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Riot police in stand off at squatters’ party
Up to 500 partygoers were in the property at one point
RIOT police were called to help break up an illegal squat party on Saturday night at a former black cab dealership on Holloway Road.
Police commanders refused to sanction a storming of the building instead preferring to play a waiting game until the revellers left of their own accord.
They were then prevented from returning to the event.
The event was hosted by an anarchist collective and billed as ‘Reclaim the Future 4’ on movement websites.
The building is on the site of the old Mann and Overton taxi cab dealership and is due to be demolished an redeveloped.
Squatters moved into the building a week ago to prepare for the Saturday event, which started at noon.
A police CCTV police van was present opposite the building throughout Saturday.
One of the party organisers, ‘Max’, said: “At around 4pm the fire brigade wanted to check health and safety.
“They are not a political organisation like the police are, so we gladly showed them around. We satisfied all their requirements and they were happy.
“We hired security to keep the trouble out, we had medics inside, and we police the parties ourselves.
“We were aware it’s a quiet residential area. We kept the music down, and turned it down further when the police asked.”
Earlier in the day an afternoon of workshops included alternative energy, direct action and bike maintenance.
Another of the squatters, ‘Paul’, said: “What we are trying to do in our culture of resistance is not just concentrate on parties, but bring people together to be educated and helped.
“We picked this part of town to make this experience available to local people, not just the usual suspects who always come to our events. We didn’t want to exclude anyone.”
But later that evening the police became concerned about the number of partygoers entering the building, which at its height swelled to 500.
The crowds became too much for the borough’s police to contain so around 70 tough Territorial Support Group (TSG) officers, who specialise in riots, were called in.
Town Hall noise and licensing teams accompanied the police and served a prohibition order on the party.
Senior officers decided that instead of risking a full-scale contained riot they would play a waiting game with the revellers.
As the night wore on they let people out of the venue but would not let anyone back in.
The squatters claimed there were around 20 riot vans full of police and added that there “were no hard drugs at the event”.
Max said: “A few idiots started throwing bottles – this is what happens when you stop people getting into a party.
“I was going out, trying to talk to them and the police were walloping people.”
An Islington Police spokesman said: “The TSG units experienced some violence, with people throwing bottles at them.”
The party finished at 8am, though music had to be turned off at 2am.
Hayri Arslan, manager of the Kebab City shop opposite, said: “It was a loud party but we didn’t mind. The clientele were all nice, we had no trouble, although the road block did affect business.”
i-mb-hats of Ruby Anderson (left), and Tallulah Christy, both 6, in their hats
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