Following a lively, impromptu protest called outside Waltham Forest Borough based custody centre this evening, 13 April, Jasmin Stone has been released from police custody. Jasmin is a leading force in the Focus E15 Mothers campaign and a supporter of Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! She was supporting a protest occupation of the East London home of another working class mother, Jane, evicted by Newham council as part of its ruthless policy of social cleansing from the borough. This afternoon there were just three women and two young children in the flat when police violently broke in, terrorising those present, and targeted Jasmin for arrest.
Police initially told Jasmin’s supporters that she was being held in custody overnight and would be charged with squatting under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012. This is nonsense and they know it! However, as the number and noise of protesters outside the police station surged, she suddenly emerged from the cop shop. She has been bailed without charge to return to the police station on 13 May and is prohibited in the meantime from returning to Jane’s now-empty home.
We will not accept the criminalisation of those who fight for social housing and against social cleansing. Jasmin’s early release without charge is testament to the growing strength of the Focus E15 campaign and the movement against austerity in Britain.
Social housing – not social cleansing!
