Watchtower Police Raid

UPDATE, 17 JANUARY 2023:

POLICE RAID RULED AS UNLAWFUL

The High Court has declared the massive June 2021 raid on Antepavilion’s Hackney premises by the Met Police’s Territorial Support unlawful. It has taken Antepavilion over 18 months of Judicial Review proceedings to obtain it, despite the Police admitting the illegality of their actions.

 Under the terms of the Order the police are now required to pay Antepavilion compensation for the damage done to the buildings in the forced entry and return all items seized from the premises, including tools, materials, documents and mobile phones. 

Find out more here

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On Friday 25th June 2021, Antepavilion was raided by dozens of police spearheaded by the Territorial Support Group (TSG). Upon entering, the authorities handcuffed everyone on-site and three people were arrested, held until 4 am the next day and had their phones confiscated. The police continued to occupy the site until Saturday night, 26 June.

The raid was conducted by the police in an attempt 'to pre-emptively crackdown on the Extinction Rebellion'. However, Antepavilion has no links to Extinction Rebellion beyond commissioning the construction of an art installation at their site using long-established ‘tensegrity’ structural principles.  Extinction Rebellion has sometimes used the same tensegrity principles to erect temporary structures at protest sites. The raid is clear evidence of the carte blanche powers police have been given to harass and intimidate, in the government’s efforts to crackdown on dissenting voices.  

The offending art installation, All Along the Watch Tower, was selected for construction alongside the winner of the 2021 Antepavilion Competition, Antechamber.  It was chosen for its visual impact,  its rapid construction and transportability and its embrace of the self-build criterion that is the essence of the competition.

As a result of sponsoring the structure, at 11 am on Friday 25/06/21 the Antepavillion site at Hoxton Docks was raided. TSG officers – a police division with a history of aggressive and violent tactics – used angle grinders and other power tools on external and internal doors, causing significant damage. Police then poured into the building and detained anyone they found, seizing various materials. Two people working on the site – who have no connection to Extinction Rebellion – were then arrested and held for 17 hours and their property was confiscated.  They were then released without charge for want of evidence but told they were being investigated for “conspiracy to commit public nuisance”.

When the building owner, Russell Gray, arrived at the site after being alerted to the raid he was promptly pulled from his stationary motorcycle and was arrested for “dangerous driving” and “attempted assault”. He was not released until 5 am the next morning. Another of Gray’s properties was also raided, with the police falsely informing the tenant that they had 'authority to enter' the building.