A letter regarding Occupy Liverpool

I received a copy of this letter today from a sympathetic resident of 1 Crosshall Street, an apartment building near Occupy Liverpool. Those occupying the building will likely be familiar with the information provided, but I think it’s an interesting read nonetheless. I have copied the wording of the body of the letter verbatim and provided contact details of the signees at the bottom.


The body of the letter reads as follows:

Dear Resident 

Occupy Liverpool

We are writing to you to update you on the Occupy Liverpool protests. As you be aware, a group of protestors are squatting in the Tinlings Building on Crosshall Street and have been there for the last couple of weeks.

Residents living in your building have contacted us with concerns around safety and noise.

We have been working closely with the Police and the City Council’s Environmental Team to deal with these issues and wanted to let you know where things are up to:

• The Tinlings Building is subject to a prohibition notice served by Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service (MFRS), the protestors have been advised on the risk from fire and the presence of asbestos in the building but have chosen to remain in the building. MFRS have therefore discharged their duty of care   
• The building owners, Huntsmere Developments Ltd have commenced legal action to obtain an injunction to take the building back. It is estimated that it will be 3 to 4 weeks before the injunction is obtained. Once they have the injunction, Huntsmere will appoint bailiffs to remove the protesters, the Police’s role being to prevent a breach of the peace.
• The occupation of the building is lawful until such time as the injunction is obtained.

We would ask residents to continue to report any specific issues they have with the protestors.

With kind regards

Councillors Nick Small, Sharon Sullivan & Christine Banks

Labour Councillor for Central Ward

The councillors’ contact details are as follows:

Councillor Nick Small: 07986 445 820 nick.small@liverpool.gov.uk

Councillor Sharon Sullivan: 0151 225 2366 sharon.sullivan@liverpool.gov.uk

Councillor Christine Banks: 07732 222 940 christine.banks@liverpool.gov.uk

Also of interest will be the website of Huntsmere Developments Ltd. You can find them at http://www.huntsmere.co.uk/

Judging from their portfolio, the Tinlings Building, after many years lying empty and abandoned while space such as this is at a premium in Liverpool, is set to become, at an as yet unspecified date in the future, yet more luxury apartments which those most in need of housing in the city will never be able to afford. The space has much more potential under Occupy Liverpool’s plans to turn the building into a community centre.

As Liverpool City Council abandons spaces such as these and turns them over to the private sector (which often leaves spaces empty for years) and at the same time cuts funding to services on which residents of the city rely, activists should be prepared to occupy spaces such as these and turn them over to positive use for the people of Liverpool. I’m sure if this were to happen, the public, including residents of the apartment building mentioned earlier, would give it their support.

A short post about squats and Occupy Liverpool

This post is written against a background in which Occupy Liverpool recently “took possession” of an abandoned building in Liverpool city centre. The building “belongs” to Liverpool City Council and has been empty and available for sale for several years.

There is currently a battle over the public perception of squats and squatters, with politicians and the media desperate to portray them in a negative light while ignoring the scandal of empty, dilapidated spaces. The state clearly sees squatting as a threat to its authority and a direct challenge to the capitalist system itself, and it has gone to great lengths to try to criminalize it outright. I believe the best way to counter this is for squatters and occupiers to turn squatted buildings such as these over to positive social use as spaces for discourse, education and practical action, and perhaps as shelters, soup kitchens, medical facilities, counselling centres and a place where the public can be taught practical skills.

I believe the public would be far more supportive of these abandoned spaces being used in this way than of the “owners” of the spaces to allow them to rot, or to be turned into yet more “luxury” apartments unaffordable to the average local worker. Imaginative and positive use of such spaces can only be beneficial in showing that spaces such as these can be put to better use than as overpriced city centre luxury dwellings.

I hope that Occupy Liverpool can find suitable uses for their new location to provide something positive to the community of Liverpool and to allow the group to visibly challenge media perceptions of squats and the government’s continuing desire to criminalize squatting. 

A report from the attempted eviction of Occupy Liverpool

After seeing the call for help on Facebook I arrived around 5pm to find occupiers in the street confronting police near a yellow Matrix van following the arrest of 3 of the occupiers by plainclothes officers who didn’t identify themselves properly.  I learned that the occupiers had left the building voluntarily to talk to the police and had subsequently been arrested on suspicion of the possession of a controlled substance. After arrival I had noticed a couple of large men in track suits standing to one side, watching the proceedings. They stood out a mile as EDL and I asked several occupiers if they recognized them. They didn’t seem to be taking photographs or filming anybody at the scene so we decided to ignore them for now.

Police were standing guard at the entrances to the building but were, of course, unable to gain access. Section 6 notices had been taped to each entrance. Police were also denying access to anybody on the street, declaring the building to be a crime scene.  When quizzed about what the crime was, the police refused to answer.  More police arrived and there was now probably 20-30 officers in attendance, including several Matrix vans and dog units. Following a short impasse, occupiers inside the building requested food and water, which was then brought to the site by occupiers on the street. Formal permission to pass the food and water into the building was requested and refused, and anybody attempting to pass food and water into the building was threatened with immediate arrest under again unspecified laws. Officers were dispatched to each window on the ground floor to physically prevent food and water being passed in.

After communication with legal representation an announcement was made that the occupiers inside the building were entitled to food and water, and an attempt was made to pass the food and water into the building. This was met by an immediate and unnecessarily violent response by the police in front of the windows. The bag of food and water was ripped from one occupier’s hands and police began to get physical with several people on the street before being forced to retreat back to the windows by the now angry crowd. It was at this point, as tensions threatened to boil over, that the officer(s) in charge approached their subordinates and gave the order to stand down. The police beat a hasty retreat back to their vehicles and began to leave, and we were then successful in quickly getting the food and water into the building. One woman on the scene, accompanied by several occupiers, was invited to talk to the officer in charge and was assured the police wouldn’t return. This was taken by many with a pinch of salt. At this point we learned that the three arrested occupiers had now been released and were on their way back, and I had it confirmed to me that someone had recognized our track suited friends as EDL. They left as soon as the police disappeared.

Morale seemed high and the occupiers seemed determined to carry on in some form. I also had an in-depth discussion with somebody who had turned up to help about squats in Liverpool and the possibility of turning squats to a positive social use in addition to providing shelter for those in occupation. I left at around 9pm, but not before several drive-bys from the police in cars and Matrix vans. A possible indication of a police strategy of intimidation over the coming hours, days and weeks. The occupiers will need to remain vigilant.