Clifton Mansions, homes turned into assets
Published:
July 13, 2011 21:12
by
London Indymedia
Neighbourhoods: brixton coldharbour_lane
Published by group:
Imc London Features
Tuesday's morning eviction of Clifton Mansions, a block of flats in Brixton's Coldharbour Lane, signaled the end to one of the longest lasting community of squatters in the neighbourhood. The residents in the 22 flats that had been occupied since the early 1990's were made homeless in the latest operation of further gentrification of central Brixton that involved police in riot gear, a police helicopter hovering over the area, the fire brigade and bailiffs.
Read full report & pics | more pics | video | Tumblewire timeline | Analysis text
More pics: Party (Urban75) | Eviction (Urban75) & more (Urban75) | Pics (Demotix)
The eviction of Clifton Mansions signals the end of an era for Brixton. Clifton Mansions was not the only squat in the area, and it will not be the last one, but it definitely represented one of the last bastions of resistance to the ongoing gentrification of central Brixton.
As the squatters of Clifton Mansions stated: "now Lambeth Council will pay Camelot, a private company, to provide “live-in guardians” to occupy Clifton Mansions, whilst the squatters have been providing a free guardian service for years. Why make people homeless and then pay a multinational company to occupy their homes? Eventually Lambeth wants to sell Clifton Mansions to property developers, further reducing Lambeth's social housing stock in central Brixton. Clifton Mansions will be turned into luxury flats priced well beyond the means of the local community."
The building now remains lifeless and ready to be put on the market. As one of the tumbles in London Indymedia states: "This used to be a home to people, now it's an asset".
See tumblepics of Clifton Mansions 24 hours after the eviction: 1 | 2 | 3
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solidarity
we left when it looked like bodies were going to start falling off the roof.. beer bottles were one issue but serious injury/death seemed on the cards.. Returned at 8am with no-one appearing to be resisting.. One anarchist was berated by an alcoholic squatter for wanting to organise and resist. we saw little point in sticking around to help if none of the residents wanted to show a concerted effort.. The gates were open and a few residents were talking to the police outside, there was no issue for the police just walking in at 8:30am.. I saw the police vans speeding up the road shortly after we left... presume they let the place get barricaded to justify the operation and the resources put into the eviction.... correct me if I'm wrong!!!!!!!!!