A picnic with intent to sleep over in front of Parliament was today interrupted and shut down by Police.

Police arrested at least a dozen people in the early hours of 1st November. Squatters and supporters were intending to sleep on the streets outside Parliament, ready to lobby MPs in the stipulated hours, from 2 to 10pm today, in a last attempt to try and avoid the criminalisation of squatting. In a last minute amendment to their Legal Aid and Sentence Bill, the government will today be voting on Clause 26, which will make squatting in residential properties illegal. Hundreds of people met at different locations in London last night to express opposition to the Clause, and finally congregated at Parliament Square, where they were "kettled" and arrested en mass, and in a violent way as it has come to be usual for police forces, for trying to sleep on the streets.

After clearing off the area where the picnic goers intended to sleep, police wanted to force the people to march towards Victoria. When the crowd of about 100 by that time, expressed their intention to march towards Trafalgar Square instead, police kettled every one, including legal observers and accredited journalists, and proceeded to violently arrest people and smash people's bikes against the floor, out of the kettle.

People who had managed to stay outside of the kettle were told by police officers that they were risking arrest just by hanging out there and trying to deal with people's bikes to avoid them being stolen. Eventually most people were allowed out of the kettle, but there were many arrests too, and some bikes remained in police custody.

Reports:[1 2 3]