Star date: 12th October 2016

VIOLENT CO-OP SECURITY EVICTS HOMELESS AS POLICE INTERVENE

After the Co-operative Group and its partner NOMA evicted young homeless people from the empty Ducie Bridge pub in Manchester yesterday, the squatters, with nowhere to go, set up tents across the road on a grass verge. This afternoon they were physically thrown off the land by Co-op security staff, with Greater Manchester Police having to intervene.

One homeless girl was thrown to the ground, while another was pushed into the busy main road... "What we've seen is just how ethical the Co-operative are" said homelessness campaigner Danny Jones "It's the Co-operative's security staff who are walking around  as hired thugs to clean up and gentrify this little bit of Manchester..."

Photos and report here...

Yesterday, the `ethical' Co-operative Group evicted young homeless people who had found sanctuary and a safe space in the company's empty Ducie Bridge pub, on Miller Street in Manchester, which is scheduled to be knocked down in the distant future to make way for luxury offices, as part of the £800million NOMA `regeneration' scheme.

The eviction sparked a rooftop protest at the pub by one campaigner, while the thirty or so other homeless people took refuge in tents set up on a grass verge opposite, in front of the empty New Century House (see previous Salford Star article – click here)

Manchester City Council had sent one person from its homeless team to help secure accommodation for the most vulnerable people evicted from the squat. But one teenager, CJ, told the Salford Star that she ended up sleeping in a doorway by The Printworks...

"I got told that if I went to the Town Hall they would give me accommodation but when I went there they told me I couldn't have any because I had to have been living in Manchester for six months" she said "So they were telling me I had to be homeless for six months, and even when I go back there they're going to say I can't have anywhere because I have no references.

"Then there was a guy who said he was going to try and get me into a hostel but he's still not rang me; they've promised it to so many people on this site now but they're not bothered" she added "Last night there wasn't enough room in the tents so I slept in a doorway and it was freezing. I kept getting moved by security just as I was about to doze off. That was in a doorway next to The Printworks. After that, I tried Victoria Station where there were other homeless people and we all got told to leave."

Another twenty year old girl was `lucky' enough to find room in a tent on the grass verge... "It was freezing cold, I couldn't sleep" she said "They were meant to offer help, and I was supposed to have a meeting yesterday to get emergency accommodation but they never showed up because `they had more important stuff to do', as they say."

"Basically you're on your own, and when you've got mental health issues you already feel like you're on your own because you're trapped in your own head, trying to sort it out" she explained "And when you are on your own it makes it ten times worse; you get lower and lower and lower and people debase you on the streets, saying `Get a job, get a house'...but how are you meant to get a house if you've got no money and you can't get a job because you've got nowhere to live?"

Her points were echoed by 19 year Liam, who has been homeless for a year... "They've just left me on the streets to rot" he said "We're not even supposed to put up a tent in Manchester city centre. I was one of those involved in the court case and they said `Yeah we'll give you night shelters and stuff', and then they closed them and it was back to the streets.

"If the people are back on the streets it doesn't look good on the Council because it looks like the Council isn't doing anything, so they turn it round and victimise homeless people who can't help it; who can't help their situation" he added "It goes downhill from there. It was freezing last night."

While we were talking, across Miller Street security had been watching, having delivered a Notice of Intended Eviction in which the land owner, NOMA GP, intended to "Exercise its rights under common law to remove you from the land". An `enforcement officer' had already visited the homeless people, telling them that `reasonable force' would be used, if necessary.

Throughout the day there was a stand-off as deadlines passed for the `enforcement'. During this time the pavements were turned into a chalked slogan gallery for pedestrians and passing cars to read and get the message...

`First they evicted us from our home, now they have hired thugs to evict us from the grass...Welcome to your ethical Co-op!'... `That silver spoon is big enough for everyone! But Co-op stole our wooden one!'... `If you don't house us we will house ourselves'... `NOMA creates NOMADS!'...and lots more.

The public support was phenomenal, with cars and lorries hooting horns all afternoon and shouting `good luck' from their windows... All the while, a security team, some dressed in black, others in blue coats with `Here To Help You' emblazoned on the back, were marching up and down at a distance.

At around 4pm the `leader' came across the road and said the homeless had half an hour to move their belongings, which they began doing. Carriers containing clothes and bedding, and even a tent was carried across the road, back onto the pavement outside the Ducie Brudge pub from where it was all removed yesterday.

People were still moving gear when a team of black clad security men came across the road again and told them to leave `immediately', even though half an hour wasn't yet up.

They pushed their way forward, signalling for more blue coated security staff to cross the road and all mayhem broke loose for a few minutes. A young woman was pushed to the ground. Another lad was pushed into the road, narrowly avoiding oncoming traffic. And the tallest of the homeless people seemed to be targeted by a whole team of security staff who dragged him to the ground. Punches were thrown.

At this point, Greater Manchester Police cars and vans with sirens blasting arrived, and the police officers seemed particularly concerned about the behaviour of the private security teams rather than the homeless people, as peace was restored.

When tempers calmed, one of the homeless campaigners, Danny Jones, reflected that "It was a very aggressive eviction from a piece of grass...

"This was the Co-op, not NOMA, and what we've seen is just how ethical the Co-operative are" he added "First there was an eviction from a derelict building that they're not going to demolish for a year or more; then the next stage was a security team with no court order, no bailiffs, just a security team who were grouping throughout the day to move young, vulnerable homeless people from a piece of grass that's not being used, in front of a building that's empty...simply because it's a bit too public for them.

"I would describe each and every one of those guys who were wearing the blue jackets as thugs, without a doubt" he said "As we weren't breaking any laws the police couldn't intervene until there was a breach of the peace - and what we've seen is the police intervene with the actual security team, not us, because it was the security team that initiated the breach of the peace.

"To be fair, Greater Manchester Police came in, removed the aggressors, who were the security team, and forced them off the property that they were trying to force us from, and kept things quite calm. It's the Co-operative security staff who are walking around as hired thugs to clean up and gentrify this little bit of Manchester. It's quite clear to us that the Co-op are one hundred per cent turning their back on the people of Manchester and their own members." 

And Manchester City Council? As revealed by the Salford Star yesterday, following a Freedom of Information request, the cash-strapped Council has spent £12,679,915 funding the NOMA dream (plus £6,731,700 from the European Regional Development Fund) on `road infrastructure works, improvements to Angel Meadow Park, public realm adjoining One Angel Square, Sadler's Yard, cycle lanes, lighting, street furniture and hard and soft landscaping'.

As they were being dumped back onto the pavement outside Ducie Bridge pub, the young homeless people were absolutely staggered that such sums could be spent on posh pavements, while they and others were forced to find doorways to sleep in, or having to squat other buildings to keep warm...

"Why spend £19million on new pavements when you could take that money and make new houses for the homeless or anyone who's struggling?" asked one of the young girls "It's like `We want to attract tourists so we've got a new fancy pavement, a new fancy bus stop'... We can't even have a centre where you can get a shower, some breakfast and somewhere to sleep that is safe, rather than the streets."

Liam added: "£19million could have been used for houses, hostels, places where people could feel comfortable and have services, like they're cutting mental health stuff. People need support but the support is not there..."

The `ethical' Co-op? A Jeremy Corbyn led Labour Party controlled council? If these are the goodies, these young, vulnerable homeless people would hate to meet the baddies...