The war against London’s “anti-homeless” spikes escalated today from sign-waving to radical criminal action. In the small hours of the morning, some activists dressed as builders poured concrete over the metal spikes outside a Tesco Metro on Regent Street, before vowing to strike again.
A “Homes Not Spikes” demonstration organised by Left Unity is taking place at the store later today, but I was tipped off last night that some kind of protest would be happening early this morning, so I went along to check it out for myself.
UPDATE: A left-wing activist group known as the London Black Revolutionaries have claimed responsibility for the action. VICE interviewed them here to find out who they are and why they did it.
Walking through the West End on the way there, it was clear to see why this issue has touched a nerve; there were plenty of homeless people around, using shop doorways for shelter – and the more private businesses install metal studs in those doorways, the fewer sheltered places there are to sleep.
The number of homeless in England has been rising for the last few years, with programmes to help people off the streets struggling and council house waiting lists overstretched.
Some have said that the spikes are a good thing because rough sleeping is dangerous and needs to be discouraged. The problem there is that sleeping on the street generally isn’t something people choose to do, so maybe the best way of discouraging it is by asking the government to stop gearing policy towards housing for the rich, rather than making an already uncomfortable situation even worse.
more: vice.com
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