Illegal squatting

Date: 31 August 2012 09:18:23

As from midnight tonight squatting will be illegal in England and Wales. (I don't know if this applies to Scotland or Northern Ireland.)

1974

Back in 1974 squatting, taking up residence in someone else's property, was a way of registering political unrest. The Centrepoint building, then one of the tallest in London, had been empty since it had been built seven years previously. It was famously occupied for two days in January that year as a protest .

Newcastle

In Newcastle-upon-Tyne I was part of a similar but longer protest that year. A lot of property development had gone on in that city, yet there was a lack of affordable housing. There were empty office blocks but a high number of people sleeping rough. We occupied part of the ground floor of an office block near the Tyne Bridge. No damage was done to the property.

One thing we did after gaining access was to allow shelter in the building for homeless people. One was a family with two small children. Another had a child in a pushchair. The need was great, people needed housing and there were empty buildings.

The problem with the new law is that protests like that will now become illegal. People's property needs protection, yes, but the needs of poverty and homelessness need addressing too.

God is on the side of the oppressed

If a similar situation arose today would I join in a similar protest despite it now being illegal? Yes I would. I believe in a God that the Bible declares is on the side of the marginalised and oppressed, of the widow and orphan. Of course I'd do it again.