Tuesday 1st November Protest against Criminalisation of Squatting

bristol | protests | news report Wednesday November 02, 2011 12:35 by squatria

Early yesterday morning saw a demonstration outside the local government customer service point Phoenix house on Bond street in central Bristol against the criminalisation of squatting in residential property which was to be debated in parliament on that day as part of the legal aid bill. Despite the 8 o'clock start, over 20 people attended for the two hours duration, handing out leaflets to passers-by about the situation and holding banners which read; HOMES NOT JAILS, NO to the CRIMINALISATION OF SQUATTING, and 'this queue will be ten times longer if squatting is criminalised'. The manager of the customer service point after contacting the police and being advised not to open the office called down three large council security guards to stand outside the building and collected peoples paperwork for the office on the street. The police themselves failed to put in an appearance until the demonstration ended at 10 a.m. Demonstrators informed various people who had come to use the office of the end time so that they knew when to return to gain access. The protest was generally well received bar a couple of angry men wanting into the office. Motorists passing honked their horns in solidarity on what is a busy central through fare at that time in the morning and 500 leaflets were handed out to people on their way to work. Following this, five protesters then went to the central shopping district of Broadmead as part of this public information campaign and handed out a further 500 information flyers containing the squash campaign website until midday, continuing to engage members of the public in conversation on the topic.