A group of left-wing anti-police protesters have taken over a former police station in Clapham in the United Kingdom, just 200 meters from where Sarah Everard had disappeared before her death, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
The building, situated along Cavendish Road in Clapham, South London, was reportedly occupied over the weekend by the protesters. Since then, they have begun squatting on the premises, covering the building in anti-police banners and graffiti.
This action was taken by GAF London and the squatters of the police station in solidarity with the Day of Action by @ResistAntiTresp.We send all our solidarity to Ruymán, the @FAGC_Anarquista and everyone suffering police and state violence. #FreeRuyman! #RuymánLibertad! pic.twitter.com/NAAFnbWlKD
— GreenAnticapitalistMedia (@FrontGreen) March 23, 2021
The squatters identify as a wide range of groups, including members of Antifa, Jewish Antifa, Black Liberation activists, Anarcha-Feminists and Anarchists with No Fixed Abode. They posted a statement on the door of the station, which is available here, claiming that they chose this specific location to demand the “end to male violence, a defunding of police and a refunding of communities,” as well as attempts by the British government to ban mass protests.
Earlier this week, the Mayor's Office gave the squatters a notice to vacate the building should they not vacate the premises. The notice, shared over social media by Antifa-aligned squatters, recognized the Mayor's Office as the owners of the building, and state that they "may exercise its rights to self-help," under common law, to force them out.
— NFA-AF (@nfa_antifascist) March 22, 2021
However, the squatters have stood firm, and remain on the site after the Mayor's Office's deadline passed.
A London police officer was put on trial for Everard's murder, and violence has broken out at several protests.