The pictures were all taken at the Borough social centre squat which was raided / evicted this morning at the same time as another squat was also being evicted in Tooley street (where 3 arrests were made, those arrested charged with something like 'conspiracy to commit violent disorder').

The building had been used as an art space to prepare puppets, props and banners in advance of the forthcoming protest against the DSEI arms fair on Tuesday 11th September (see www.disarm-trade.org).

Police and bailifs entered the building at around 8am. Those inside said they were not violent and they ordered them to leave with their possessions while filming them. However witnesses described how they could later see police through a gap in a fence trashing props that were in the courtyard of the building. The pictures show clearly the damage that was done, most seriously to two papier-mache submarines, but other props including a large pink and silver snake and arms dealer puppet were also damaged. The props had obviously had a lot of time and effort put into them. Ironically several people said that some of the props were to be used later today for a publicity stunt / photo call, but the police actions had put paid to that idea.

The bailifs soon destroyed internal concrete staircases and other parts of the building making recovery of other possessions difficult at the least. Arriving later another TSG unit from Bow (the original police team had been from the borough area), after negotiation, allowed individuals inside under escort for safety reasons to try and recover possessions.

People made a formal complaint to the inspector from 3 TSG about the destruction of property (the props) and the police allowed 3 people inside the courtyard to survey the damage and take pictures. After police had brought in photographers to record the damage (for use later in the complaint procedure) they then allowed people to salvage what they could from the damaged props and recover those not damaged as well as art materials and amazingly a piano -all of which was brought out and stacked on the pavement. The inspector then explained the complaints procedure and what would happen next, saying that people would hear something in one or two weeks, that the police officers involved would be interviewed and then all information would be passed to the Police Complaints Commission for consideration.

I've have just found out that their are 4 arrests

3 of the 4 have been released

By 7 pm, 3 of the arrested (and the dog!) have been released. A picket is outside the police station, awaiting the release of the 4th person.