Most of the flats on estates in the kingsland area have not been evicted, and the situation has calmed down. Some unoccupied places have been smashed & boarded up by the council - I don't know whether any of these are squatters' homes, and the police say they have evicted some crack & smack houses. The council now say they will issue possesion proceedings through the courts, although they may try more DIY evictions in the comming days, especially if any flats are left unocupied.
I'll put more details up soon, as well as a bit of video when I get a chance. I tried to post a longer report and lost it in cyperspace. Remember to type your reports in a text editor first, not directly into the website.
Thanks to everyone that came down to support us - it may have made all the difference.
Previous reports:
Hackney Council are about to illegally evict ten Flats right now ! !
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/london/2004/03/286531.html Hackney Council & Cops Threaten to Illegally evict Kingsland Squatters
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/london/2004/03/286417.html
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BEWARE of HACKNEY COUNCIL and their dodgy backroom deals with Developers...
08.03.2004 15:11
It is well known that the E2 area is to be redeveloped for the benefit of anyone who can pay for new luxury apartments that will be built there in the future, once they've gotten rid of all the tenants and squatters in that part of Hackney. The majority of estates in the E2 area are run down and neglected. WHY? Because No one will get off their arses and stand up together to get things done to make their estates better places to live and those on Tenants and Residents Associations are no better, they don't give a fuck about anyone other than themselves and what they can get for themselves from the council. (WANKERS ONE AN ALL) Empty properties attract the likes of drug dealers and druggie parasites who then rob tenants homes to pay for their fucking habits, but not all squatters are drug dealers or druggies, some work for a living yet can't afford private accomodation, yet the council deny these people a home because they are either single and are not in serious need of accomodation (What bollocks is that?) Anyone who is homeless is in need of a place to live but due to the present housing law anyone who is single doesn't need to be accomodated, so the only alternative for people like this is to squat and the Council and the Police are trying it on again like they did in the 1980s claiming now that all squatters are drug dealers now and back in the 80s claiming all squatters damaged their properties. I can remember a mixed race family young children being evicted from Horton Road nr Wilton Way E8 being dragged out of their home by bastard bailiffs and the majority of the street came out fighting and Hackney Council shit themselves and housed the people concerned (1976) both ends of the road were barracaded, the police were kept at bay as well as the bailiffs who intended to evict other families, people who lived on Horton Road back then will remember the old dairy which backed onto the railway. There was community spirit back then with residents on Eleanor Road passing food over their back gardens to the Horton Road squatters so the kids wouldn't go hungry. Nothing like that happens these days thats why the Council and the bastard Police and Bailiffs get away with evicting people. In the early 80s on an estate nr the Oval (South London) they had the right idea the squatters took over a whole block and sealed it off so the Police and Bailiffs couldn't get in, the majority of them are now tenants because they all stood together. Hackney Council intend to evict all the squatters from Kingsland and the other estates if not today then in the near future and it will take everyone to stand together to prevent it from going ahead. My family had to squat for years until they were properly housed but back then Hackney Council were full of racist pricks (You know who you are) the bastards who used to run the London Borough of Hackney Social Club in Reading Lane and live on Wayman Court E8. Anyone remember that Hackney Council Social Club? It was exclusively for racist white trash with a former N.U.P.E. secretary (John Chalkie) leading them another wanker that paid for his racist views (He's in a wheelchair now) Whoever put that bastard there I owe you a large drink. The Housing Laws in this country should change so that single people are not left out when it comes to councils housing people whatever their race. Take a look at any estate in Hackney and you'll find empty homes left to decay while people remain homeless, it's a sick fucking world.....
A Hackney Housing Rights Activist
e-mail:
phantomX2@hotmail.com
a tale for caution
09.03.2004 05:20
it is possible they might look for a similar moment to do their dirty deed.
and a note to the comment by "a hackney housing rights activist"; it is not for the council to provide our needs, nor indeed any institute of the state. when we stand as one and take back that which was stolen from us; then all our needs and many of our wants will be ours for the taking. fuck the nanny state, however it is dressed.
no body in particular
Detailed Report
14.03.2004 13:44
At 10am I was starting to think that someone had seen that we were not going to accept any illegal evictions and canceled the whole operation. We then noticed that several Hackney Council housing vans & cars were sitting outside the estate. Someone spoke to one of the drivers, who said that he had been asked to turn up at 10 for evictions. I videoed the drivers as they entered the estate, asking why they had come. One claimed to be ‘just following instructions’ and not know why he was there, and another would only say that he was ‘just parking, sir.’
I spoke to Lindsey Matthews, a manager with Hackney Trading Services. She treated me with great disdain when I said that I live on the estate, and said ‘we've come here to do evictions’. (2) I asked her whether she had any power to evict anyone, and she walked off, saying, ‘Listen yeah, I'm not talking to you, or your camera. Get the thing out of my face’.
Keith, another senior Hackney Council employee, briefly tried to intimidate a concerned neighbour off the estate, before demanding my exact address and saying he'd ask me to leave as well, and shoving my camera away. The large group council staff stood around for half an hour or so, apparently waiting for the police. The estate caretaker came and went.
An inspector (I think) and a constable turned up from Stoke Newington police station The inspector spoke to a large group of squatters & supporters on the estate. He said that the cops would be demanding to inspect squatters’ electrics, and that the council would be attempting to evict people at the same time. He admitted that when he came round last Thursday he had been lying about being able to evict us using Section 7 of the Criminal Law Act 1977, but suggested that that was a trick to get us ‘nice squatters’ out and talking to each other, and separate us from any drug dealing squatters.
I got him to confirm that he would arrest anyone using or threatening violence to enter a squat, although he refused to say whether he understood that violence, within the meaning of section six of the Criminal Law Act, includes violence to property.
Squatters stayed in their flats to defend them, and some of us also moved around the estates to watch out for evictions. I didn’t come across anyone that was evicted that day, although the police said that they had closed some ‘crack’ and ‘smack’ houses. The council boarded up some empty places - as far as I know, these were genuinely empty, and not squatter’s homes. The inspector said that he would be obtaining warrants to enter any squats that don't have accounts for electricity supply.
Some of us spoke to Keith on camera later, when he became very talkative. He confirmed had just been smashing up the inside of a flat that tenants had moved out of, saying that its the only way to stop the likes of us. This doesn't stop squatting of course, but makes it more work and less comfortable, and creates a nuisance and hazard for others if people end up occupying the place and then go out to find somewhere to relieve themselves.
Apparently the council thinks they can re-house all the tenants on the estate and knock the four hundred flats down within four months. The plan is then for a private company to build eight hundred flats on the same land, with half as so-called ‘social units’ and half to be sold off on the private market. It now seems likely that the council will go through the court process to evict squatters.
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Notes
(1) - Hackney Council & Cops Threaten to Illegally evict Kingsland Squatters - 04.03.2004
(2) Hackney Council are about to illegally evict ten Flats right now ! ! - 08.03.2004 10:51
Hackney Council's New Agenda 2004, report from a meeting with tenants - 10.03.2004
Harry Nelson