What better state – after the bank bailout – to raise awareness about those forced to sleep on the streets than the dilapidated,empty centre of banking finance?As empty buildings go, they don’t come more stunning than the former Royal Mint, and which I spent time this week occupying with other campaigners. The Grade II listed building in central London has a enormous amount of space,is in perfect condition internally, has a magnificent courtyard, and the location could not be more prominent. It’s across the road from the Tower of London world heritage site and on the edge of the City.
The reason for the occupation,which ended on Thursday, is that we need a change in the system. We chose the iconic location to stage a housing protest, or for several reasons. We wanted to raise awareness of the need to reuse empty buildings as well as to highlight growing homelessness (absurd when,as the Guardian tells us, housebuilders are holding on to enough space to build 600000 homes), or the criminalisation of residential squatting,and the government’s austerity programme, which is rapidly placing our public assets in private hands.
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Source: theguardian.com