The Staggers

The New Statesman’s rolling politics blog

Occupy London "empty tents" claim exposed as bogus

Why thermal imaging doesn't prove that the tents were empty.

By George Eaton Published 28 October 2011 15:39

Several papers splashed earlier this week on thermal imaging pictures allegedly proving that nine in 10 tents at Occupy London are left empty overnight. The claim prompted thoughtful reflections on the nature of "part-time protest" but it has now fallen apart under the slightest scrutiny.

Some of the protesters hired the same camera from the same company (see video above) in order to put the story to the test. What they found immediately was that the heat signature disappears when someone walks behind a tent. Even when no fewer than five protesters climbed into a tent (which is, after all, designed to retain the maximum heat possible) the camera barely registered their presence.

Their conclusions are supported by a military scientist specialising in camouflaging soldiers against thermal imaging technology, who told the Guardian:

They cannot make the assumption that they have made from those images. The way they are set up, you wouldn't be able to tell if there's anyone in the tent or not, especially if someone is sleeping in an insulated sleeping bag ... I wanted to set the record straight because that's just rubbish science.

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Tags: Occupy London

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20 comments

Sat, 2011-10-29 10:46 — Phil (not verified)

OR perhaps Thomas we should go for the more obvious answer, that that they were sitting in front of the tents?

And the original Telegraph images were taken around 12-12:30 at night, so any protesters who had been in bed would probably have only recently gone in the previous hour or so, even if they took the images at 5am when they had been asleep for ages the most you would see is a slightly greeny/yellowy tent

Sun, 2011-10-30 13:21 — Jim Crew (not verified)

I've been camping in cold weather, and tents never warm up.

Sun, 2011-10-30 13:49 — jaded1

Who cares?

Fri, 2011-10-28 16:03 — Sgt USMC (not verified)

You all are busted as the fakes you are and the imaging proves it! I know after 3 wars!
Thermal Imaging Specialist

Fri, 2011-10-28 16:09 — Robin Morley (not verified)

The video is designed to fool the viewer.

They just don’t stay in the tent long enough to warm it up.

Thermal Imaging does not see through things, as they claim, it sees the temperature of things - The temperature of an empty tent is lower than a closed tent with people sleeping in it.

Fri, 2011-10-28 16:10 — swatantra (not verified)

There is a lot of misinformation being passed around. But a random spot check proved empty tents. The evidence cannot be ignored.
We seem to have gone back to the bad old days of Rent a Crowd/Rent a Protestor.
On 30 Nov there will be a genuine Day of Action with genuine protestors on the streets.

Fri, 2011-10-28 16:36 — mcquade

But Robon Morley, what about the tent that had five people in it already? You have no diea how long they were in the tent. So your pseudo-scientific theory is kaput.

Fri, 2011-10-28 16:40 — mcquade

Richard Alleyne, the journalist who came up with the story, has form for iffy pseudo-scientific stories.

http://richardwilsonauthor.wordpress.com/2009/01/09/yet-more-pseudo-scie...

http://www.badscience.net/2009/07/asking-for-it/

Fri, 2011-11-25 10:22 — Joseph O'Kelly (not verified)

http://youtu.be/2GtgEKHSJUQ is an imageSoundStream of my visit.

Fri, 2011-10-28 18:12 — Parasite (not verified)

The video typified, of course, by the sneering superiority complex that defines these middle class Student Grant ego-strokes, I mean, "protests".

Of course, a tent is designed to retain heat, so just because some tousle-haired middle class ponce in his oh-so-cool "ironic" duffle coat climbs into a tent for two seconds doesn't mean "For a moment there, I disappeared, yah, sneer sneer".

If he actually stayed in the tent for a couple of hours (like, you know, people do when they sleep overnight in a tent) he would be visible as the body heat gets spread around the tent.

Of all the defences against clearing this squat given the squatters aren't there, "we were there really only the thermal imaging's part of the capitalist plot!" must be the worst. Up there with "The Canon of St Paul's - a tedious Trot who bleats Christian socialism at "Levellers Day", activities that will eventually lead to the downfall of Anglicanism - said we could stay!"

Fri, 2011-10-28 18:54 — Chris Gibson (not verified)

Personally I would hope half the tents are empty during the night. It's half the fun of these protests to meet the other half of whatever gender and at the very least discuss macro and micro politics until the small hours with a tin or two.

Mon, 2011-10-31 00:13 — twosevensclash (not verified)

Hilarious to see a load of middle-class soft-lefties berating the protest because there aren't enough working class people involved!Like most of you on here would know what it's like to slog for 60+ hours a week,in a mind-numbing job,& still not be able to keep yourselves warm in winter!
My son & I went up to London from Dorset on Thursday,to spend a couple of nights at the Occupation.Niether of us particularly like Hippies,Anarchists or the 'middle-class',but we wanted to show solidarity with the first Movement in years that actually sees what the problem is(unfettered free market capitalism)& genuinely wants a full destruction of the Thatcher revolution that brought us to this point.We were dismayed to hear that there were NO vacant tents at St Pauls for us,so disconsolately off we trudged to Finsbury Square,having been told that there were 7 tents available there.In the end however,there was only ONE & we were very fortunate in the timing of our arrival to get that!
Yes it's all too easy to slag these people off as hippies & dreamy anarchists(& being a proper working class socialist I'd normally join in with you)but in 3 weeks they have done more to air the grievances of the truly anti-capitalist Left to the public at large,than a thousand tame,nicey nicey TUC marches would have.
Time for you soft-lefties to work out where you really stand because,make no mistake,if you are not with these protests,you are for the bankers,the corporations & the corrupt politicians.This isn't an after dinner game,something to quibble over,playfully,between reading the Indy & watching Q.I.,it's a real attempt to gain freedom,real democracy & justice...Who's side are you on?

Fri, 2011-10-28 19:25 — Eddy S (not verified)

most of the people at the protest are either from middle class families or even wealthier trustafarians. the genuine squeezed middle are busy working of course.

Tue, 2011-11-08 20:32 — Harold Archbishop (not verified)

@ Jim Crewes. If you ever shared a tent with me you would change your opinion very sharpish.
One huge eggy fart from my ample rump can heat a tent like a furnace throughout the night.
Trump power!

Fri, 2011-10-28 20:06 — mike cobley (not verified)

Wow, the Massed Choir of the Tory Trolls is in fine voice today with their unstoppable and invincible uber-sneer: it aint a real protest if the hippy-feebs aren't there 24/7!

Well, I`m so glad y'all cleared that one up. Because obviously if a protest doesnt have the Tory Troll Seal of Approval it's just so, so not valid....

Fri, 2011-10-28 20:46 — Harley (not verified)

So it's a fake because one side of a tent plus the static warm air inside must block heat in the same way as two sides of a tent plus the air inside plus the several feet of outside air between the protestor not detected and the back of the tent. Somehow I think not.

Plus personal surveys showed many tents to be empty.

Someone needs to work harder on their rebuttals, methinks.

Live by media narrative. Die by media narrative.

Must try harder, methinks.