community
Broadway Market café occupation - updates and background
Updates and background information about local residents' occupation of Francesca's Café in Broadway Market in Hackney, East London.
The Cafe was seized to prevent its demolition and conversion into luxury flats by property developer Dr Roger Wratten.
Updates and stories on libcom.org news
27 Mar: The battle of Broadway Market, from Hackney Independent
Osaka homeless evictions meet resistance
A tent village in Utsubo park, Osaka was evicted this month to make way for an international rose festival.
The following report is from libcom.org forum posters who participated in defending against the eviction:
We are some disobedients who participated in the defense of the autonomous community at Utsubo park.
Portugal: Pupils and workers oppose school closure
Students, teachers and school employees have been protesting against the closure of D. João de Castro Secondary School in Lisbon.
The self-organised students of the D. João de Castro Secondary School locked the gates of the school today - not for the first time - and gathered outside shouting slogans and chanting against the closure of the school ordered by the Ministry (supposedly to be merged with the Fonseca Benevides Secondary School).
Barred pub regulars fight back in Somers Town
Regulars barred from the Somers Town Coffee House in Chalton Street near Kings Cross, are demanding to be re-admitted to their local pub.
"Dozens" of regulars have been banned in a process described as "discrimination" by one member of the commmunity.
The Camden New Journal reports:
Lifelong regulars barred from a historic Somers Town pub when it went upmarket have started a petition demanding to be readmitted.
Glasgow: Mums occupy Carnwardic school against closure
Determined mothers are undertaking a series of overnight occupations of their working class neighbourhood school in a bid to save it from closure.
Carnwardric Primary School has 239 students – which would normally be a healthy size for a primary school, with an average of 34 students in each of its seven year groups. But with a regulation limit of one teacher to every 33 students, some Carnwardric year groups get two teachers. A larger merged school will have larger class sizes and fewer teachers.
Glasgow mums' school sit-in
In Glasgow on Friday, a sit-in protest was organised by mums at Carnwadric Primary school to protest against its closure.
The 239-pupil school is threatened with a merger with another school onto a new site one-and-a-half miles walk away for students, next to a motorway and mobile phone mast.
The Evening Times recorded the incident:
ANGRY mums staged an all-night sit-in protest at a Glasgow primary school.
Japan: Osaka's homeless resist evictions
The Osaka Municipal Government is today removing homeless communities from two of its parks in preparation for the World Rose Convention.
Around a third of Japan's 25000 homeless are based in Osaka, and these evictions are meeting mass resistance.
India: Villagers lock down iron factory
Jamshedpur: Annoyed by the air pollution caused by Sidhi Vinayak Metacom Limited, a sponge iron unit at Chowka under Seraikela-Kharsawan district, villagers from adjoining areas forcefully closed the company on Friday.
Police said the villagers had staged a dharna* in front of the company’s main gate on December 27, 2005, asking the company to install an electrostatic precipitator to control air pollution caused by the exhaust gas of the plant.
Bristol pool occupied
A group of protesters have occupied the site of the former Bristol North swimming bath on Gloucester Road.
The group entered the building in the early hours of Saturday demanding the building is reopened to provide a non-commercial space for the community.
Press Release:
We are a group of individuals concerned about the disappearance of public space and the privatisation of public services in Bristol. On Friday 20th January 2006, we reclaimed Bristol North Pool on Gloucester Road.
New Orleans residents resist bulldozers
With a cell phone crooked in her ear and scores of activists cheering her on in the 2000 block of Reynes Street, lawyer Tracie Washington sent a backhoe and its crew packing from the Lower 9th Ward Thursday morning...
It was more than a seemingly symbolic victory for Washington and her group, the Peoples Hurricane Relief Fund, which is representing homeowners in the Lower 9th Ward and will ask a federal judge today to stop up to 2,500 demolitions of homes damaged by Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters. The teardowns apparently are being contemplated by Mayor Ray Nagin's administration.
