Indymedia: Squat Raid in Brighton

The ‘Darkside’ squat on St James Street was illegally evicted, using an old, expired possession order yesterday, at around 10 in the morning. People had no idea eviction proceedings had begun against the squat, and no court date had been given.

Despite the door being securely locked, it took the bailiffs mere seconds to enter, using some sort of hydraulic battering ram to blow the door practically off it’s hinges.

After the bailiffs had entered came cops in public order gear, including an evidence gathering team, a tactical public order adviser and a bronze commander. People’s suspicions that this might be a tad more than just an eviction were confirmed when the evidence gatherers proceeded to search the building, filming any papers that referred to the upcoming Squatter’s Convergence in Brighton ( http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2012/04/494444.html).

The bailiffs were obstructive in the extreme, attempting to stop people removing their belongings, refusing people who’d left re-entry to get more stuff, trying to stop people passing stuff out the door and refusing to show the eviction papers. A crowd of supporters gathered outside, closely watched by the 50 or so armoured cops, who were clearly expecting some sort of riot. The bronze commander attempted to force the evicted squatters and their supporters back across the road, ludicrously imposing a Section 14 on them (section 14 of the public order act allows police to impose conditions on a public assembly if the purpose of the persons organising it is the intimidation of others with a view to compelling them not to do an act they have a right to do, or to do an act they have a right not to do, or it may result in serious public disorder, serious damage to property or serious disruption to the life of the community) Squatters refused to move until papers were produced, starting a lively chant of “SHOW US THE PAPERS!”

Eventually the bailiffs relented and produced an expired possession order for the property, dated from the 6th Jan this year. This possession order was used to evict the previous residents in January of this year. That means the eviction was completely illegal.

Sitex Orbis were soon on the scene, covering the property in unsightly metal sheeting, and ensuring it will remain empty and fall into ruin in years to come.

At the same time, the popular local squatted veggie shop project was served eviction papers. This came as a surprise to the occupiers as they hadn’t been notified that they were being taken to court. The squatters have notified the court of this attempt to illegally evict them, and intend to fight it.

This blatantly illegal, politically motivated raid was obviously intended to intimidate Brighton Squatters before the upcoming Squatter’s Convergence in Brighton (May17th-20th). This repression makes it all the more important that people come to the convergence to show solidarity will Brighton Squatters and fight the upcoming squatting ban.

http://indymedia.org.uk/en/2012/04/494570.html