Thursday, 8 October 2015
AFIC: Africa Freedom of Information Centre - Africa Freedom of Information Centre (AFIC)
AFIC: Africa Freedom of Information Centre - Africa Freedom of Information Centre (AFIC)
Africa Freedom of Information Centre (AFIC) is a pan-African NGO and resource centre that promotes the right of access to information through comparative research, coordinating regional advocacy, facilitating information-sharing and capacity building.
On 22-23 September 2006, representatives of 30 civil society organisations from 16 countries in Africa met in Lagos to discuss ways to promote the right of access to information held by public authorities and, in particular, to share experiences regarding strategies for advancing the adoption of laws that fully protect this right.
TORY CONFERENCE V.I.P. ENTRANCE BLOCKED BY CHAINED DISABLED PEOPLE AGAINST CUTS PROTESTERS - Salford Star - with attitude & love xxx
TORY CONFERENCE V.I.P. ENTRANCE BLOCKED BY CHAINED DISABLED PEOPLE AGAINST CUTS PROTESTERS - Salford Star - with attitude & love xxx
TORY CONFERENCE V.I.P. ENTRANCE BLOCKED BY CHAINED DISABLED PEOPLE AGAINST CUTS PROTESTERS |
| Star date: 7th October 2015 MANCHESTER DISABLED PEOPLE AGAINST CUTS CHAINED WHEELCHAIR PROTEST "People are dying because of their policies..." This morning, members of Manchester Disabled People Against Cuts (MDPAC) chained their wheelchairs together to block the V.I.P. car entrance to the Conservative Party Conference. "We're doing it because we want to disrupt the Conference on the day of the Prime Minister's speech" explained Ric from MDPAC "We're bearing the brunt of what his Government is doing; people are dying because of their policies and we're sick of him lying..." |
Barnet tell Mostafa he’s on his own now | sweets way resists #onn #olsx
Barnet tell Mostafa he’s on his own now | sweets way resists
Barnet tell Mostafa he’s on his own now
After months of inaccessible housing offers, a brutal eviction and an ongoing refusal to recognise the extent of his disability, Barnet Homes have discharged their duty to house Mostafa and his family, leaving them alone to find a home! Barnet need to hear from ALL of us this week!
rabble.ca | News for the rest of us The focus of this section is on free, open source, and web-based software tools that are particularly useful and accessible to activists.
rabble.ca | News for the rest of us
The focus of this section is on free, open source, and web-based software tools that are particularly useful and accessible to activists.
The focus of this section is on free, open source, and web-based software tools that are particularly useful and accessible to activists.
Wednesday, 7 October 2015
Four Seasons Community Co-operative invite you to "Sunday Sessions" every Sunday 15:30 - 21:30 Non amplified entertainment, reggae, ska, open stage...free cafe & bbq Keep up to date on facebook : https://m.facebook.com/events/443592705847269
Four Seasons Community Co-operative invite you to "Sunday Sessions" every Sunday 15:30 - 21:30
Non amplified entertainment, reggae, ska, open stage...free cafe & bbq
Keep up to date on facebook :
https://m.facebook.com/events/443592705847269
Rough sleeping ban will ‘criminalize most vulnerable’ in Newport RT UK #onn #olsx #homeless #protest
Rough sleeping ban will ‘criminalize most vulnerable’ in Newport — RT UK
Human rights group Liberty has called on Newport City Council to scrap its plans to ‘criminalize’ begging and rough sleeping in the city center.
On Sunday, a consultation into the Welsh local authority’s proposed Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) closed.
The Order, if implemented, would make free leaflet distribution, rough sleeping and begging illegal in Newport city center.
The proposals were announced soon after the council revealed measures aimed at “improving the area.”
The proposals were announced soon after the council revealed measures aimed at “improving the area.”
In a consultation paper, the council said it expresses “a view to introducing a new and updated PSPO in time for the opening of the Friars Walk retail development in November 2015.”
However, Liberty has condemned these plans, claiming they would “criminalize the most vulnerable in the city.”
“These proposals make a mockery of Newport’s Chartist legacy. For the sake of a new shopping center, the Council is pouring its energies into criminalizing the most vulnerable in the city, and silencing means of dissent,” Liberty’s legal officer Rosie Brighthouse said in a statement.
After Over a Decade of Occupation and $1.5 Billion in US Aid, the Reality Facing Women in Afghanistan Has Barely Changed | Alternet
After Over a Decade of Occupation and $1.5 Billion in US Aid, the Reality Facing Women in Afghanistan Has Barely Changed | Alternet
After Over a Decade of Occupation and $1.5 Billion in US Aid, the Reality Facing Women in Afghanistan Has Barely Changed
Love Activists have claimed Grade 2 listed 10 Charlotte Street M1 4fl in Manchester #onn #olsx
Love Activists have claimed Grade 2 listed 10 Charlotte Street M1 4fl in Central Manchester.
This is a call out to activists to come and help hold down and transform this remarkable historical space into a thriving vibrant social centre for the homeless people of Manchester!
Homes For All!
Tories Out!
Tuesday, 6 October 2015
We've squatted a large building in Central Manchester, 10 Charlotte street M1 4fl, need activists and occupiers down ASAP! Homes for All! Tories Out! #onn #olsx
We've squatted a large building in Central Manchester, 10 Charlotte street M1 4fl, need activists and occupiers down ASAP!
Homes for All!
Tories Out!
Sweets way crew have occupied Former police academy.The protest is currently getting big visit by police. Please support asap. Aerodrome Road, Colindale, London NW4. #onn #olsx
Sweets way crew have occupied Former police academy.The protest is currently getting big visit by police.
Please support asap.
Aerodrome Road, Colindale, London NW4.
Can poverty be eradicated? - Al Jazeera English
Can poverty be eradicated? - Al Jazeera English
According to the World Bank, about 702 million people, or 9.6% of the world's population, will live below the poverty line this year, mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. In 2012, that number stood at 902 million, or about 13% of the world's population.
This forecast by the World Bank used a new international poverty line of $1.90 a day, an upgrade from the previous line of $1.25 a day, which was set in 2005.
But what does it take to end poverty once and for all? And what does it mean to be poor?
Monday, 5 October 2015
Noise demo 9:30pm Islington copshop in solidarity with the 7 people arrested at Mamelon Tower eviction earlier.
Noise demo 9:30pm Islington copshop in solidarity with the 7 people arrested at Mamelon Tower eviction earlier.
Broken Barnet: A last eviction, and the sweet smell of success, for Annington, in Sweets Way: #onn #olsx #housing #protest #sweetsway #housingcrisis #squatting
Broken Barnet: A last eviction, and the sweet smell of success, for Annington, in Sweets Way:
Well, yes: it's all been kicking off, again, today, and yesterday, in Sweets Way.
Always a sign of significance, when the Guardian turns up, or a film crew, or Russell Brand: the medium is the message, as ever, in Broken Barnet.
It means we are once more, as is so often the case, drawing attention to ourselves, here in this Garden of (outsourced) Eden, our easycouncil borough.
There is a housing crisis, in this country, in this city, and here in Barnet, of course.
So: of course, here in this most rotten of rotten boroughs, we can provide the perfect examples of Tory housing policy, at its most lunatic extreme: the destruction of desperately needed social housing on public land given away to private developers, for free, to enable access to the optimum margin of profit, in West Hendon; and also now in Sweets Way, the forcible removal of social tenants from an estate due to be so profitably developed by Annington Homes.
Yesterday the developers sent in bailiffs, the police, and even the fire brigade, in an attempt to 'cleanse' and secure their investment, in Sweets Way. Long term investment in properties once owned by the MoD, but used latterly by the council to house many previously homeless families.
A cheery greeting and a warm welcome was awaiting the bailiffs and their escorts, when they arrived, en masse, and all geared up for a battle:
As you can read here, in the article by the Guardian's Rob Booth, of the 288 new homes planned to be built in Sweets Way, after the demolition of the homes that were already there, only 20% are promised to be 'affordable' - a definition that is in itself of course meaningless, and yet means anyway that 80% of the new houses ... are not affordable, to the majority of people.
The residents who have been removed, thrown out, evicted from their tenancies, their homes; accommodation that was social housing and a perfectly happy community, here in this estate, will be replaced by rather more privileged owner occupiers - as opposed to the present Occupiers, and housing activists who have moved in over the last few months, and who now are on the rooftops of the few remaining houses in Sweets Way that have not been fenced off, and marked for destruction by Annington.
Mrs Angry first discovered the story of Sweets Way earlier this year, in a chance encounter, in a local courthouse, with two residents fighting evictions. After listening to their terrible story, she encouraged them to contact the main stream media, and publicise their tale - and thankfully what was happening to them, and to all the other other residents, began to reach a wider audience.
In the spring, Russell Brand came along to offer his support, which made the plight of the families in Sweets Way even more newsworthy, for a time at least, co opted, as it then as it was, into the heady cult of celebrity endorsed politics.
Since then, the families of Sweets Way have been slowly extricated from their homes, and consigned to oblivion - with one or two exceptions.
Barnet Council, which had a duty to rehouse residents, performed this role as one might expect: as they have done in West Hendon: reluctantly, offering a choice, to secure tenants only, of perhaps some awful relocation to another 'regeneration' estate, in a property barely fit for purpose ... or the option of rejection, and therefore neatly making the resident declare themselves to be homeless.
The last remaining original resident of Sweets Way, now, is a disabled man called Mostafa, who uses a wheelchair, but whose accommodation needs, apparently, are a matter of indifference to Barnet Council.
Pic courtesy Sweets Way resists
Mostafa went to court again, yesterday, in order to try to stay the eviction that Annington Homes want to impose, so as to be able, finally, to move into the estate, and demolish all the perfectly suitable housing already there, and replace it with an unnecessary, but more profitable development.
Unfortunately for this last resident - and a large number of occupiers - yesterday was the day when Annington decided to try to reclaim its investment, in Sweets Way, and - armed with bailiffs, and police, and even two fire engines - moved in to the site, in order to secure the houses now emptied of all but one resident ... and some occupiers.
Mostafa went to court again, yesterday, in order to try to stay the eviction that Annington Homes want to impose, so as to be able, finally, to move into the estate, and demolish all the perfectly suitable housing already there, and replace it with an unnecessary, but more profitable development.
Unfortunately for this last resident - and a large number of occupiers - yesterday was the day when Annington decided to try to reclaim its investment, in Sweets Way, and - armed with bailiffs, and police, and even two fire engines - moved in to the site, in order to secure the houses now emptied of all but one resident ... and some occupiers.
After a show of strength from the developers, and a court hearing for Mostafa, there appeared to be something of an impasse: when Mrs Angry arrived there late in the afternoon, occupiers were on the roof, but the police presence had just been replaced, to the vast amusement of the roof-bound activists opposite, by a Mr Whippy style ice cream van - while, somewhat inexplicably - the firefighters remained in place.
Today, no doubt, will see a final attempt to secure the estate by 'Terra Firma', the company run by former Tory leader William Hague's best man, Guy Hands.
Police had to be bussed in to Sweets Way, yesterday, ironically, even though Whetstone police station is literally yards around the corner from the housing estate. Is - was. Oh: well, because yes, it is now closed, thanks to Tory cuts, boarded up and - like every other public asset in Broken Barnet that can be turned to profit - it is up for sale, offering yet another unmissable opportunity for private development.
Balancing rather precariously up on the roof of one of the houses, yesterday afternoon, was the familiar figure of Phoenix, the veteran of many similar events here in Broken Barnet - and elsewhere.
Do be careful, Phoenix, called Mrs Angry, in mum mode, as he waved cheerily down at her,
Don't worry, Mrs A, he yelled: I'm used to it ...
Other friends from Occupy came up and explained what was happening: Mostafa's trip to court was always expected to be unsuccessful, but the story was not over, legally, or otherwise. ............go to full article
A last eviction, and the sweet smell of success, for Annington, in Sweets Way:
Well, yes: it's all been kicking off, again, today, and yesterday, in Sweets Way.
Always a sign of significance, when the Guardian turns up, or a film crew, or Russell Brand: the medium is the message, as ever, in Broken Barnet.
It means we are once more, as is so often the case, drawing attention to ourselves, here in this Garden of (outsourced) Eden, our easycouncil borough.
There is a housing crisis, in this country, in this city, and here in Barnet, of course.
So: of course, here in this most rotten of rotten boroughs, we can provide the perfect examples of Tory housing policy, at its most lunatic extreme: the destruction of desperately needed social housing on public land given away to private developers, for free, to enable access to the optimum margin of profit, in West Hendon; and also now in Sweets Way, the forcible removal of social tenants from an estate due to be so profitably developed by Annington Homes.
Yesterday the developers sent in bailiffs, the police, and even the fire brigade, in an attempt to 'cleanse' and secure their investment, in Sweets Way. Long term investment in properties once owned by the MoD, but used latterly by the council to house many previously homeless families.
A cheery greeting and a warm welcome was awaiting the bailiffs and their escorts, when they arrived, en masse, and all geared up for a battle:
As you can read here, in the article by the Guardian's Rob Booth, of the 288 new homes planned to be built in Sweets Way, after the demolition of the homes that were already there, only 20% are promised to be 'affordable' - a definition that is in itself of course meaningless, and yet means anyway that 80% of the new houses ... are not affordable, to the majority of people.
The residents who have been removed, thrown out, evicted from their tenancies, their homes; accommodation that was social housing and a perfectly happy community, here in this estate, will be replaced by rather more privileged owner occupiers - as opposed to the present Occupiers, and housing activists who have moved in over the last few months, and who now are on the rooftops of the few remaining houses in Sweets Way that have not been fenced off, and marked for destruction by Annington.
Mrs Angry first discovered the story of Sweets Way earlier this year, in a chance encounter, in a local courthouse, with two residents fighting evictions. After listening to their terrible story, she encouraged them to contact the main stream media, and publicise their tale - and thankfully what was happening to them, and to all the other other residents, began to reach a wider audience.
In the spring, Russell Brand came along to offer his support, which made the plight of the families in Sweets Way even more newsworthy, for a time at least, co opted, as it then as it was, into the heady cult of celebrity endorsed politics.
Since then, the families of Sweets Way have been slowly extricated from their homes, and consigned to oblivion - with one or two exceptions.
Barnet Council, which had a duty to rehouse residents, performed this role as one might expect: as they have done in West Hendon: reluctantly, offering a choice, to secure tenants only, of perhaps some awful relocation to another 'regeneration' estate, in a property barely fit for purpose ... or the option of rejection, and therefore neatly making the resident declare themselves to be homeless.
The last remaining original resident of Sweets Way, now, is a disabled man called Mostafa, who uses a wheelchair, but whose accommodation needs, apparently, are a matter of indifference to Barnet Council.
Mostafa went to court again, yesterday, in order to try to stay the eviction that Annington Homes want to impose, so as to be able, finally, to move into the estate, and demolish all the perfectly suitable housing already there, and replace it with an unnecessary, but more profitable development.
Unfortunately for this last resident - and a large number of occupiers - yesterday was the day when Annington decided to try to reclaim its investment, in Sweets Way, and - armed with bailiffs, and police, and even two fire engines - moved in to the site, in order to secure the houses now emptied of all but one resident ... and some occupiers.
Mostafa went to court again, yesterday, in order to try to stay the eviction that Annington Homes want to impose, so as to be able, finally, to move into the estate, and demolish all the perfectly suitable housing already there, and replace it with an unnecessary, but more profitable development.
Unfortunately for this last resident - and a large number of occupiers - yesterday was the day when Annington decided to try to reclaim its investment, in Sweets Way, and - armed with bailiffs, and police, and even two fire engines - moved in to the site, in order to secure the houses now emptied of all but one resident ... and some occupiers.
After a show of strength from the developers, and a court hearing for Mostafa, there appeared to be something of an impasse: when Mrs Angry arrived there late in the afternoon, occupiers were on the roof, but the police presence had just been replaced, to the vast amusement of the roof-bound activists opposite, by a Mr Whippy style ice cream van - while, somewhat inexplicably - the firefighters remained in place.
Today, no doubt, will see a final attempt to secure the estate by 'Terra Firma', the company run by former Tory leader William Hague's best man, Guy Hands.
Police had to be bussed in to Sweets Way, yesterday, ironically, even though Whetstone police station is literally yards around the corner from the housing estate. Is - was. Oh: well, because yes, it is now closed, thanks to Tory cuts, boarded up and - like every other public asset in Broken Barnet that can be turned to profit - it is up for sale, offering yet another unmissable opportunity for private development.
Balancing rather precariously up on the roof of one of the houses, yesterday afternoon, was the familiar figure of Phoenix, the veteran of many similar events here in Broken Barnet - and elsewhere.
Do be careful, Phoenix, called Mrs Angry, in mum mode, as he waved cheerily down at her,
Don't worry, Mrs A, he yelled: I'm used to it ...
Other friends from Occupy came up and explained what was happening: Mostafa's trip to court was always expected to be unsuccessful, but the story was not over, legally, or otherwise. ............go to full article
Hamburg to seize commercial property to house migrants - BBC News
Hamburg to seize commercial property to house migrants - BBC News
Hamburg has become the first German city to pass a law allowing the seizure of empty commercial properties in order to house migrants.
The influx of migrants has put pressure on the authorities of the northern city to find accommodation. Some migrants are sleeping rough outdoors.
Hamburg's law takes effect next week.
pcasl.org | Homepage | Peace & Community Action (PCA)
pcasl.org | Homepage | Peace & Community Action (PCA)
History & background
Peace & Community Action (PCA) was formed in 1999. It grew out of Quaker Peace and Service (QPS) and was started by a group committed to helping people explore alternatives to the use of violence as a response to conflict.
The organisation has been deeply influenced by Gandhian philosophy and Rosenburg's 'non-violent communication' approaches.PCA began as a grass root level peace organization and now has excellent networks and relationships in the communities it works with. At first we worked primarily in the predominantly Tamil and Muslim Eastern Province ;Ampara, Trincomalee and Puttalam Districts. Setting up offices in Matara in the last three years has given more balance by introducing our work to the predominantly Sinhala Southern Province.
As PCA has developed it has broadened and brought depth to its work by helping communities understand and use non violence in their lives and in solving community problems, understanding their human rights and responsibilities to one another, helping communities learn how to participate in community decision making to form empowered communities, and most recently PCA has developed conflict sensitive approaches to developing is proposals and in implementing them.
The organisation has been deeply influenced by Gandhian philosophy and Rosenburg's 'non-violent communication' approaches.PCA began as a grass root level peace organization and now has excellent networks and relationships in the communities it works with. At first we worked primarily in the predominantly Tamil and Muslim Eastern Province ;Ampara, Trincomalee and Puttalam Districts. Setting up offices in Matara in the last three years has given more balance by introducing our work to the predominantly Sinhala Southern Province.
As PCA has developed it has broadened and brought depth to its work by helping communities understand and use non violence in their lives and in solving community problems, understanding their human rights and responsibilities to one another, helping communities learn how to participate in community decision making to form empowered communities, and most recently PCA has developed conflict sensitive approaches to developing is proposals and in implementing them.
Smiler: Photographs of London by Mark Cawson | Institute of Contemporary Arts #onn #olsx #Squats #history
Smiler: Photographs of London by Mark Cawson | Institute of Contemporary Arts
Patrice (Ladbroke Grove), by Smiler. 1983.
Smiler: Photographs of London by Mark Cawson
12 Oct 2015 – 29 Nov 2015
An exhibition of unseen photographs by Smiler (aka Mark Cawson) of London squats from the late 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s. The content of the exhibition focuses on a body of work that Smiler mainly shot between West London and Kings Cross. The exhibition consists of black and white images taken on an analogue camera.
“I used the camera like a storm anchor helping me to navigate and freeze a spinning world of change and flux.” Smiler
Against the backdrop of social and political upheaval, young people across the city were drawn to squats by the prospect of a place to live, but also by an identity and a sense of community. Smiler’s photographs document the people who lived in squats across the city, at a time when salvage culture was the norm. Moving from one community to another, between postcodes, Smiler captures a city in transition and documented people he met while himself “trying to manage a deep sense of alienation”. Entire streets of condemned housing sat empty across the city throughout the period - a situation that facilitated large communities to form in places such as Cromer St, the School House in Hammersmith and Queen's Gate.
Photography provided the perfect medium to capture the culture and community of these squat locations. Taking pictures, collecting photo-booth pictures and hanging on to found ephemera enabled Smiler to do this. His photographs reveal intimate moments of the squatters’ everyday life, from portraits that show snapshots of the creative identities and unabashed sexuality of his friends, to images that illuminate how they, as outcasts, experienced city life, capturing the rebellious and chaotic spirit of the time.
Drugs and squatting went hand in hand but music and art also attracted people. This was the time when Rock Against Racism was prevalent and The Clash played a high profile RAR gig in Victoria Park. DIY culture was a way of life before corporate culture and branding subsumed. Political movements shared spaces with artists, bikers, musicians, drug dealers and prostitutes.
With the housing crisis dominating the headlines today, this exhibition serves as timely reminder of how the city has transformed and poses questions about the direction it is taking. Smiler’s compelling photographs are a lens on London as a hotbed of rebellious anti-establishment sentiment and brings into focus how dramatically different the city feels today.
Smiler: Photographs of London by Mark Cawson is curated by Gareth McConnell & Matt Williams.
Saturday, 3 October 2015
The Kurds’ Democratic Experiment - NYTimes.com #AVisnotPR #onn #olsx
The Kurds’ Democratic Experiment - NYTimes.com
Across an empty and arid plain, south of a town in eastern Syria called Tell Brak, there is a long berm marking the front line of the war against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. A levee of gravel about 20 feet high was raised by excavators operated by men and women who were often killed by distant Islamic State snipers. Every few hundred feet, there is a sentry point or dugout for a platoon of the Kurdish militia known as the People’s Protection Units, or Y.P.G., that holds the position.
Along this stark boundary, the Kurds are there not only to fight against the Islamic State, but also to defend a precious experiment in direct democracy. In Rojava, the Kurdish name for this region of eastern Syria, a new form of self-government is being built from the ground up.
After the authority of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad collapsed at the start of the Syrian revolution in 2011, the Kurds took advantage of the vacuum to set up government without a state. There is no top-down authority, even within the military. One Y.P.G. commander gently corrected me when I addressed him as “general.”
“We have no ranks,” he said — and sure enough, his uniform bore no insignia of seniority. “We are a team.”
'BBC warned George Osborne it would have to axe BBC2 and BBC4 due to cuts' | Media | The Guardian
'BBC warned George Osborne it would have to axe BBC2 and BBC4 due to cuts' | Media | The Guardian
The BBC warned George Osborne it would have to close BBC2 and BBC4 if the government did not provide extra funds to offset the cost of free TV licences for the over-75s.
The corporation told the chancellor that the £750m hole in its finances would also force it to cut all of its local radio stations and radio news for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, according to a forthcoming book on the BBC.
Democracy in crisis: lets get organised-We need your help to organise a massive voter registration drive across Hackney #onn #olsx
Democracy in crisis: lets get organised
We need your help to organise a massive voter registration drive across Hackney: we are organising a community conference on this issue on Sunday 11 October and plan a voter registration week beginning Sunday 22 November: if you want to get involved click here
Over 50 years ago, Martin Luther King gave his most famous speech: 'I have a dream'. The African American civil rights movement was one that more than anything believed in mobilising the power of the ballot to address social justice issues. but in Hackney today, our community is in danger of losing its right to vote.
We need your help to organise a massive voter registration drive across Hackney: we are organising a community conference on this issue on Sunday 11 October and plan a voter registration week beginning Sunday 22 November: if you want to get involved click here
Council loses case to remove Staines squatters camped in adult learning centre - Get Surrey #onn #olsx
Council loses case to remove Staines squatters camped in adult learning centre - Get Surrey
"Inaccuracies" in the council's statements saw the judge find in favour of squatters who have been at site since June
Squatters can remain at a derelict adult learning centre in Staines after Surrey County Council lost a court case to have them removed.
The group, some of whom had previously lived at the Runnymede Eco Village, left the county court in Guildford victorious on Thursday (October 1) after what they said were ‘inaccuracies’ in the councils statements.
The council claimed they first became aware of the presence of the squatters at The Oast House, in Staines, on Thursday, September 17.
However, the self-named Four Seasons Community Cooperative group say they have been at the site since Saturday, June 13.
Speaking after the ruling, one squatter, called Mouse, said: “We are really glad the judge has listened to our side and accepted that we were there the whole time.
“We have had proceedings dropped in the past but never actually had a judge rule in our favour.
“There were a lot of inaccuracies in the council’s statement and I am glad she picked up on those.”
Circuit Judge Alison Raeside dismissed the Interim Possession Order for the property in Kingston Road.
She saw dated photographic evidence from the squatters supporting their time at the site and also evidence that officers failed to respond to internal alarms.
The council also failed to present written documents of inspections undertaken at the site.
Judge Raeside said: “The defendants appear to be straight forward and honest individuals and they know the law around squatting, they have to gain entry and keep in residency.
“They are fully aware that they need to show continuity of occupation and have done so with evidence.
“Doubt was cast on whether the defendant’s chain was put on the door and when, but shamefully there are no notes of the inspections by council.
“I accept that on June 13 one of the defendants took up occupancy and that there has been someone there ever since.
“I accept that a lock and chain was purchased and attached by the defendants.
“I find that the claimants ought to have known of the presence of the squatters and that is ignoring the fact that the first security alarm went off in June.”
Surrey County Council’s area facilities officer Ian Horgan claimed the council had only become aware of the squatters’ presence at the site on September 17 after he discovered a ‘loose chain’ he had not seen before wrapped around the entrance doors during a site inspection with a colleague two days previously.
“We inspected every room and every nook and cranny,” he said.
“We went all around the property checking for any damage and the only damage we found was water on the roof. There were no signs of any habitation whatsoever.”
Mr Horgan said council officers carried out site inspections quarterly at the Oast House, and the former brewery had been attended by either removal men, police or council staff on June 22, August 21, 24, 26 and September 8.
The judge ruled, however, these were times when they ought to have seen the squatters if the inspections had been as thorough as suggested.
Photographs provided by Daniel Baker, member of the Four Seasons Community Co-Operative, showed the squatters had secured the site with a new padlock on June 13.
Mr Baker told the court the council had failed to provide any documents to prove the site had been inspected and when he had first entered the property the alarm went off three times but ‘no one followed it up’.
“We all agreed to be locked in the building and all the time someone was in there,” he said. “The group agreed to remain in the stairwell by the doors. If they had checked every nook and cranny of the building they would have come across a person or belongings in the building.”
The squatters have a petition signed by more than 100 people and will submit this to the council in a bid to have the site named as a community asset and restored to its previous capacity as an Adult Learning Centre.
Thursday, 1 October 2015
Victory for runnymede squatters at Staines Community centre #onn #olsx #squat #protest #community #runnymede #homes4all
IPO Overturned!
Victory for Four Seasons Community Co-operative.
We now urgently need community minded people to help construct a social centre over this week.
Get in touch! 07956520647
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)