50+ events over 7 days now organised!
195 Mare Street, Hackney, London.
The week has been split as follows:
For list of events (and updates) see: 195 Mare Street @ radar.squat.net [Read More]
The squatters who took over the former pub The Bohemia pub in Finchley have been evicted after police and bailiffs smashed through barricades in dramatic scenes this afternoon.
At just after 5pm around 20 High Court bailiffs joined by police, including canine units, forced their way through the rear entrance of the pub in North Finchley High Road before the occupiers, who entered the building in September, agreed to leave quietly.
The squatters had turned the abandoned building into a community hub following its sudden closure in August. [Read More]
Nestled in a quiet street between the river and Borough Market, surrounded by expensive butchers, wine bars and offices for start-up PR companies and various institutional offshoots of the Globe Theatre sits 21-23 Park Street. The nearly 200 year old building originally housed managers at the nearby Anchor Brewery, but was sold to Southwark Council who used it as part of their housing stock.
The building made headlines last week as news that the council was auctioning off the property with a reserve of £2.25 million earned it the title of “the most expensive council house in Britain”. On Monday, just as news that the property had been sold for £2.96 million began circulating, it also became clear that the building had been occupied by local residents, some of whom are part of a new mutual support group called Housing Action Southwark & Lambeth, in an attempt to prevent the sale of yet more public housing. Having attempted to identify a number of possible offences, it became clear that police had no legal recourse to arrest the occupants, and they left. [Read More]
We won the appeal!!
A squatter convicted under s144 had the conviction unanimously overturned for lack of ANY evidence. Our barrister was ninja and the judge laid down some stringent guidelines on what the police must do to establish proof that someone lives in a squat. Unfortunately he refused to define what constitutes residential…
A deeper analysis will follow, for now we can only say if you are accused of squatting a residential building, don’t talk to police at all (no comment interview) and plead not guilty. This law is fucked and unenforceable.
Also, the #mikeweatherleyisacoward case continues so our @housingwar twitter will continue with court updates. Continue reading for tweets from court today:
Today (Weds) was very quiet; there was no eviction attempt. We were prepared for the worst, but no cops called around, nobody claiming to be the owner, nothing. Just to recap, we are preparing ourselves to resist eviction because previously, on Friday, two people claiming to be agents acting on behalf of a company, which they claimed own two of the houses, came to illegally board them up. When we weren’t letting them do so, they called the cops. The cops decided not to do anything because they did not have the paperwork or legal authorisation to evict us[1]. However, the “owners” and the cops did say that they’d be back on Wednesday (today) with “papers”. [Read More]
Warning: News from the mainstream press
Eviction proceedings have been started against a group of squatters occupying The Bohemia pub in North Finchley.
The group was today issued a summons to appear at Barnet County Court on Monday, where the legal process of having them removed is set to begin.
Administrators for the former pub Chantrey Velacott applied for the order despite on-going talks with the pub’s owners Mitchells and Butlers and the property agent Colliers. [Read More]
“300,000 empty houses in Ireland, 5,000 people homeless”
A group of political squatters in Dublin are facing eviction from a row of empty, unused, rotting houses in Lower Grangegorman. We got a chance to speak to them and hear their side of the story. They are calling for people to come and help them resist eviction from Wednesday onwards.
After the arrival of Gardaí on Thursday and Friday (24th & 25th October) squatters in a row of occupied empty houses in Lower Grangegorman are facing eviction from their homes. They are calling for supporters to gather at the house to show solidarity and help them to resist this invasion of their home. [Read More]
Housing activists have occupied a property owned by Southwark council which was due to be auctioned today at a starting price of £2.3 million.
They have occupied the building to stop the sell-off of yet more public housing stock when the borough faces a severe housing crisis with almost 25,000 people on the housing waiting list and increasing numbers of people forced to sleep rough on London’s streets.
The occupation is also a challenge to section 114 of the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (LASPO) introduced last September which criminalised squatting in residential properties. This law has meant that homeless people seeking shelter in empty buildings can find themselves with a prison sentence. [Read More]
Hello everybody. Your social center at Mare Street is back with an art school open for all!
Born from the creative needs of our residents and our friends, we are building an art studio, a darkroom and a series of workshops where you can come, learn and share your skills with everybody.
Our art studio and darkroom are being built from scrap and every help is welcome. Today we are starting to clear the space on our basement that will give place to these. If you want to help us out just show up today with good working mood and let’s all make this happen! Also we will need some materials to start working, so if you have something around that can help it would be great. [Read More]
If you’re organised enough to carry ’round a diary (I am definitely not) penciling in the
1st AND 2nd of November is highly advisable as it will see our first festival!
A two day event ending on the 2nd November to celebrate 2 YEARS of the occupied building in Cardiff. Easy enough to remember, right?
Beginning as a vague plan to host an Anarcho-Folk festival in Cardiff; the event has now evolved into a two day celebration of the ‘Brolly.
The space it has provided us has been invaluable to many, so we invite anyone and everybody who has shared the space with us to come, in particular any guests we have had to stay, musicians who’ve played and individuals who’ve led any lessons or workshops. Please come and celebrate with us! [Read More]
There are empty buildings all over Calais town. We need people to come and open and secure them! We need people with skills and energy to join and support our resistance to this border.
Calais Migrant Solidarity have squatted a social centre, as it gets colder, more and more people are trying to sleep in it. Whilst we try to keep it a safe space for vulnerable people and people working on the ground, it’s getting over filled.
