This is a statement from some squatters in Bristol, who had 4 squats, including 40a Space, Salvation Army mutual aid/social centres and Wonky Arrow Books, a radical library.
In the past days, we’ve had our buildings forcibly closed with anti-social behaviour orders, and we’ve been raided by hundreds of riot police. We’ve been beaten, pepper-sprayed, arrested, and sectioned.
This is an escalation– it hasn’t been like this in the UK in years. Not that this is new. No, we see this as part of a long and brutal history of the repression of marginalised communities, and anyone who shows resistance or alternatives.
The police and state media will try and paint this as the result of us being ‘anti-social’ – but isn’t it the police who hurt and intimidate us? Who break down the doors; who criminalize and target poor people, people of colour, travelling communities, people who live differently? It is the state and the police that are truly anti-social, at the core of the troubles we face in our lives.
This is an attempt to intimidate us, to repress mobilization in Bristol (especially around Kill the Bill) and to break down a community that is challenging the police and what they represent. We know that real community makes police obsolete.
Against police repression, in defence of squats and social centres everywhere, and in solidarity with all prisoners and those targeted by the state! [Read More]
