Hey0,
For the last few weeks, good folk have been occupying empty housing in Bendigo Street, Collingwood. The houses — previously scheduled to be demolished in order to make way for another fucking highway — have been left standing empty since the Victorian government cancelled the billion-dollar East-West Link road project in December 2014. As for the private developers responsible, they were left laffing at the cancellation, the previous, Tory government having agreed to pay them massive compensation if the project was scrapped … and if the rich are happy, who could ask for anything more?
Well, the Homeless Persons Union of Victoria, among others. March 31, 2016:
After a long-fought day, protesters have successfully occupied an empty domestic property on Bendigo St this morning.
This is despite being informed late yesterday afternoon, after weathering a 3-hour holding pattern conducted by Victoria Police officers and an anonymous party of three, that their occupation of 18 Bendigo St, Collingwood, constituted an act of unlawful trespass on private property …
Since then, the occupation has been ongoing. See :
• Squatters stage protest occupation in Collingwood, Marika Dobbin, The Age, March 30, 2016
• Homeless women ‘told they had 10 minutes to leave’ East West Link home, Aisha Dow, Benjamin Preiss, The Age, April 1, 2016
• Homeless retake houses in protest, Jacob Andrewartha, Green Left Weekly, April 6, 2016
• Still no clarity on East West Link houses, Kieran’s Review, April 14, 2016
• Homeless Persons Union holds state to account, Ellena Savage, Eureka Street, April 14, 2016
• A Day With the Squatters Protesting Melbourne’s Housing Crisis, Chris Shearer, VICE, April 18, 2016
• Party time for occupiers of East West Link homes in Collingwood, Clay Lucas, The Age, April 20, 2016
Tomorrow — SUNDAY, APRIL 24 @ 2pm — there’s a PARTY in Bendigo Street and YOU are invited!
See youse there!
See also : Australian Museum of Squatting | Yarra Campaign for Action on Transport (YCAT).
