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Resist Eviction of Kings Crescent Estate 12pm Thursday (London N4)

Keith Hallack | 01.12.2009 21:34 | Free Spaces

Resist the eviction of a community squatting initiative 12PM on THURSDAY 3rd of DECEMBER. They are calling for as many people as possible to assemble at our place from Wednesday night onwards. Numbers mean victory!

Community Squatting Project Under Threat

Whats Happening?:

The community squatting project has come under yet another attack from
Hackney Council and the Police, this time in the form of an Anti-Social
Behaviour Closure Order. These orders, usually used to evict crack houses
from communities, give the police powers to evict property by force and to
make it a criminal offence to return to the building.
As some of you may be aware, squatting in this country is not a criminal
offence. If the owners of the property (in this case, Hackney Council)
want to evict squatters it is seen as a dispute between two private
parties and they must get a court order through the civil courts.
The community squatting project on green lanes was opened spectacularly a
month or so ago, when a large group of people descended upon a partially
empty block of flats and collectively occupied, defended, fixed up and
finally allocated housing to those in the group who needed it. Many of the
people there were first-time squatters, including a migrant family (with a
newborn baby) who had been denied social housing.
Hackney council are keen to stamp out this kind of organised squatting.
The legal route is not open to us here - the courts have said they cannot
hear an appeal against the closure order until after Thursday (when the
eviction is due to take place). The only way for us to defend this project
and our ability to take similar action in the future, is through good old
fashioned force of numbers. See you there.

They are to be evicted 12PM on THURSDAY 3rd of DECEMBER and are calling for
as many people as possible to assemble at our place from Wednesday night
onwards.

ADDRESS: Lemsford Court, Brownswood Road, N4 2XN

MAP:
 http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Lemsford+Court,+Brownswood+Road,+N4+2XN&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=12.739664,28.256836&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Lemsford+Court,+Brownswood+Rd,+London+N4+2XN,+United+Kingdom&ll=51.562332,-0.092118&spn=0.006536,0.013797&z=16

DIRECTIONS
The Community Squatting Project is just opposite the gates of Clissold
Park on Green Lanes (Stoke Newington/Finsbury Park area). It is a large
block of flats with a grey steel door to the left. Enter through this
door.

Keith Hallack

Comments

Hide the following 2 comments

big sols to you all, but...

03.12.2009 12:55

...why was this large community squatting initiative kept so quiet? i understand the need to be careful, but i'm very tuned in to these things and haven't heard a peep about it until now.

not being accusing, just asking like.

tony


The project...

03.12.2009 23:48

...is not like Kew Bridge Eco Village for example where there was a call-out for people to come and squat - this is an estate where there are a certain number of empty flats and it was a plan to get housing for homeless people in the area.

It was "advertised" and talked about within that area and around 60 people took part in the action to open the places. So it wasn't exactly kept quiet, it just wasn't a plan that needed to be particularly public. After the action, there wasn't any need to talk about it publicly - it was then just people's homes.

Now it is going public because what the council and the police are doing here is a direct attack on our rights. Squatting is supposed to be legal, but they continue to try and find new ways of making it hard for us to do it.

The squatters in this case weren't even invited to the hearing before the anti-social behaviour closure order was served upon them, giving them 2 days before they were to be evicted.

The cops did nothing today and there was a good show of support, but we need to stay alert for further updates about what is going on and continue to show the kings crescent squatters our support and solidarity.

Squatter