SIR – Although I did sleep out in Centenary Square in a protest vigil over the bombing of Afghanistan in 2001, I must confess that at the age of 80 perhaps I’m now too old to join the campers who have occupied Centenary Square – but they certainly have my support.

The occupiers tend to be labelled as protesters, and of course there’s plenty in our banker-ridden economy to protest about. But the occupation has a much deeper significance.

What we are doing is to provide a user-friendly, bottom-up public forum which contrasts with the top-down oligarchy which controls City Hall, regardless of which party happens to be in charge.

The occupiers hold a “general assembly” every day at 6pm (2pm on weekends) when anyone can speak, ask questions, make proposals, etc. At Sunday’s session I read a poem by Bertholt Brecht. People just passing through the square often stop and ask what’s going on. A homeless guy shared his experience of nearly getting killed when sleeping in a skip.

It would be a good idea if Ian Greenwood were to come and join us to hear the concerns which get filtered out by the Council’s bureaucratic machinery, so never really get heard on the Council floor.

Karl Dallas, Church Green, Bradford