Evicted from St Andrew's Square

So, tonight's blip was going to be another star trail photo. I decided that the monument in St Andrew's Square would make a nice subject since there is lots of sky around it, and I have taken photos of it before.
Unfortunately, there were a number of tents around the base of the column - I assumed that the sort of people who camp in a public park and draw attention to themselves with large banners and light up orange cones wouldn't mind if they happened to be in my photo. I was wrong.
7 minutes into my planned hour long exposure, one of them told me I needed to ask their permission before taking photos. I don't think he is correct, but since it was a dark park, I was on my own and there were a lot of them there, I didn't want to argue too much. Despite explaining the subject of the photo was the column and showing him the cool effect I was trying to get, he insisted I stop.

Hopefully I'll be allowed to take a photo in a different public space tomorrow.