Anyone travelling through St. Peter’s Square can’t fail to notice the row of tents in front of the arches at the rear of the Town Hall extension. This collection of tents evolved out of a pro-Palestinian protest camp into a camp for the homeless.
Most camp residents are now people who came to this country seeking sanctuary. While being in the category of asylum seekers, they were housed by the Home Office. However, as soon as they were given ‘leave to remain’ legally in the UK, they had to leave Home Office accommodation. As many are single males, they are bottom of the list for council housing and are very unlikely to be taken on by a private landlord. Hence, they have ended up on the streets.
The land on which the camp stands is owned by Manchester City Council. From the outset, they have suffered from harassment by the authorities. Originally, the tents were under the arches, until the Council erected barriers which forced the tents to be moved out into the square. The camp became notorious for an attack by a police officer on a Sudanese man, apparently acting on the wishes of council officials who wanted to disperse the camp.
The council have twice managed to move the camp, once before Remembrance Sunday and again before New Years Eve celebrations. On both occasions, the residents moved on peacefully, but each time the camp returned to its current position at the rear of the Town Hall.
Now the council has resorted to legal action to clear the camp. It chose the middle of the recent cold snap to apply to the courts for an eviction order. The hearing took place on Monday 13 January 2025 at Manchester Civil Justice Centre.
In giving their grounds for eviction, the council cited health and safety concerns, including the presence of pregnant women at the camp. Also, the council claimed that the camp risks attracting violence. In fact, it is the camp residents themselves who are at risk of racist violence and abuse, and one of the main reasons they give for staying in the camp is that it gives them safety in numbers.
On the day of the hearing, groups including GM Tenants Union, GM Patients Not Passports and Unis Resist Border Controls gathered outside the Civil Justice Centre on New Bridge Street to show solidarity with the camp residents who are being supported by GMTU and are receiving legal representation from GM Law Centre.
Campaigners, supporters and residents of the camp deplore the council’s deployment of heavy-handed tactics against such a precarious and vulnerable group of people. As members of our community, they say, the residents of the camp deserve respect and support.
A group of the camp residents attended court to make their case against the eviction order. After a hearing of around two hours, the judge decided that the council have not yet made their case for an eviction order and the hearing was adjourned while further investigations can be made. The case will now be heard in the High Court at a date to be fixed in early to mid-February.
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All images: Jason Ioannou
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