend Dr Giles Fraser, said he regretted being made a "poster boy" for the anti-capitalist movement.

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