Housing protesters were among a mob which aimed to stop bailiffs and other credit professionals entering the CICM British Credit Awards on Wednesday evening.
The protest was arranged on social media using the hashtag #EvictTheBailiffs and promoted by groups including Digs (Hackney Renters) and Focus E15.
Digs said on its website that bailiffs had “planned to celebrate a good couple of years getting rich off the housing crisis.”
A Facebook page set up by Focus E15 Mothers said: “Focus E15 invite you to the Brewery (52 Chiswell Street, EC1Y 4SD) for 6pm sharp on Weds. Feb. 11, to welcome those arriving at the 2015 British Credit Awards’ £4,000-per-table black-tie affair, in which bailiffs and debt collectors will be receiving awards for making families homeless.
“Since companies like ‘The Sherriff’s Office’ receive nominations by throwing people and their belongings out onto the cold streets of London, we intend to turn the front entrance of the Brewery into a mock eviction site for attendees to experience before an evening of champagne, three-course dinners, and the kudos of their peers.
“We encourage anyone concerned with social cleansing and the criminalisation of poverty to bring rubbish bags, boxes, and broken pieces of furniture to scatter across the front entrance of the Brewery as guests arrive to receive awards like ‘Enforcement Team of the Year,’ ‘Third Party Debt Collection Team of the Year’ and ‘Consumer Collections Team of the Year.’”
Tables at the event, which recognises the work of the credit industry in the UK, cost up to £4,000 and the bash was hosted by magician Paul Daniels. As guests arrived they were heckled by activists who threw paint-bombs and eggs and blocked the entrance.
City of London police said two men had been charged following the protest. A man aged 22 was charged with possession of a knife and a 24-year-old man was charged with assaulting police. Both were bailed.
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Comments
Presumably these bailiffs had taken the law into their own hands then and thrown out tenants - who of course had done nothing wrong, were up to date with their rent etc - illegally.
In which case why didn't the police present arrest them for unlawful eviction and assault?