PREPARED FOR RESISTANCE

Evening Star, Issue 25895, 12 September 1946, Page 7

PREPARED FOR RESISTANCE

00088 BOLTED AND BARRED LONDON, September 11. Two Ministry of Works officials who forced an entry into the Duchess of Bedford’s house were threatened by a squatter who was armed with an iron bar. The officials left for assistance. Agency correspondents described the building as a fortress, with all the doors bolted and barred. Preparations were made overnight to withstand days of siege. Only a few men in the Hats went to work, the remainder acting as sentries at the doorways or preparing resistance. During the night provisions. most of which were brought from the East End. were stored in the flats. The officials went to the flats to arrange the removal of 20 van loads of Government furniture which the squatters had commandeered. One official climbed through a window and immediately a sentry raised a bar and threatened to hit him on the head The officials left while the squatters shouted from the windows their determination to resist attempts to remove them until other accommodation was. found. Police reinforcements arrived at the house, but did not take action. A Ministry official, also with reinforcements returned and knocked on the ground floor window of the caretaker’s flat. The caretaker said the squatters had locked him in the flat since last night. He was told to keep the door locked and the window open so that Ministry officials could get into the building.,