Squatters

Ravers play supermarket club card - for 24 hours

By Vicky Wilks

South London Press

A SUPERMARKET has pledged to secure an empty piece of land overrun by up to 600 ravers who held a rowdy 24-hour party.

Besieged Kennington residents described being woken up in the early hours by a deep bass beat as ravers over-ran an empty office block and adjoining land, owned by Tesco.

And the thumping bass continued to shake their Georgian homes until a court order forced the party-goers to leave.

Kennington Lane resident, Steve May, said: "There was a big thumping noise - a very deep base that got louder and louder as the day went on."

Another resident - who did not want to be named - said: "We were woken at 3am on Sunday. It was so loud that the walls were rattling in our flats."

She said she saw youngsters squeezing through a gap in the gate and there were 300 or 400 people milling around, adding: "We had a sleepless night and during the day the yard was occupied by these people who were treating the place like a latrine."

Residents called cops who said they couldn't do anything as so many people had got onto the site.

That afternoon, as the noise continued, Mr May had a prospective buyer look at his flat. After hearing the racket coming from the other side of his garden wall, the buyer withdrew. Mr May said: "He just couldn't believe the noise."

Residents became increasingly frustrated as the rave carried on through to Monday morning.

On Monday, Tesco applied to the High Court to get an order to evict the squatters who eventually left on Tuesday afternoon. A Tesco spokesman said: "The High Court order was granted far more quickly than is sometimes the case.

"We contacted the police immediately and they came to the site but their hands were tied as they had no powers to evict people.

"We are strengthening up security and are going to make it nigh on impossible for them to get back into the building. It will be very difficult for them to get in a second time."

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