Aylesbury occupation going strong after 100 riot cops try to evict us

Wed Feb 18 13:44:48 GMT 2015

<https://twitter.com/https://twitter.com/Fight4Aylesbury>Aylesbury Occupation

<https://twitter.com/https://twitter.com/Fight4Aylesbury>@<https://twitter.com/https://twitter.com/Fight4Aylesbury>Fight4Aylesbury

Flats occupied in Chartridge House on the 
Aylesbury estate in protest over Southwark's 
planned demolition of the estate! Come down&check the website for events

<https://twitter.com/https://t.co/a6RuEhyMLI>fightfortheaylesbury.wordpress.com

[]

GET IN TOUCH

77  105 Chartridge, Westmoreland Road, SE17.
Email:aylesbury at riseup.net.
Twitter: @Fight4Aylesbury
We have a public assembly every day at 6.30 PM, 
all neighbours and friendly visitors are invited.

<https://fightfortheaylesbury.wordpress.com/2015/02/18/httpswordpress-compost84161430newoccupation-going-strong-in-new-building-after-100-riot-cops-try-to-evict-us/>Occupation 
going strong in new building after 100 riot cops try to evict us

Embedded image permalink

Last night, around 7PM, 100 or so TSG riot police 
attacked our occupation in force. They used angle 
grinders to cut through metal barriers, and 
stormed into the homes we had been occupying, 
cleaning, decorating and bringing back to life on 77-105 Chartridge House.

As they stormed in, a few people stayed to 
symbolically hold the barricade, while most of 
the occupiers just climbed into the building next 
door, 69-76 Chartridge. This is the building that 
the council had attacked back on Thursday 5 
February. For once Southwark Council have done 
something half useful, as after they smashed up 
the flats there they built a high metal fence 
around the building which now serves as a pretty tough barricade!

Earlier in the day, we had lost an appeal to have 
the interim possession order (IPO) of 77-105 
Chartridge thrown out. But the court did reject 
the councils bid to get an order covering ALL 
buildings on the estate. So, legally speaking, 
the council and cops have no power to evict us 
from the new building, until they go to court again.

Of course, they still have the power of superior 
violence. After the authorities realised that our 
old block was empty and we had moved on, there 
was a tense stand-off lasting several hours. 
There were also several scuffles when groups of 
TSG thugs attacked in snatch squads, grabbing 
individuals they had decided to target for 
whatever reason. They came in relatively, 
throwing their truncheons, kicks and punches 
around. Unfortunately we didnt have the strength 
to stop them grabbing six people, who were 
arrested and taken to Walworth police station.

But we did have enough strength, in our numbers 
and solidarity and will to resist, to make them 
back down from attacking the newly occupied 
building. There was a moment when it looked 
certain they were about to try and cut their way 
in, court order or no. The excuse they were 
claiming was to investigate criminal damage. In 
a building they had 
<https://fightfortheaylesbury.wordpress.com/2015/02/08/video-of-the-council-smashing-up-homes-on-thursday/>helped 
smash up with hammers and power tools two weeks before.

But more and more supporters kept coming down to 
join us, and we were very clear we werent going 
to take an attack on the new building lying down. 
It must have dawned on the riot squad thugs that 
they didnt have an easy job ahead of them.

At one point an inspector declared an anti 
social behaviour order to disperse the crowd 
outside the occupation. But it just regrouped a 
little farther away on the other side of 
Westmoreland road, still ready to come and back 
up the occupation within seconds.

Eventually, the top brass realised that it wasnt 
happening, and perhaps they didnt care that much 
anyway, the Southwark Council suits who were 
egging them on having gone home some time ago. 
Sometime after midnight, the bulk of the TSG 
left, with just one vanload keeping an eye on the building.

As of 12 noon today, the occupation is going 
strong. Its a beautiful sunny day on the 
Aylesbury, and spirits are high after this little 
victory. As in the old building, our aim is to 
repair the damage done to these flats by the 
council, and bring them back to life as a hub of resistance for the estate.

Of course it is possible police will try again 
any time. If you can, keep following events, and 
come on down to join us in the event of a new 
attack. Or just to hang out, work on the estate, 
hold events, discussions, and so on as before, 
and plot new actions to escalate the fight for our city.

PS: Update 12.40. One of our friends is out of the copshop.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://mailman.gn.apc.org/mailman/private/diggers350/attachments/20150218/e3bc9b39/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/x-ygp-stripped
Size: 196 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://mailman.gn.apc.org/mailman/private/diggers350/attachments/20150218/e3bc9b39/attachment.bin>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/x-ygp-stripped
Size: 196 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://mailman.gn.apc.org/mailman/private/diggers350/attachments/20150218/e3bc9b39/attachment-0001.bin>