Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

first protest on london shard viewing platform

rikki | 27.01.2013 19:50 | London

in what was probably the first protest to be held 72 floors above london on the newly opened viewing floor of the shard, local housing activists and occupy protestors were questioned by security after holding up small placards and donning an anonymous mask.

the shard
the shard

heygate banner
heygate banner

affordable rent
affordable rent

occupy the shard
occupy the shard


photos free for credited non-commercial radical use - all other usage copyright retained - contact the author
----

the shard is a monstrous shrine to capitalism in an area where there is a massive and ever-increasing shortage of affordable and social housing. as well as breaking the record as europe's highest homes, it will (according to reuters) create a record for the largest neighbourhood property price inequality in the world.

nearby, at the elephant and castle, the heygate council estate is about to be demolished and in its place will be a modern complex of flats. replacing the currently around 1100 council homes on the heygate estate, only 71 of the new build are earmarked as social housing, and even these will be achieving rents of £800 per month for a single bedroom.

the so-called "affordable housing" will be even more expensive, and the largest proportion of the project will be luxury dwellings on upper floors with private access lifts and decent views.

in a PR move for the shard, where flats are set to start from about £30 million rising to £50m for the penthouse, the management decided to offer free tickets to local residents ahead of opening their viewing platform to the public next week at £25 per head.

local activists decided to undermine the shard PR with today's little protest.

within half a minute of pulling out two small A4 hand-drawn 'banners' and lining up a shot with the elephant and castle and heygate estate in the frame, a security guard was asking what we were up to, where we were from etc. claiming that we needed permission to do whatever it was that we were doing.

moving to a different view, the anonymous mask and occupy banner came out, and again, security came round and asked for the removal of the mask. then the security manager came along and demanded to look in bags. when asked why a harmless mask and a couple of pieces of paper were a "security issue" he responded it was because it was "unusual".

we heard from colleagues that security staff had been called from the ground floor reception to a "security incident" on the viewing floor.

clearly the shard management are anxious to keep bad publicity and the raising of housing issues away from their elite bubble. today, they were unable to do so.

more info:
 http://www.peoplesrepublicofsouthwark.co.uk/hold-news/news/2721-how-the-heygate-was-sold-out

rikki
- e-mail: rikkiindymedia[At]gmail(d0t)com

Comments

Display the following comment

  1. time for direct action? — Paul
Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech