DEFIANT NOTE

Greymouth Evening Star, 16 September 1946, Page 5

DEFIANT NOTE

Communists and the . • • Squatters ■ . GOVERNMENT ACTION ATTACKED ’ (Recd. 1 p.m.)x LONDON, September 16. The Communist Party has issued a statement demanding the withdrawal of the writs and warrants against the squatters and their helpers, and protesting against Mr. Aneurin Bevin’s “soulless, degrading circular’’ in which he requested local authorities to refuse the admission of essential services to . squatters. Representatives of the squatters from the Duchess of Becl- . ford’s house, Fountain Court, and the Ivanhoe Hotel attended a mass demonstration in Hyde Park organised by the Commun.ists, after which 1000 sympathisers marched through the West End to Leicester Square. Mounted police headed and followed the procession which was noisy, but orderly. The marchers carried banners calling tor the requisition of empty mansions and luxury flats. They shouted slogans such as “Stand by the Squatters” and “Stop Black Market Repairs.”

Scotland Yard’s anti-squatter P r “" cautions were put into force to-night when it received an anonymous telephoned warning that squatters intended invading empty houses in a_row facing Regent’s Park, says the Daily Mail. Only one of this row of dilapidated Regency period mansions is at present occupied. Two hundred special constables were posted around the row and kept a night watch. The Rector of Marylebone, the Rev. Hugh Matthews, accepted an invitation to conduct a service for the Abbey Lodge squatters. He said afterwards that there were about 100 people inside the building. All were sleeping on bare boards. They seemed fairly happy, but their situation was very difficult. Neither he nor his church condoned their action. The Minister of Health (Mr. Aneurin Bevan) has sent a letter to local authorities in England and Wales requesting that they should withhold all facilities from squatters on the seizure oi' occupation of premises. Gas and electricity should not be provided and should be cut off, if available, at the time of occupation. Mr. Bevan’s requests are based on Government policy. Mr. Bevan advised that empty premises should be locked and the police summoned if there was any suspicion of attempted seizure. Immediate legal action to secure eviction should be taken where properties were seized. Principles of Social Justice The Government was confident, Mr Bevan said, that local authorities would defend the principles of social justice on which the system of the allocation of available housing ac-

commodation was based. Private individuals could not be allowed to usurp the responsibility of local authorities for allocating houses to the most needy families. The authorities had allotted a majority of the 192,000 homes which so far had become available under the rehousing programme to the most needy families after careful investigation. A public authority could not permit movement, which assumed a clear aspect of organised lawlessness, to override the claims of those who were waiting a long time for houses. The Government, in the meantime, was continuing its housing programme with the utmost speed. The Ministry of Health has obtained a Court order for a substitute service of writs against the alleged trespassers in Fountain Court. The affidavit stated that it was found impossible to serve writs on the persons named originally. The order enables the service of writs against seven persons to be made at the front door of Fountain Court. The writs claim damages and seek an injunction to restrain a continuance of the alleged trespass. Police Baffled. Squatters continue to baffle the police in infiltrating the cordons flung around the buildings which they have already seized. Police at Abbey Lodge this morning were surprised to see a man they out out last .night once more inside, standing at the window. The man last night came out too far to pick up blankets thrown by sympathisers. Poljcemen grabbed his leg and pulled' him into the street 'and they cannot understand how he returned. Five have been arrested for inciting to trespass. They are prominent members of the Communist Party Edward Bramley, Maurice Israel Rosen, Ernest Stanley Henderson, Gabriel Garritt, and Miss Joyce Alergant. Bramley was for many years secretary of the London District Communist Party. Twice he forfeited his deposit for the North Hammersmith seat at a General Election. Garritt twice unsuccessfully contested the Westminster seat. He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford. Rosen is a member of the' Stepney Borough Council, and Henderson is secretary for the squatters at the Duchess of Bedford House. Miss Alergant is a councillor in Westminster City. The Daily Telegraph says that in addition to Wandsworth other Londoh councils are allocating empty accommodation to forestall the squatters. Squatters at Vache Park Estate, Chalfont, St. Giles, who’ in the first place started the occupation of disused Army huts, issued a statement entirely .dissociating. themselves from

Communist activities. They rejected the offer of the Communist Party to join forces. Fifteen families of squatters are now besieged in two houses in Glasgow. They locked themselves in and barricaded themselves, defying an eviction order. Several of the 26 children in the house are acting as scouts to warn of any move to eject families. “Operation Checkmate. “Operation checkmate,” the plans of the London borough-'of Wandsworth to forestall squatters by the allocation of requisitioned houses to families whether ready for occupation or not,’ was put into operation on Friday, when about 250 of the most urgent cases on the council’s waiting list were each given a house or a flat. “Squads of police and detectives, acting on radio instructions .from Scotland Yard, occupied scores of empty buildings in London in a bid to foil a mass swoop by squatters which the Communists planned for the week-end,” says the Daily Mail. “On receipt of reports from plainclothes men, Scotland Yard sent messages to patrol cars ordering the occupation force to be drafted into ‘suspected’ buildings.” “Squatters will not know in future whether a target building is occupied or not. Some police booked into hotels close to likely buildings, watching and ready to give the alarm if squatters approach. Plain-clothes police mingling with crowds outside the squatter’s palaces are listening for clues of Communist intentions. “The biggest mystery for the police is how the squatters at the Ivanhoe Hotel get in and out. One man took his wife and baby for a walk without the police discovering the secret entrance. Police are constantly watching the coal chute, and are moving on any persons tending to loiter from Abbey Lodge, where one man was arrested and will be charged with insulting behaviour.” Squatters in Mansion House, Glasgow, against whom an eviction order expired on Saturday, erected barricades on Friday. Some male squatters absented themselves from work to-day' to make siege preparations. There are nine families, including 26 children, in the house. Secret Entrance.

When told that the Ivanhoe Hotel squatters had increased by newcomers, a police inspector said they must have come by parachute, but a squatter later tol dthe Press Association that there was a secret entrance to the hotel.

A squad of London University students visited the hotel with banners expressing sympathy for the squatters. One banner read: “Homes for everybody before luxury for the rich.” The students cheered the squatters and handed‘in food parcels. The leader said the demonstration was held because hundreds of students were without accommodation, while many buildings were empty which should be made available immediately-