Evil Standard article on occupy camp at mike n magpies yard network it

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/margaret-thatchers-old-hq-is-targeted-in-protest-at-new-laws-on-squatting-8961814.html?origin=internalSearch

The group have set up camp on the driveway of the office - now used by Conservative MP Mike Freer- and are refusing to leave until he spends a night camping with them.

One of the group of around a dozen activists said they had chosen to target the location because of its history as the birthplace of Thatcherism. 

Dom, 27, who did not give his second name, said: “The Conservative Party has done a lot of harm to this country so this being Margaret Thatcher’s office adds to our reason for being here.” “Mike Freer is partly responsible for the criminalising of squatting while more than one million homes are empty. It used to be a civil matter but now you could face time in jail. It makes it difficult for people to find shelter. Squatting can save people’s lives.”

Another, Daniel Gardonyi, 32, vowed they would stay camped outside the office of the Finchley and Golders Green MP until Mr Freer joined them.

“Mike Freer tried to kick us out. We will stay until he comes and speaks with us and sleeps in a tent to see what it is like, so he can relate to the homeless,” he said.

But Mr Freer called the protest “futile” as he had not been at his constituency office since Friday.

“They arrived on Friday and protested outside my office but they hadn’t worked out I would be in Westminster like every other MP.

“They have rung the buzzer of the office but that’s the sum of all contact. They have a view and I disagree with it. Camping outside my front door is not going to persuade me to change my mind.

“I supported the criminalisation of squatting because it was a big problem in my constituency. I don’t think it was right that hard working families that have saved would come home from holiday or having a house refurbished and would find someone else living in it.”

The activists claimed they had been given verbal permission to camp in the driveway but Mr Freer denied this.

“Initially it was fine but by camping they are intimidating and deterring my constituents from coming to the door. I’m hoping they will see sense and we are considering our next step,” he said.

Baroness Thatcher’s political career officially began when she was elected as MP for Finchley in 1959. She served the constituency throughout her time as Prime Minister and only stepped down two years after leaving Downing Street.