Bob Carr/ Kim Beazley approved urban renewal

FALLEN SAINTS

On Tuesday, St Agnes Place, Kennington - the oldest squatted
street in London - was evicted by bailiffs and hundreds of riot
police. On Wednesday the area including the park was still
cordoned off, and it is believed demolition was taking place.
Supporters turned up, but there was very little they could do due
to the sheer scale of the police operation. A wake for the death
of St Agnes Street was held at Lambeth Town Hall in the afternoon.
The eviction took a full twelve hours with the last few remaining
residents brutally beaten by the cops, resulting in one losing
consciousness and being taken away by ambulance.

Police also evicted the Pirate TV bus, despite being unable to
find anything wrong with the paperwork or the bus, except that it
couldn't start. The cops instructed it be towed away but luckily
the boys from the recovery firm managed to get it going and save
it from the police compound.

Not content with evicting a whole street, police and bailiffs then
evicted a squat in nearby Bolton Crescent, despite the fact the
court case for the eviction was not due to be held till 16th
December, making the eviction illegal: nice to see the boys in
blue upholding the law.

There was predictably little mainstream coverage of the eviction,
and the journos around were "embedded" with the police, and only
shown what the police chose to show. The eviction marks the ends
of the thirty year old vibrant community and leaves 150 people
homeless with winter already here. It will instead be replaced by
a soulless estate and a sports centre. It is reckoned that "unpaid
rent" on the properties amounted to £4m over the years and that,
according to Lambeth Council, they were "paying nothing to the
community" - as if paying rent for your home to some landlord was
more important than actually being a thriving community not based
on capitalist exploitation. www.stagnesplace.net