Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Cambridge Mill Road Social Centre evicted

PB | 01.08.2008 08:51 | Free Spaces | Cambridge

On Friday morning around 9AM, police and bailiffs kicked down the door to the social centre and started evicting people from the premises. No advance warning was given. It goes to show that Tesco can never be trusted, as they reneged on their promise not to take possession of the building before they needed to start building.

Tesco were obviously very confident that the previous night's planning meeting (to allow them to build waste and airco facilities) would find in their favour. As it turned out, their application was turned down. No doubt Mill Road's Broadway will soon sport a set of shiny metal window boards.

If you are reading this on Friday morning, help is needed to get stuff out and stash it.

PB

Additions

update on eviction

01.08.2008 11:48

Specific help required is

* vans to transport the stuff dumped out of the social centre
* space to store the stuff - do you have space in a garage or warehouse where kit could be kept?
* people to carry stuff around.

If you can help, please go down to the social centre and speak to people there. If you don't see anyone at the front, they may well be around the back of the social centre.

Tesco obviously planned the eviction before the planning meeting last night. You don't get 5 baliffs and 20 cops at short notice. In addition they had arranged to cut off the water and electricity to make life harder if there was resistance. It's not a terrible surprise it was ignored, but it is worth mentioning that Tesco had said they might give a weeks notice before eviction.

And it appears they're going for wood rather than metal to cover the windows. So there is a brand new surface to decorate ;-)

socialiser
- Homepage: http://millroadsocialcentre.wordpress.com/


Photos post eviction

01.08.2008 11:59

Collecting the kit that was chucked on the pavement.
Collecting the kit that was chucked on the pavement.

Boarding up the windows
Boarding up the windows


Pile of kit out the back, looking for a new home ...
Pile of kit out the back, looking for a new home ...

Currently people are clearing up, while contractors are boarding up the windows.

socailiser
- Homepage: http://millroadsocialcentre.wordpress.com/


Article from local paper

01.08.2008 12:34

It appears Tesco planned the eviction 2 weeks ago. That and other details are mentioned in this article from the local paper.

 http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/cn_news_home/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=336226

dmish


Comments

Hide the following 5 comments

shame the social centre is gone

01.08.2008 16:59

thanks a lot for posting this - even though there's not much i can do to help, im really interested to know whats going on over there in cambridge and im sure a lot of other people are too. good luck with the emergency tat disposal! fuck tesco!

dandy


BOYCOTT TESCOS, THE BAD LOSERS!!

01.08.2008 20:10

This is pure malice on the part of Tescos, and smacks of them being BAD LOSERS!!

I repeat, BAD LOSERS!!

SHAME ON YOU, TESCOS SCUM!!

You'll NEVER be welcome on Mill Road, so don't even bother appealing last night's decision, as you're UNappealing to locals, especially after evicting a COMMUNITY CENTRE THAT LOCAL PEOPLE NEED!!

Remind me to never go in your stupid bland union busting, ecopillaging shops again.

As for the MRSC crew, find another venue ASAP and KEEP GOING, because we need autonomous community run spaces now more than ever, seeing as the City Council don't seem to have the wit or will to provide us with decent community spaces (prove me wrong if you read this, councillors), despite everyone being financially crippled with ever higher Council Tax bills, which are squandered on CCTV.

BOYCOTT TESCOS!!

YOU'RE BAD LOSERS TESCOS!!

So, sue me for speaking the truth.

Screw Tescos!


Awww

04.08.2008 21:44

I agree with dandy... was away but otherwise would've come and helped... I hope it went ok.

Philip


Oh, really...

19.08.2008 14:58

The Centre's portrayal of its eviction is, of course, biased in its own favour. In the interests of balance, another view is that most people on Mill Road knew that the Centre's shelf-life would be limited, and are actually relieved to see it go.

The amount of vagrants on Mill Road since the Centre arrived increased exponentially. Word on the street was out that it was available, then the dropouts came. The Objector received a distressing personal report from a friend - a middle-aged woman - who found herself groped and propositioned outside the doors of the Centre by a slurry-speeched man who told her that he'd just got out of prison for beating up policemen. She got away quickly, after telling him in no uncertain terms to leave her alone.

And what about the young, blonde, dreadlocked girl witnessed outside the Centre of a weekday morning, can of Special Brew in hand, f-ing and blinding at top volume about some 'b-stard' who'd done something to offend her? Before the Centre she'd never been seen before locally. Mill Road residents know the drinking schools in the area.

The Centre's professional-looking website, Indymedia reports and right-on, utopian fluffiness about being a place for the 'whole community' doesn't stand up when exposed to daylight.

It was a squat for the disenfranchised and addicted, attracting people to Mill Road who not only had no genuine emotional or financial investment in being there, but actually made it feel unsafe.

Mill Road residents definitely DO NOT want Tesco at the Wilco site. That's why they've been campaigning professionally and fighting so hard at the planning meetings to get shot of the corporate giant once and for all. The Mill Road Social Centre has done nothing to advance the 'No' campaign - it actively states that it is completely unconnected to it.

Those commenting on an anti-Tesco basis here are misguided.

The Objector


Oh, really...

19.08.2008 15:03

The Centre's portrayal of its eviction is, of course, biased in its own favour. In the interests of balance, another view is that most people on Mill Road knew that the Centre's shelf-life would be limited, and are actually relieved to see it go.

The amount of vagrants on Mill Road since the Centre arrived increased exponentially. Word on the street was out that it was available, then the dropouts came. The Objector received a distressing personal report from a friend - a middle-aged woman - who found herself groped and propositioned outside the doors of the Centre by a slurry-speeched man who told her that he'd just got out of prison for beating up policemen. She got away quickly, after telling him in no uncertain terms to leave her alone.

And what about the young, blonde, dreadlocked girl witnessed outside the Centre of a weekday morning, can of Special Brew in hand, f-ing and blinding at top volume about some 'b-stard' who'd done something to offend her? Before the Centre she'd never been seen before locally. Mill Road residents know the drinking schools in the area.

The Centre's professional-looking website, Indymedia reports and right-on, utopian fluffiness about being a place for the 'whole community' doesn't stand up when exposed to daylight.

It was a squat for the disenfranchised and addicted, attracting people to Mill Road who not only had no genuine emotional or financial investment in being there, but actually made it feel unsafe.

Mill Road residents definitely DO NOT want Tesco at the Wilco site. That's why they've been campaigning professionally and fighting so hard at the planning meetings to get shot of the corporate giant once and for all. The Mill Road Social Centre has done nothing to advance the 'No' campaign - it actively states that it is completely unconnected to it.

Those commenting on an anti-Tesco basis here are misguided.

The Objector


Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech