Forums The Vibe Chat UK : LDN (S) : St Agnes Place evicted :(

Viewing 10 posts - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #1036999
    General Lighting
    Moderator

      200 TSG cops
      20 police vans
      1 petrol bomb
      1 live bull terrier dropped out of window (caught by owners friend below, reckon they did this to stop cops confiscating it and taking it to Battersea)

      but this op won’t pay the 4m unpaid rent (come off it, I bet there have been many different people like in any other street so you can’t sting people for 30 years rent!) they are having to use council funds to rehouse people anyway

      an amazing example of British stubbornness at its worst. I bet the people there probably have tried to negotiate with the Council but the Council “refuses to talk to activists” or those who “don’t go through proper channels”. IME the worst places for evicting squatters are social landlords as they are annoyed people have taken more initative when they (the landlords) have sat on their arses and delayed making their housing stock habitable!

      I am also extremely concerned that although the Council may have rehouseed familes and mothers, that young men have simply been evicted and left to fend for themselves (any ex-residents (Lorraine?) please provide details if you have any!) this will not do any good for crime figures in the borough I bet..

      Quote:
      Riot police clear ‘oldest squat’
      More than 150 people have been evicted from what is thought to be London’s oldest squat, following a major police and council operation.

      About 200 riot police moved in on St Agnes Place, Kennington, on Tuesday where some squatters have been fighting attempts to remove them for 30 years.
      Police carried out a final “sweep” of the road in south London, which is to be redeveloped, on Wednesday.
      The squatters are being housed in temporary accommodation.
      On Tuesday 200 officers and 20 police vans provided back-up for enforcement officers from Lambeth Council, which won a High Court battle to evict the squatters.

      But some refused to move and barricaded themselves into the properties.
      One man threw a petrol bomb, before dropping his dog from a second-floor window – the dog was caught by a friend.
      Chief Inspector Clive Wakely told BBC London he had left through the back of the building, but had been arrested – and his neighbours had then given themselves up.
      “We are now in a situation where all the individuals have left the premises and this morning we will do a sweep to make sure there are not other individuals left in the road,” he added.

      The council has pledged to provide alternative accommodation to the vulnerable and those with children.
      It is estimated unpaid rent on the properties over 30 years amounted to £4m, plus a further £400,000 in council tax.
      Mary Lynch, of Lambeth Council, told BBC News: “We can’t justify letting people live in these houses rent free, council tax free, paying nothing towards the community when we have 12,000 people on our waiting list for houses.”
      It plans to demolish the properties and replace them with new homes – at least 75% affordable housing – and a sports centre.

      Story from BBC NEWS:
      http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/england/london/4483950.stm

      Published: 2005/11/30 10:06:19 GMT

      © BBC MMV

      #1068040
      ParrotBoy
      Participant

        I actually feel physically sick. In fact, I’m so riled, I can’t think of anything constructive to say….

        #1068034
        General Lighting
        Moderator

          more info on indymedia London feed

          http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/london/

          last remaining squatter taken away by London Ambulance Service… friends/supporters allege he was beaten on the head with truncheons
          I remember as a boy of 8 watching news reports, old 16mm film of stuff like this happening in South London, nearly 25 years later its still the same..

          #1068035
          General Lighting
          Moderator

            just been on the squat website and seen the usual expected comments from local residents supporting the eviction because the squatters lived “rent-free” and claiming the area attracted drug use and crime..

            yet… the local councillor who pushed for the eviction is himself in potential trouble over a failed housing project which cost 2.8m of taxpayers money (over half the unpaid rent) yet delivered nothing..

            at least these squatters, even if they broke the rules still delivered housing for 30 years, and various community facilities.

            If anyone wants to play numbers games it would be easy to work out that if you costed the volunteer time and effort put into redevelopment of this area and the delivery of the services such as those workshops it would have easily offset some of the unpaid rent, and the residents had legally paid for utilities bills.

            I know the South London area fairly well, and have spent a fair bit of time there during my life; and as many may have seen I regularly read the local press websites and take an interest in crime reports which affect the younger community in that area, particularly those who live alternative lifestyles.

            I put as much research into monitoring these things as a professional journo working for LWT, Thames or any other media source would.

            Had I noticed a large amount of trouble in/around St Agnes Place I would have mentioned it here at least once, and wanted it to be discussed, not hidden under the carpet.

            In fact what I have seen over at least 3 years of checking the reports is quite the opposite – crime – often violent and involving the deadly use of firearms and other weapons happens in every other corner of South London – yet St Agnes place was rarely mentioned (I think there was one crackhouse busted on the outskirts of the area but nowhere near the main squat bit!). By South London standards, this is an exceedingly safe and crime-free neighbourhood!

            whatever they did in this street – and sadly I will never get the chance now to see for myself; it worked.

            crime may have happened and there may have been a minority dysfunctional elements creeping into the community due to lack of control; but this community It kept people in homes, happy and crime to a minimum.

            now Britain’s so-called “conventional society”, by its own stubborness and refusal to accept those who rebel; has destroyed this community; and created a potentially problematic groundswell of hate and anger as the shock to who have been displaced subsides. The outlook is not particularly bright for this part of London.

            #1068039
            Anonymous

              doea anyone know what laws they were evicted under? i know the council and pigs have had a chip on their sholder about the place since they last tryed to evict people in the 80s and knocked down peoples homes before they moved out, but i didnt realise they had a legal basis for it…

              #1068036
              General Lighting
              Moderator

                IMO the only law was the law of truncheons, big boots and big numbers (such as totting up rent arrears; according to sources I have seen at least some of the evictions were legally questionable as the full posession hearings were yet to run – but without sight of the legal papers there’s no way I can confirm this (of course, any ex-residents are welcome to use our gallery to store a scan of these if the have them!)

                but if you want to really get an idea on what appears to have led to this there you need to dredge a brimming cesspool of stubborness, spin, hate and bile; and consider wider events in the area.

                looking at a fairly sympathetic wikipedia site
                http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Agnes_Place

                this mentions there was a posession order granted to the Council back in 1993…. which in legal terms meant the place could have been evicted way back then.

                However it appears the Council did not have the resources available then to carry out the eviction – Further, the CJA (which enables the Police to assist bailifs at civil evictions) was not in force until 1994.

                I would expect the Council would have debated evicting this place many a time; but found it to be a politically sensitive and expensive proposal ; particularly due to the racial issues (part of the squat being a Rastafarian centre)

                So eviction merely became a hot potato to be passed from councillor to councillor and eventually quietly dropped at the back of the meeting room for a random animal to investigate.

                Also from 1995 until 2001, there seemed to be a slightly greater popular support in society for alternative lifestyles, particularly in the late 90s as the net boom created jobs in the London area for designers/artists etc.
                many of these had transient working patterns and would live in squats to save money. but when the boom turned to bust (and NYC went boom on 9/11), it appears a larger backlash started; racial tension in creased, people became more envious of one another and a bunch of squatters “getting something for nothing” would easily have become a target. Also some “squatters” (but not the St Agnes place lot it seems) were becoming increasingly addicted to class A substances and committing crimes in their locality (often burglaries) to fund their addictions; as well as often intimidating other less aggressive people and taking over their spaces; the crackhouse phenomenon which got worse from around 2001 onwards.

                I noticed a lot more negative campaigning against squatters in the early 21st century onwards – the bulk of it actually coming not from traditional conservative sources (which always would have hated this onslaught against the sanctity of private property rights) but from the “liberal” quarter of social housing organisations!

                Many of them though merely seemed angry that their bumbling bureaucracies were being shown up by people taking matters into their own hands and housing themselves, but were also picking at weaknesses in the squat scene (such as crack/smack use) to justify the need for conventional solutions to the housing problem.

                Around this time a random creature did turn up at Lambeth Town Hall to nibble at the now rather rotten potato of evicting the St Agnes Place squat – a councillor called Fitchett (Lib Dem). Facing allegations of a scandal over a failed social housing project where 2.8m of taxpayers money was lost for no gain; it appears that he has been the most vociferous opponent of St Agnes Place – perhaps to “prove himself” more than anything else.

                He called the squatters “parasites” on many occasions, the squatters countered by publicising the failings in his own housing projects.

                Unfortunately, he has the power of the Establishment and the “proper channels” behind him, as well as the oxygen of publicity to fuel the fires of hate against the squatters. Worse still from what I noticed on various messageboards even normal working class Londoners seemed to mistrust (if not hate) the squatters; their flamboyant partying/bohemian lifestyle must have irked many a grumpy old Cockney as much as the sharp-suited businessman..

                At the same time Scotland Yard has had its numbers, communications and logistics facilities beefed up to “protect” a divided “Londonistan” believed to be under attack from both foreign terrorists and its own people (or at least those who do not accept the workings of the capitalist society)….

                they had always been living on borrowed time since 1993 as the strict letter of the law said that the Council had ownership of the land… so this November it seems the Establishment simply mounted a show of strength; 200+ cops forcibly removed this community and destroyed it, busting heads were necessary.

                but TBH there was no law here – only enforcement.

                #1068038
                Irie
                Participant
                  ParrotBoy wrote:
                  I actually feel physically sick. In fact, I’m so riled, I can’t think of anything constructive to say….

                  Same as ParrotBoy and i didn’t personally know any of those who suffered. Judgemental people who get kicks outta looking down and standing on people just cause they are the majority or have the authority suck, shame on them i hope karma kicks them up the ass so hard. To all those that had to deal with this nightmare, big hug from me, wishing you all loads of positive things in the future.

                  #1068041
                  liaphin
                  Participant

                    i followed this happening and it made me really sad.

                    as well angry but then again i
                    it secures me in what we are actually on to organise.
                    i am not sure if all of you have read about the european manifestation which we do especially for happenings like this.

                    we are actually searching all the informations about evictions, repressions in any form agains subcultural lifeforms and events – from the past and more the present.

                    if anyone has further informations and willing to help us, would be great to contact me via pm or mail to : liaphin@teknologique.org

                    …..its getting cold in europe for al of us !!!

                    #1068037
                    General Lighting
                    Moderator

                      it is rare enough these days for a squat in England to even become a “social area” (me and my friends have tried it on a few occasions).

                      The belief in private property rights is so strong here that owners will evict squatters within 2 weeks to a month even if they do not need the property or have permission to redevelop it. They then spend more of their own cash on security and boarding it up, often with expensive metal gates and security lights left on all day and night (it would have been cheaper to let the squatters stay!)

                      The building owners do not recognise “negotiation” like in Europe, or let you stay a bit longer if you are running arts-centres etc…

                      They simply say “it is not your building, you should not be there” and press ahead with eviction, even when it costs them more to do so! Also they call the cops to help with the eviction and to monitor the squatters. Usually you meet the detectives from burglary squad as in England squatters are seen as the same as burglars.

                      So most people do not have time to use a squat for anything other than basic living; or worse the “dealers” move in and make it a crack house anas they can at least sell enough drugs and sell prostitutes as well to make squatting worthwhile (for them) in cash terms.

                      that way squats in UK always are viewed as negative and are closed down even earlier. There are now laws where they can seal a building within a few days even if someone is legitimately renting it!

                      #1068042
                      rave partier
                      Participant

                        If you have some time check out this COOL website:
                        http://www.hotornot.com/r/?eid=AYSEARG&key=BYV
                        Rest-assured this is great entertainment!!!
                        Also, check out the following website I came across:
                        http://www.asian-man.com/asianmannew/main.htm
                        It will knock your socks off!
                        AYSEAUHSYXBM.jpg

                      Viewing 10 posts - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)
                      • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.

                      Forums The Vibe Chat UK : LDN (S) : St Agnes Place evicted :(