Hackney Police Station latest: squatters could be evicted tomorrow after judge rejects defence

Occupied: the now-closed Hackney Central Police Station. Photograph: Hackney Citizen

Squatters occupying the former Hackney Central Police Station building, which was controversially sold off last year by the Mayor’s Office for Crime and Policing (MOPAC), face being evicted tomorrow (Wednesday) after a district judge rejected their defence against a possession order.

The building is now owned by the Tauheedul Free Schools Trust after being sold by MOPAC to the Department for Education (DfE), and the school hopes to move into the Grade II listed site from its current temporary accommodation in Stoke Newington.

The DfE has been keeping tight-lipped on the issue of the site’s future and any eviction, saying only that it was “aware of squatters” and was taking “appropriate action.”

But today one of the squatters told the Hackney Citizen that the department was “pushing for a fast eviction” and was “calling all the shots, despite the Tauheedul Trust being the registered owners”.

After a hearing at Clerkenwell and Shoreditch County Court on 22 May, the occupiers, who say they are homeless, asked a DfE representative to allow them enough time to move out and find alternative accommodation.

They added: “We spoke to their representative after court and asked if we could have a weeks time to move out and try to find everyone homes.

“They declined. We told them that we had a number of vulnerable adults among our group, including a pregnant lady, and that we would need a little time to make sure we could find alternative accommodation for everyone so that people weren’t forced to sleep on the streets.

“They replied that they do not care about the needs of those inside the building and that we were ‘lucky’ our court case was before the weekend as they have applied for high court bailiffs to evict us as soon as possible.

“We are expecting an early morning High Court eviction.”