A protest was held outside Foxtons on Brixton Road to highlight the impact soaring house prices have had on the community.
The event today was organised by Our Brixton, a new multi-arts campaign led by rapper Potent Whisper.
Demonstrators stood outside the estate agents holding banners that said “Social housing not social cleansing” and carried blankets and pillows, while Potent Whisper went inside and lay down underneath the adverts for million-pound houses in Brixton.
Potent Whisper said it was “to highlight the displacement and homelessness caused by high rents and the regeneration of estates like Cressingham Gardens and Guinness Trust.”
“We’re here to be peaceful,” he said. “We just want to highlight the issues that people in Brixton are facing.”
Miles Romans-Hopcraft, who is also involved with Our Brixton, said: “The changes in the area are tearing apart the local community. Its has become full of big companies, while the smaller ones are pushed out.
“We need to make it clear that Brixton is a vibrant, multi-cultural place and we want it to stay that way.”
Representatives from both the Cressingham and Guinness housing campaigns joined the protest.
Police arrived but made no arrests and did not break up the protest.
I for one think the gentrification of the area is a fantastic thing. Less fly tipping/litter, less street crime, less bums and beggars, better maintenance of property and a much better class of customer for small business people in Brixton – customers who aren’t rude, don’t have a lousy attitude and don’t barter. Besides, Brixton was ethnically cleansed way back in the 50s and 60s for the worse, so what’s wrong with a bit of social cleansing now to make it a nicer area? So let’s have more gentrification and social cleansing please, ASAP.
It wasn’t the April Fool’s Foxtons article was it?!