New evidence adds heat to 'empty tents' argument

This week several newspapers ran stories claiming that the vast majority of the tents outside St Paul's were empty at night.

The papers hired heat-sensitive camera equipment to take temperature readings of the tents. Only a tiny fraction of them glowed with heat. Protesters have since hit back by hiring the same equipment to record what happens when someone goes into a tent. In a video posted online people who glow white and yellow in the camera's sensor disappear when they go inside a tent. The maker of the camera issued a statement yesterday saying that the protesters had not allowed enough time for the outside surface of the tent to warm.

However, one protester told The Independent: "They've been caught out. We're not saying it was deliberate, just incompetent and they should admit it."