Six arrests were made during a major police operation to support the eviction of protesters from a London housing estate which has become a rallying point for campaigners opposing controversial regeneration schemes.
A standoff following scuffles late on Tuesday at the Aylesbury Estate, which is being cleared for demolition before a £1.5bn regeneration project, after the local council moved to evict a group who took over part of the estate following a March for Homes protest in London earlier this month.
Notting Hill Housing was named last year as the development partner for a 20-year regeneration scheme to build 4,000 homes.
Taking inspiration from recent housing campaigns such as Focus E15 and New Era, the people involved in the the occupation at the Aylesbury had mounted a last-ditch legal bid to challenge their eviction by Southwark council.
Speaking at the scene shortly after the eviction on Tuesday night, activist Charlie Ebert accused the police of heavy handedness and said the estate had become synonymous with a London housing shortage affecting the poor.
“What’s going on here is effectively social cleansing to make London a nice ‘clean’ place for the rich,” he said. “A group of us wanted to stand in the way of that so we took over some of the flats as an act of solidarity.”
Rock the 12 Bar Revolution Voices tribute to all the warriors of the underground who liberated the 12 bar,so much of our culture has come up from the squats and grass roots venues....liberate space and share ,viva the Uprising
https://soundcloud.com/rvee-3/rvee-rock-the-12-bar
The rapture is upon us. Join us at midnight for the post apocolyptic launch of Peace Squads sound system in the most holy of holies. Acid Tecno, neurofunk and drum n bass. Cheap drinks good vibes. Donations on the door. 00:00-late 229 lower clapton road E5 8EG. Entrance round the back. Pass it on
This Sat night 21st Feb Psypirate B'day bash with Avalon + lots more. Opus sound & amazing decor. For location info email yr mobile no to psypiratedaz@gmail.com
This was taking place for years, up until December 2014.
The ruling means that ANYONE around the world can ask the spy agency if their records were unlawfully shared by the NSA.
Privacy International will collect all of the requests - which involve entering in your name, email address and phone number - from around the world and then submit them to the UK Investigatory Powers Tribunal.
If it turns out you HAVE been illegally spied on, you can then request that your records - including emails, phone records and internet communications - are deleted.
The recent ruling was actually the first time in the Investigatory Powers Tribunal’s history that it had ruled AGAINST the actions of security services.
"Intelligence agencies' culture of secrecy has allowed them, for too long, to avoid public accountability.
"Whether it's secret hearings in closed court rooms or committees equipped only with rubber stamps, intelligence agencies like GCHQ have never been forced to answer to the public for their actions," says Privacy International.
"The public have a right to know if they were illegally spied on, and GCHQ must come clean on whose records they hold that they should never have had in the first place,” adds Eric King, Deputy Director of Privacy International, adding that this was a "historic opportunity" to hold GCHQ accountable.
Six people were arrested on Tuesday night in a London council estate, following a standoff between riot police and activists protesting against the ‘social cleansing’ of London's poor.
Southwark's Aylesbury Estate has become a focal point for campaigners who strongly oppose controversial regeneration schemes in the capital. It has been earmarked for demolition as part of a £1.5 billion regeneration scheme spearheaded by Southwark Council.
Activists occupied flats in the estate on February 1 in protest against the development project. But Southwark council sought to evict the campaigners on Tuesday evening, following an official court order. Met officers arrived on the scene to assist the local authority.
Among the activists present when police arrived were members of housing campaign group Aylesbury Occupation. Following a tense standoff with police, the campaigners eventually dispersed.
Occupy Democracy February – “Equality and Representation”
Last weekend, ‘Occupy Democracy’ returned to Parliament Square for a series of events around ‘Equality and Representation’. Despite an ongoing legal challenge against the GLAover previous repression, on Saturday they faced further arrests by police who appeared to be having difficulty providing a legal basis for their actions.
The afternoon began peacefully on the pavement by Churchill’s statue with a presentation on Islamaphobia, followed by a mock funeral for democracy at the foot of Mandela’s statue.
Then the activists walked on to the grass area and unfurled a huge tarpaulin, on which they continued debate, with an inspirational offering from Kerry-anne Mendoza (aka Scriptonite).
Heritage Wardens and police kept interrupting proceedings and attempting to hand over pieces of paper and information to members of the group, but were mostly ignored. Police numbers were also building up, with TSG officers arriving on the scene, and suddenly a dozen or more officers bundled into the crowd, ignoring the shouts that there were elderly and infirm individuals present, and they made their first arrest of the evening, targeting Donnachadh McCarthy, author and media activist. The authorities clearly see him as some sort of focus, as this is the fourth arrest he has endured.
From then on, the evening descended into a petty legal farce and police actions which successfully disrupted the planned events. Superintendent Kohli, heading the police operation, began the evening in assured form claiming his conscience was clear, but as legal arguments ensued, he was heard arguing with CPS about whether CCTV was needed to support any charges, and later literally refused to speak with Bindman’s lawyers and drove away into the night. See the video.
Each of the several more arrests over the evening followed the same bizarre pantomime. A Heritage Warden, surrounded by a large group of TSG officers, would randomly select a member of the public on the grass and (if they didn’t run away), would ask them to leave the grass, without giving any reason for the request. He then claimed they were breaking a Bye-Law by not following a “reasonable direction”, but constant requests to be told the “reason” for the request were ignored. He then asked for a name and address, and if refused, police piled in to arrest the person targeted.
At one point, people in chorus (using the ‘mic check’ technique of call and response), described to the wardens and officers that some months ago, a Bindman’s solicitor had explained to the commanding Inspector why this exact same scenario was unlawful, and as a result he had withdrawn nearly 200 officers allowing the occupation to continue peacefully – this caused the police and wardens to withdraw and huddle for a while, but they returned for more arrests soon after.
The argument lies around whether a Warden can just issue a direction to leave (which clearly opens him/her up to the dangers of discrimination or infringement of human rights), or whether the “reasonable direction” has to have one of the reasons defined by the rest of the Bye-Laws.
The arrestees were released hours later, and all except Donnachadh, who is facing other charges, were told there would be ‘No Further Action’. Thus, the entire police operation seriously disrupted a peaceful and probably entirely lawful assembly by a few dozen people wishing to discuss the state of democracy in front of Parliament. It seems the occupy movement have a point.
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They returned the next day and again held many of their workshops (with topics including ‘feeding the homeless’, ‘black activism’, ‘Greece and Syriza’) on the pavement next to Churchill’s statue.
Romayne Phoenix
But when they peacefully moved to the grass, they faced further intimidation and harassment from wardens and police threatening further arrests.
They finished the day by holding a small rally in front of Parliament.
Superintendent Kohli certainly had CCTV covered on the Sunday, with a crew of four mysterious figures observing and filming from an overlooking window, and an unmarked green van sporting a powerful surveillance camera just behind the gates of Westminster.
Occupy Democracy return to the Square on the day of the massive Climate March next month on the 7th.
We need to work on more legal shielding ,rather than ringing bindmans when it goes off, maybe Gavin from bindmans solicitors who is sent in emergency can be there during the whole thing. Can we put a call out for other solicitors,as they are stronger legal shield ,than the excellent Legal observers we already have.
Also more work to bring in media shield coverage,national and international film crews to shame the governments,blatant political policing.
And Bomber Boris' GLA free speech clamp down.
WHO is it in the GLA that decides that democratic discussion is trespassing.
The police could not tell us we need to know who the decision maker is,is it Boris or some mid level GLA manager who determines which groups can and can't have discussion and debate in the heart of our so called democracy (corporatocracy)
Possibly some more direct action training,for if when the police come in,linking arms ,sitting down,arm tubes,locking on to each other ???
also would like to observe that we need to sometimes keep moving ,when a heritage warden approaches you the best tactic is to ignore and move away from him fast.
The heading away from wardens and police fast has helped avoid arrest a number of times.
Then obviously returning back to the discussion.
would also like to share a tactic from the school kids in parly sq when the Iraq War 2 started, as soon as the police got 2 sides on a kettle ,some one would shout,change the scenery and the kids would get up and run around in all directions very fast.
Totally frustrating the police attempts to contain them.Imaginethe police trying to catch many fleet footed school kids in the playground of parliament.
We need to sometimes move around very fast in different directions and then "swarm"
back together to continue democratic discussion.
Just some ideas folks, keep networking viva the resistance and lets all pump the networking machine for March 7th and make it the largest Occupy Democracy ever.
Lets get those stickers up in all the tube/bus stations across london.
Aylesbury estate eviction operation began an hour ago,resistance is strong call out for support. 
