Overkill

The BBC website today carries a story about people being evicted from ‘London’s oldest squat’. To remove 150 squatters – some of whom have been in the properties for 30 years! – required the services of 200 riot police in twenty vans. Talk about overkill.

According to the story, the majority of the squatters left peacefully, although “some refused to move and barricaded themselves into the properties and one man threw a petrol bomb, before dropping his dog from a second-floor window”. (the dog was caught by the man’s friend, and was unharmed) So, from the sound of that, a couple of pieces of resistance – hardly warranting 200 police in full riot gear.

Talk about overkill.

What really gets me, though, is the mealy-mouthed weasel from Lambeth Council…

It is estimated unpaid rent on the properties over 30 years amounted to £4m, plus a further £400,000 in council tax.

Mary Lynch, of Lambeth Council, told BBC News: “We can’t justify letting people live in these houses rent free, council tax free, paying nothing towards the community when we have 12,000 people on our waiting list for houses.”

It plans to demolish the properties and replace them with new homes – at least 75% affordable housing – and a sports centre.

You can’t justify the people living there rent-free, but frankly what the fuck have you done about it? They’ve been in those properties for thirty sodding years, and the council hasn’t managed to come forward with court cases, evictions, bailiffs or anything in that time. Surely that comes down to the council being lax, and not keeping track of their own properties and methods?

And how come the squatters haven’t been able to claim that the properties are theirs, as they’ve been in residence for more than 12 years?