Sit-in students’ books ‘taken by team of bailiffs’ - Possession order granted following occupation of Bedford Square offices

Published: 10 March 2011
by JOSH LOEB and PAVAN AMARA

STUDENT activists who occupied the Grade I-listed offices of former Poet Laureate Sir Andrew Motion for a week have claimed bailiffs seized their belongings after climbing through the roof.

The raid took place on Thursday after the Royal Courts of Justice granted university chiefs a possession order to evict the students, who had been occupying the building in 11 Bedford Square, Bloomsbury – which is owned by Royal Holloway College – since last Thursday.

It houses lecture rooms and offices for professors including Sir Andrew. Senior Royal Holloway figures told the New Journal the occupation was “seriously disrupting” their work.

Students said bailiffs were accompanied into the building by Police Community Support Officers.

The activists said they were using the building as a hub for “creative disobedience” and “building resistance” ahead of the massive anti-cuts protest planned for Saturday, March 26.

David Moon, 21, a history undergraduate at Royal Holloway, said: “We had not received a possession order, but at around 3.45pm they began kicking in the door. It is a Grade I-listed Georgian building so we were shocked at the physical force.”

A physics student at Royal Holloway, who did not wish to be named, said: “They frogmarched all of us out and pushed us around. They then physically took some books from my hand and said I couldn’t have them back as they did not believe they were my books.”

Around 80 students later protested outside the building, with many covering their faces with scarves. They had earlier been encouraging those who regularly use the building to do so as normal – but a notice on Royal Holloway’s website said the teaching space was “currently unavailable” and referred students and staff to alternative locations.

A spokesman for Royal Holloway said: “The occupiers are not associated with Royal Holloway or its Students’ Union, and only a minority of the occupiers are Royal Holloway students. The occupiers are not protesting about higher education specifically, and they are not directing their protest at Royal Holloway itself. They are however seriously disrupting the work of Royal Holloway, and causing considerable cost and inconvenience to us and our students.

“Although the occupiers have not prevented any students or lecturers from accessing 11 Bedford Square, they have rendered the building unusable by chaining closed fire doors, occupying the building’s rooftop, using the teaching space and preventing access to our security staff and management.”

Last week, students at UCL occupied part of their campus to protest at president Malcolm Grant’s recent trip to the Middle East with David Cameron and arms companies. A spokeswoman for UCL said Mr Grant had been invited along with other heads of universities to represent the education sector.