Tuesday's morning eviction of Clifton Mansions, a block of flats in Brixton's Coldharbour Lane, signaled the end to one of the longest lasting community of squatters in the neighbourhood. The residents in the 22 flats that had been occupied since the early 1990's were made homeless in an operation that involved police in riot gear, a police helicopter hovering over the area, the fire brigade and bailiffs.

Over two weeks ago, the residents of Clifton Mansions learnt that the police was planning to block off Brixton's Coldharbour Lane early in the morning of Tuesday 12th, and so they put out a call for support. They also organised a farewell party on the night before the eviction with the aim to gather as much support as possible, but in the event, and after having been announced in facebook, hundreds of people turned up at the building seemingly without any idea of what the event was all about. By the very early hours of the morning, the party started to get out of hand when groups of unsolidarian people began to kick-in doors and generally trashing the place despite the pleas by the occupants.

By 8am the 'party crowd' had all gone, whilst genuine supporters started to gather in the street in front of the building. Some of the residents and supporters remained inside, and eventually they started to build an improvised barricade closing off the main entrance gate to the block. At around 9am the first signs of the police operation became visible when a large number of police and bailiff vans and a fire brigade truck arrived at the scene closing off both ends of Coldharbour Lane. A police helicopter also started to hoover over the area at this point, thus adding to the sense of militarisation in the area.

Large numbers of police and bailiffs then gathered at the north end of Coldharbour Lane getting ready for the opperation, whilst some of the supporters in the street moved in front of the barricaded gates. The forces of darkness then quickly moved in, and in the usual bullying and violent manner, police started to push people away from the building creating a line in front of the gates. Another wave of police in riot gear also moved in at this point, and together with the bailiffs broke into the building dismantling the barricade at the entrance.

Police then cleared the area in front of Clifton Mansions setting up two lines preventing any protestors from approaching the building for the rest of the morning. Meanwhile some of the Clifton Mansions residents and their supporters took positions in some of the flats and in the roof in a last show of defiance.

At around 9.40am yet another wave of riot police and bailiffs entered the building and eventually evicted all those still inside the flats and on the roof. The police lines were kept for another couple of hours as bailiff teams boarded up the main gate and took full control of the building. The morning ended with one arrest and tens of people becoming homeless.

The eviction of Clifton Mansions signals the end of an era for Brixton. Clifton Mansions was not the only squat in the area, and it will not be the last one, but it definitely represented one of the last bastions of resistance to the ongoing gentrification of central Brixton. As the squatters of Clifton Mansions stated: "now Lambeth Council will pay Camelot, a private company, to provide “live-in guardians” to occupy Clifton Mansions, whilst the squatters have been providing a free guardian service for years. Why make people homeless and then pay a multinational company to occupy their homes? Eventually Lambeth wants to sell Clifton Mansions to property developers, further reducing Lambeth's social housing stock in central Brixton. Clifton Mansions will be turned into luxury flats priced well beyond the means of the local community."

Here there are some photos of the morning's events:

The building now remains lifeless and ready to be put on the market. As one of the tumbles in London Indymedia states: "This used to be a home to people, now it's an asset".

See tumblepics of Clifton Mansions 24 hours after the eviction: 1 | 2 | 3