Tooley Street yesterday
“The Aylesbury tenants are asking for the estate to be refurbished and repopulated, not demolished. So that is what we’re doing, one block at a time. Unfortunately Southwark Council just wants to smash them up, and get on with their demolition”
This is what "regeneration" looks like from Watchful eye on Vimeo.
Yesterday we held a short demo outside Southwark Council’s main offices on Tooley Street. We took along bags of broken glass and broken sinks, gathered from flats that had been smashed up by council workers.
They made a very visual demonstration of what ‘regeneration’ looks like on the ground, and caused the closure of the main entrance for the entire hour that we were there.
As well as Aylesbury residents (tenants, leaseholders and squatters) there were plenty of other locals and housing campaigners there to show their support.
“What the council don’t seem to realise is that we’ve seen this before. We’ve seen what happened to all the people who used to live on the Heygate, we’ve seen how the leaseholders were treated there, we’ve seen how Peter John and the others lie, and we don’t trust them any more”.
There was a lively atmosphere, with lots of chanting, and hastily-produced signs, to explain why we were there. “Social housing not social cleansing” “Shame on you, Southwark vandals”
We attracted a lot of attention, and overwhelming support, from passing pedestrians and bus drivers/ passengers.
Here are some photos of the event:
There are more photos on http://linkis.com/www.demotix.com/news/tMOQy
If you’re a photographer, and are happy for us to use your work, please make contact with us and let us know!
We’ve spent a lot of time this week cleaning up the abandoned Chartridge flats. We’ve filled many bags with broken glass and bathroom rubble, but also with clothing and other household items left behind by those already forced out of their homes.
Some of us will be joining the Focus E15 campaign this evening, to protest outside the annual British Credit Awards. These celebrate achievement within the bailiff industry by handing out prizes for “best enforcement team” etc. We don’t want them to forget all those who have been on the receiving end of this enforcement!
We’ll be using stuff gathered on the Aylesbury to help recreate a post-eviction streetscape outside, for all the black-tie dinner-dance attendees to pick their way through.
Do come and join us!
Starts at 6pm sharp outside the Brewery, 52 Chiswell Street, EC1Y 4SD.
More info at http://focuse15.org/
Fight for the Aylesbury 
It was a very good demo, thanks to occupation made our case widely known.
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