Squatters occupying the former Walton Lodge laundry on Coldharbour Lane say that they were attacked by builders this morning, resulting in the police being called and one arrest made.
Squatters and activists occupied the building yesterday ahead of Saturday’s Reclaim Brixton event, and hung a large banner from the second floor with the words, “#Black Communities Matter. Reclaim Brixton.”
This morning, builders forced entry into the building, using sledgehammers to break their way in. One was reported to have smashed a window almost in the face of one activist.
Another told Brixton Buzz that he had been violently thrown out of the building and then kicked by builders when he was on the floor.
UPDATE: see video footage of the eviction here.
Fearing for their safety, the squatters called the police who took control of the situation and arrested one of the builders.
After some confusion over whether the squat was legal (i.e. was it commercial or residential), the police decided that it was indeed residential after a representative for Lexadon insisted that a caretaker lived in the building.
The squatters were then told to leave the premises and were doing so peacefully, although tempers rose when an aggressive Lexadon representative tried to manhandle a photographer in the street.
The former laundry was bought last year by multi-millionaire property tycoons Jerry and Janet Knight, a couple who feature on the Rich List and who now own vast amounts of luxury rental property around the Brixton area.
Last year, Jerry Knight was fined £175,000 under the Proceeds Of Crime Act after renting out a property as flats, despite having no planning applications to do so, and being repeatedly turned down by the council.
Sign of the times? Porsche seen parked outside the old laundry.
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