‘Love Activists’ protesters in standoff with police in central London | UK news | The Guardian

‘Love Activists’ protesters in standoff with police in central London | UK news | The Guardian: "Love Activists’ protesters in standoff with police in central London Police attend scene as squatters climb on to ledge of building close to Trafalgar Square to protest against housing crisis • The story of the Love Activists Share 375 inShare 4 Email Diane Taylor, Josh Halliday and Hannah Ellis-Petersen The Guardian, Wednesday 24 December 2014 19.41 GMT Jump to comments (546) The squatters took over the vacant building earlier this week and planned to provide a free lunch to homeless people on Christmas Day. Photograph: Diane Taylor A group of squatters vowed to take their high-stakes standoff with the police and bailiffs into Christmas Day after protestors scaled the balcony of a five-story Victorian building in central London. Two members of the self-styled “Love Activists” refused to leave the former RBS office when bailiffs arrived to evict them on Wednesday morning. As police officers and bailiffs looked on, the squatters climbed on to the ledge of a first-floor balcony of the grade II-listed building on the corner of Charing Cross Road and St Martin’s Lane. The squatters took over the vacant building earlier this week and planned to provide a free festive lunch to homeless people on Christmas Day in protest at the housing crisis. Most of the squatters left the building when the bailiffs turned up, but two activists refused to leave and took to the ledge of a 30ft-high balcony as a police officer stood nearby. About 10 police officers were at the scene, with a police van and ambulance on standby. Concerns grew for the safety of the balcony protesters as the temperature dropped, prompting paramedics to warn that they risked losing their balance if they refused to come down. A Metropolitan police spokesman confirmed that officers had been called in by the bailiffs to prevent a breach of the peace. No arrests had been made at the time of publication. One of the squatters on the balcony, Danny Freeman, 22, told the Guardian: “We heard banging on the door at 8am and some people forced their way in. We don’t know who they were because they wouldn’t tell us and have not provided us with any paperwork. “I climbed on to the balcony and then I called the police. I can’t put into words how distressed I feel about this. We won’t be able to provide Christmas lunch for the homeless now and about 50 people who were sleeping here will be homeless over Christmas. I’m here for the long haul, I’m not planning to come down from the balcony. I’d rather spend Christmas here than in the cells.” In October, Freeman carried out a protest by standing on a Winston Churchill statue in Parliament Square in London in a 28-hour standoff with police. About 50 protesters – including some who said they were homeless – turned up to support the occupation with rallying chants of “homes not banks”. The standoff was mostly peaceful, but police officers at one point scuffled with a protestor who tried to push back their barriers. Pete Phoenix, one of the protesters, was invited inside the building by police negotiators to speak to the protesters on the balcony. “There are ambulance staff, police officers and police negotiators inside the building. The ambulance staff have warned the protesters that their legs have got very cold which makes the blood supply pool in their feet, this could lead them to faint and fall off the ledge. They are getting very cold and we are concerned about them,” he said. "

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