Pic. Kikishua
The BBC today confirmed the dates for the Radio 1 Hackney Weekend and announced performances from Ed Sheeran, Michael Kiwanuka, Jessie J and Professor Green.
The two-day Hackney Marshes event will take place on 23 and 24 June and 100,000 tickets have been made available. The event is set to feature over one hundred UK and international artists. The full list of artists performing can be viewed here:
pic: Duygu Saykan
Prince Charles visited the Good Hope Café in Lewisham last night, delighting locals who filled Hither Green Lane to greet him.
The Prince was visiting the café to meet with young people who have been helped by the Prince’s Trust, as well as representatives from the Scouts Association and Youth United, an initiative launched by The Prince of Wales in 2009. (more…)
Pic: Goldsmiths
Figures released by UCAS today reveal a significant drop in university applications across east London boroughs, with applications from Hackney dropping a whopping 14.6 per cent.
According to the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), applications from Lewisham were down 11.8 per cent compared to last year, whilst Croydon experienced 9.3 per cent drop. In Tower Hamlets, applications fell by 7.7 per cent.
Photo by: Crazy Bayliff
The Metropolitan Police have confirmed that a 45-year-old man was arrested following the eviction of the occupied UBS buildings known as ‘the Bank of Ideas’ in Hackney last night. He was subsequently taken to hospital due to a health condition, where he remains.
Officers have received and are considering footage of the incident for which the man was arrested.
The man, who is believed by police to be a bailiff, has been taken to a north London police station on suspicion of assault and causing criminal damage.
Just after midnight, police officers and bailiffs moved in to evict the UBS owned building on Sun Street, Hackney, which has been occupied by Occupy London protestors since November of last year.
According to the Bank of Ideas website around 50 protestors initially resisted peacefully but left the building shortly after.
The Police and enforcement officers then went to carry out an eviction of the Earl Street Community Centre, also a UBS-owned building.
Around 70 protestors had gathered outside the building in solidarity with those on the inside. According to a statement from Occupy London, protestors were brought out peacefully and were allowed to take their belongings with them.
But Occupy London reported that a photographer has been punched in the face by a bailiff and have complained of heavy-handed behaviour by both bailiffs and police.
A video on YouTube shows a man, believed to be a bailiff, trying to drive his car through a group of people and then driving off with a man, who is understood to have suffered minor injuries due to the incident, clinging on to the bonnet of the car.
Ronan McMern from Occupy London told EastLondonLines: “The most astounding thing about last night was the reaction of the police. Serious questions need to be asked about the inactivity of the police to deal with the actions of the bailiffs.”
According to McMern several people reported being assaulted by police as they stormed through the crowds to gain entrance into the Earl Street building.
According to the Metropolitan Police there have been no injuries to officers or protestors.
Photographer Jules Mattsson, who reported the assault allegation on Twitter told EastLondonLines: “a number of journalists had issues with enforcement officers. Some enforcement officers think they can act entirely outside the law.”
Occupy London have said in a statement that they are “gravely concerned that the police’s actions this morning demonstrated a greater concern for the well being of a building than the safety of the public.”
A High Court Possession Order on the ‘Bank of Ideas’ came into place at 2pm on Wednesday January 24. Since then according to their website the Bank of Ideas has been closed to the public and a team of volunteers has been cleaning the building.
Occupy London are urging anyone that witnessed events to report them to Shepherdess Walk police station.
Pic: Soha Ibrahim
Lewisham Council was faced with angry residents, community activists and a fuel poverty action group, who came together on Friday evening to protest against high energy bills.
People gathered in front of Lewisham Town Hall in Catford for a briefing on the issue, before entering the reception, not just to warm up but to stay in. They then held a forum to discuss the wider issues around high bills. (more…)
Kate Bull, CEO of The People's Supermarket Pic: Albert Steinberger
The People’s Supermarket has launched a campaign to renovate its new premises in Hackney. The ‘brick by brick’ campaign, where people can buy a piece of the re-development for £1, aims to bring new life to the building opposite Homerton station. (more…)
Children at St Joseph's oppose sewer plans
School children will be put at risk and face noise, smell and dust pollution for more than three years if the proposed Thames Tunnel super sewer in Deptford goes ahead, school governors have warned. (more…)
Perri Shakes-Drayton Pic: Tower Hamlets Press
Olympic hopeful, Perri Shakes Drayton, has thrown her support behind her home borough’s city bid.
The 23 year old 400m specialist, joins the likes of the City of London, Canary Wharf Group, Tower of London and the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, the oldest manufacturing company in the UK, who have all pledged to give Tower Hamlets’ bid their full backing. (more…)
Olympic site, Pic: EG Focus
A new body that will control the future of the Olympic Legacy site – incuding areas in Hackney and Tower Hamlets – is one step closer to creation after the London Assembly voted unanimously in favour of its proposal.
Payslips are becoming less frequent in Tower Hamlets, Pic: renway2007 (Flickr)
Tower Hamlets is suffering from the one of the highest levels of unemployment in the country.
Unemployment has reached 13.2 per cent in the borough, making it the third highest of all the London Boroughs and fifth out of 415 regions and local authorities in the UK.
According to a report released today by the Office for National Statistics unemployment in Britain has hit a 17-year high with approximately 2.68 million people currently unemployed. (more…)
