London: Police exploit anti-racist BLM rally to arrest green activists

Three people, including green activists, were arrested by a City of London snatch squad at today’s Black Lives Matter march.

Two who were sitting in Hyde Park in the early part of the day were swarmed by around 20 police who arrested them under a City of London warrant, allegedly over an incident on February 28th.

Freedom has since heard that a squatted social centre in Islington was also raided under a Section 18 search.

The arrests are just the latest of many which have taken place over the course of the last week, as police attempt to keep a handle on a militant mood which has driven large rallies against racism and in support of black lives matter.

The march itself, which was moved at short notice to today following threats from the far-right, was otherwise a success, with thousands of people marching from Hyde Park to Trafalgar square as part of the peaceful protest. [Read More]

London: From Lockdown to Lock-out… GRASS evicted from Eden Grove

​Despite warnings that evictions were somewhat dodgy during a time of viral pandemic, the bailiffs seemed to enjoy breaking into the door, smashing a glass panel in it for no useful reason, and instantly undermining all the hard work that gone into the making of, and the community value of, the space.

“Thanks from the bottom of our hearts to everyone who helped us and sent their support yesterday. We are gonna discuss our current situation and decide how to continue the GRASS project in the future. In the mean time, I want to say how humble and thankful we are for the support we’ve had so far and the connections we’ve managed to create through all of this.“
– Love and solidarity, your friends at GRASS.

* They can kick us out (sometimes) but they can’t keep us down… [Read More]

London: GRASS is now a mutual aid hub

After we decided to cancel all our public events to respond to the virus, all of us at GRASS have started to become more and more involved in the local mutual aid network that has emerged to respond to the crisis. To reflect this, we have decided to turn GRASS into a Mutual Aid Centre that provides a hub for the community efforts already happening in the area.

To start with, we have been storing different resources needed by the mutual aid network, such as leaflets for the outreach and bleach and gloves for doing safe food deliveries to those in risk. This is in addition to our already existing projects of a free clothes shop and mutual aid books. In the future, as the situation evolves, we will continue growing, with things like free bike repair and maybe, if necessary, storing the food ourselves to be delivered. [Read More]

London: New week of action venue. Welcome to GRASS!

While Green London is still holding strong in the former Paddington Green Police Station, we felt it was unfair to bring members of the public into a situation where they could be exposed to the aggressive and threatening behaviour of the police and bailiffs. We have therefore, while continuing our occupation of Green London, decided to open a new social space for our week of action: the Green Revolutionary Anticapitalist Social Space. GRASS!

GRASS is located in the former George Pub near Holloway Road tube station. It is a warm and welcoming building which we are very happy to be using, and look forward to welcoming you in.
Our new address is 9 Eden Grove, Islington N7 8EE. Just a stone’s throw from Holloway Station!
We will be opening this Tuesday. Our openings hours will be 12.00-10.00 each day for the week of action. We have a full programme planned so check it out. [Read More]