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'Occupy' evictions a success for Shergroup
 The
latter part of 2011 saw several 'Occupy' Protests springing
up at various locations. Although they initially sprung up
mainly in the United States - those in cities such as New
York and Oakland being particularly prominent and in the news
- the phenomenon soon spread to this side of the Atlantic
and a number of similar protests began to emerge in the UK.
Obviously the most high profile site in the UK was the one
established outside St Paul's Cathedral in the City of London,
but a number of other cities also saw camps springing up too.
One of these was in Bradford, where a number of protesters
set up their tents and created a camp in Centenary Square
in the centre of the city.
Initially these protesters were tolerated by locals and the
powers that be in Bradford, but after a few days it became
apparent that the protesters were not going to move of their
own free will - even after being served with court notices
to do so - and that action would have to be taken to remove
the protesters and their tents and other equipment from the
site.
Time was of the essence. At the time we were approached by
Bradford Council, events were planned in the Square for the
following weekend and the Square was also due to host the
city's Remembrance Day parades the weekend after that. There
was considerable concern that allowing any of the events to
be disrupted by the presence of the protesters may lead to
outbreaks of trouble.
 Having
received the call from Bradford Council, Shergroup swung into
action, and within 2 hours we had an officer on the scene
to do a risk assessment of the situation and start planning
the operation. The following morning we had a team of 7 operatives
in place awaiting instructions to move in. There was some
voluntary movement out of the Square by some of the protesters,
not least because of the foul weather that moved in on the
day of the eviction. There were also some last minute discussions
between the occupiers and the council - including an attempt
to get the court order stayed - but to no avail. The eviction
went ahead. But it had to be conducted with tact and diplomacy,
due to the fact that the protest was taking place within sight
of the local BBC studios and had also attracted a certain
amount of coverage in the local press. On no account was anything
to happen that could bring the council or Shergroup into disrepute.
The result? Within 8 hours the court order had been enforced
in a textbook fashion, the Square was cleared and all tents
and debris removed. The arranged events in the Square could
go ahead as planned.
Another success for Shergroup - and a very happy client who
provided a glowing testimonial with regard to the work we
had carried out on the council's behalf, as well as letting
a host of other councils know that if they had any similar
problems in the future, Shergroup was the organisation to
turn to for help.
This testimonial didn't take long to have the hoped for effect,
as not long afterwards we were contacted by another victim
of 'Occupy' protests - this time in Plymouth - with a view
to enforcing the necessary court order and evicting protesters
who had occupied a former Job Centre in the city. The 'Occupy
Plymouth' protesters had previously been based in an open
space known as the Jigsaw Garden, outside the main Drake Circus
shopping centre, but had moved on from there into the empty
Job Centre when the worst of the December weather began to
hit.
Having found that protesters had moved into the job centre,
the owners of the property concerned, Telereal Trillium, quickly
obtained a court order for their eviction and contacted Shergroup
with regard to arranging the removal of the occupants. A team
of officers and security personnel was assembled and despatched
to Plymouth in readiness for an early morning eviction one
day in the run up to Christmas. When the time came for the
eviction, the officers had an unexpected but not unwelcome
surprise - the protesters' look-out man had fallen asleep
on the job!! By the time he and his colleagues woke up, entry
had been effected and the job was completed swiftly and successfully
- another cracking result for Shergroup.
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