What happened in East London, with a police raid in Hoxton Docks on an art installation, acts as a warning for those of us that cherish fundamental rights such as freedom of expression and protest.
On a morning in East London at Hoxton Docks police around 40 police officers raided an art installation.
The rooftop installation, called All Along the Watchtower and designed by a collective called Project Bunny Rabbit, is similar to structures used by protesters to block roads during demonstrations. One of two winners of this year’s Antepavilion competition, it will open to the public on 23 July.
During its construction, the arts venue hosted workshops that showed members of the public how to assemble similar lightweight, reusable tensegrity structures made of bamboo poles and steel cables. During the raid, police threatened to come back and remove the structure, according to Gray.
Raid triggers concern among architecture community
The footage of the raid, which Antepavilion organisers have been projecting onto the side of the building, triggered widespread concern. “The more I look at this the more appalled I am,” tweeted architect and head of Central St Martins school Jeremy Till in response to the footage. “While the [right-wing] press bleat on about rising crime, 40 police raid innocent artists.”
Architect Julia Barfield described the raid in a tweet as “A shocking misuse of power and resources particularly in a #ClimateEmergency.”
“May not be entirely accurate but I count 41 coppers here,” wrote Financial Times architecture critic Edwin Heathcote. “Is that not also an insane waste of resources?”
“Utterly mad to hear the Met [police] has arrested the team from this year’s Antepavilion, tweeted Open City director Phineas Harper. “The police are out of control.”
Freedom of Expression and Civil Disobedience are essential to our democracy
Civil disobedience and freedom of expression have been essential tools to force through necessary changes in society in the name of social justice. There has been a long line figures in history that have used it as an essential tool, from Mahatma Gandhi to Martin Luther King Jr to Neslon Madela. Here in the East End, we have the suffragettes, and the anti-fascist struggles from Cable Street to Brick Lane.
When rights are threatened, time to roll up the sleeves, folks!
“The government itself, which is only the mode which the people have chosen to execute their will, is equally liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through it.”
― Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience
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