Protestors occupy Hackney to highlight the ‘99%’

Occupy protestors get their message across in Hackney. Photograph: Louis Emanuel

An ‘Occupy Hackney’ protest sprang up yesterday afternoon (15 December) on Narroway, with beating drums spreading the message of the global Occupy movement advocating social justice and a reduction in wealth inequality.

A group of around 40 protesters occupied a space outside the old Town Hall at 2pm, giving out leaflets accompanied by the rhythms of a local samba band.

Alexandra, 30, an activist from Homerton, told the Hackney Citizen: “Today is all about trying to spread the Occupy movement to the local neighbourhood and get more local people involved in local problems.”

Victor Cerda, 27, a passer-by, said: “I think the global movement is about re-distributing wealth and this is an issue you can see here in Hackney. Hackney is not a rich borough. We see, we deal with and we live in poverty here.”

The protests follow last month’s occupation of a UBS office block in Sun Street. The squat, known as the ‘Bank of Ideas’, held banner-making workshops on Tuesday afternoon in preparation for the event in Central Hackney yesterday.

A statement issued before the event read: “Join us in celebrating Hackney’s place in the 99%, and strengthening our community to work together saying, ‘We won’t pay for their crisis.’”

Ryan Irvan, 26, handing out flyers at the protest, said: “Hackney is about the 99%. A lot of people around here are suffering from the system we have. There’s a lot of homelessness and people out of work.”

Alexandra added: “We hope to organise more events like these in the future in different parts of Hackney.”

For more information got to Occupy Hackney on facebook.