SQUATTING.

     Since October 1991's government talk of impending
     new  laws to tackle squatting, the squatting
     community has been up  and down and around the
     block trying to mobilize against the  changes and
     waiting for something concrete to be announced.
     At the Conservative party conference last summer
     the home  secretary momentarily united a
     disunited party with a set of  27 proposals to
     rectify the state of the UK. Leaving aside 
     topics such as rising poverty, homelessness, cuts
     in social  spending and increased taxation on the
     poorest section of the  populace, he spelled out
     the dangers facing UK citizens. The  blight of
     Britain's shining society was of course,
     squatters,  travellers, hunt saboteurs, single
     mothers, terrorists,  pornographers, ticket touts
     and child criminals. Henceforth,  he promised
     more prison building, tougher sentencing and new 
     offences for possession of items intended for
     terrorist  purposes (like clocks?) and possession
     of information likely  to be of use to terrorists
     for planning acts of violence (like  who's who
     book ?). He also ended the right to silence when 
     arrested whereby you need not say anything during
     questioning  by the cops. Now it will be
     mentioned to the courts that you  refused to
     speak in the interrogation. You can imagine it. 
     Cop-'he refused to speak, your honour', judge-'he
     said nothing  at all, eh?' cop - 'well, except
     when he told me to fuck off  you filthy
     bastard!'.
     The Queen's speech on 18th November, where the
     old queen  reads a list of intended legislation,
     did not specifically  mention squatting, but
     included it as a part of the new  Criminal
     Justice Bill (which will include the above
     mentioned  new gems too).
     Landlords will still need a possession order from
     the  civil courts to get an eviction BUT the
     court case will be  heard Ex Parte, this means
     that the squatters will not be  given notice of
     the hearing or be allowed to attend. As a 
     squatter, the first you'll hear about it will be
     the knock on  your door from the landlord or the
     cops telling you that a  possession order has
     been granted and that you have 24 hours  to leave
     or face arrest and a fine of 5000 or 6 months in 
     prison. The government has justified the new laws
     saying that  squatters will be able to get a
     hearing after their eviction.  We suspect that
     squatters will not jump for joy at this. Also, 
     any Landlord desiring a speedy eviction of
     unwanted tenants  can simply claim that the
     occupiers are squatters as there  will be no-one
     in the court to dispute this. 
     At the time of writing (Jan 94) none of these
     proposals  have been made law so SQUATTING IS
     STILL LEGAL despite  unscrupulous cops, landlords
     and councils who have been trying  to convince
     squatters otherwise. Squatters Action For Secure 
     Homes (SQUASH), the group set up to fight against
     new laws,  say that it is unlikely that this crap
     will receive the royal  assent (when the Queen
     'approves' the law) before May or June  1994.
     SQUASH have been lobbying MPs to nominal effect
     but have  secured sympathetic words fomr the main
     liberal housing  charities. They have also done
     media work like giving  interviews on TV and
     radio. The networking group (in SQUASH)  have
     been working on getting out info to Tenants
     Associations  about how the law could affect
     their rights. They have also  tried to encourage
     groups to set up in areas where there is,  at
     present, no real squatting group. 
     Across London, various well established squat
     groups have  been busy too. In Hackney, an
     informational leaflet was done  to inform tenants
     and licensees on local estates of the  proposed
     changes. Tottenham are monitoring empty
     porperties  and prodduced a leaflet. They also
     called a public meeting,  leafleting 2000 homes
     and flyering for the event too. New  groups may
     be starting in Hammersmith and Tower Hamlets
     after  initial meetings.
     
     RUTLAND PARK - future shock?
     
     The eviction of the massive squatted Rutland Park 
     Mansions in Brent in West London in December
     could be the  shape of things to come after any
     changes in the laws on  squatting.
     Rutland Park Mansions have been occupied for over
     ten  years after two thirds of the council-owned
     building had been  left for years to decay.
     Declared as 'surplus to it's housing 
     requirements', the council agreed to sell the
     site to  Paddington Churches Housing Association
     (PCHA) as the latter  wanted to link development
     to an existing PCHA block in  Rutland Park. The
     development proposals failed to take into 
     account the integrity of the Victorian buildings
     so the  campaign to save the block made a
     proposal for a scheme  whereby the existing
     buildings would stay intact. Much work  was being
     done to secure refurbishment guarantees as
     opposed  to demolition but various court
     appearances could not stop the  eviction. Brent
     Council at one point were paying 100 a day to  a
     security frimr for guards to live in the only
     empty flat in  the block to prevent it being
     squatted.
     Despite a great and hearty local campaign, on the
     Sunday  morning at dawn, 300 riot cops guarded
     baillifs who, ignoring  friendly offers of tea,
     sledgehammered their way through the  flats and
     set about destrying fittings and breaking
     windows.
     The police kept journalists out of the area near
     the  squat saying that they feared for their
     safety and that they  expected trouble from the
     squatters, talking of MOlotovs and  booby-traps
     too. All this was just a blatant lie with the
     sole  purpose of justifying the eviction by 300
     cops out of sight of  th epress. No barricades
     were set and no arrests were made. It  was
     well-known that the Rutland Park squatters were
     not out  for a violent confrontation. Alongside
     the vicious eviction  and demolition of Chestnut
     tree in Wanstead, less than a week  earlier, this
     eviction was a sure sign of a new reality for 
     those who squat to live or occupy to resist. 
     
     Talking of which....
     
     Another European capital big squat is gone. The
     Wohlgroth  in Zurich city centre has been
     evicted. Say hello to EC  harmonisation.
     Home to 120 people, with a bar and cafe and
     numerous  other totally together activities and
     spaces, the Wohlgroth  was faced in November with
     an offer of an alternative building  from the
     owners Burhle (an international arms company) and
     the  local council. An empty factory (also owned
     by Burhle) in the  Zurich suburbs was offered to
     the squatters if they left  Wohlgroth without
     resistance.
     Wohlgroth people took the keys from Burhle and in
     front  of the media (who's coverage has been
     good), handed the keys  to 2 theatre groups, and
     declined the offer because the place  had no
     living space and because they don't want the big
     office  development to go ahead at the Wohlgroth
     site. The media  coverage becomes more hostile,
     now that the 'reasonable' offer  had been
     refused.
     On 20th November, 2000 people demonstrated for
     Wohlgroth  with the motto "Wohlgroth stays where
     it is"; however, 2 days  later, 300 cops with
     helicopters, anti-terrorist units and  firemen
     standing by, turned up and the squatters had to
     leave  the place. The crowd around the building
     were pushed by the  cops and by water cannon
     whilst the cops inside trashed the  place.
     On 24th November, Taro, a former homeless shelter
     closed  by the city 2 years before, was squatted
     and on the 24th, a  quick demo is held against
     the eviction resulting in 39  arrestws and an old
     man is struck by a stone thrown against  the
     cops, resulting in massively hostile press
     against the  Wohlgroth. On the Monday, cops raid
     the Taro looking for the  stone thrower. Three
     more housses are squatted nearby and on 
     Saturday, 800 people march against the eviction
     behind the  banner - "What's all this bullshit
     about?". As we write, the  cops are everywhere in
     the area and private cops (protectas)  are
     protecting Wohlgroth whilst it is destroyed.
     Nobody know  what will happen to the new squats.
     Source: Kasama FAX - 0041-02719012   
     
     