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.
