Antepavilion building targeted in police raid
Project Bunny Rabbit’s All Along the Watchtower structure, atop he Hoxton Docks arts building (image: Russell Gray, via Dezeen).
The Hoxton Docks arts building, the site of East London’s annual Antepavilion, had been raided by police in a bid to target the climate activist group Extinction Rebellion.
Dezeen reports that members of Extinction Rebellion had been attending workshops at the building, but that all those arrested during the raid on Saturday were employees or tenants of the building.
Russell Gray, owner of the building, said: “I spent the night in jail. They smashed their way in through various doors and smashed the place up.”
Gray told Dezeen that while he was released the next day, the police had told him that they planned to return to dismantle All Along the Watchtower, a lightweight installation on the building’s roof developed by Project Bunny Rabbit for Extinction Rebellion.
The structure is a reusable, lightweight installation made from bamboo poles and steel cables. It was commissioned by the Antepavilion after similar structures were used by Extinction Rebellion to block access to Broxbourne printworks earlier this year.
All Along the Watchtower had been completed last week by volunteers attending workshops at Hoxton Docks. While these workshops were not organised in conjunction with Extinction Rebellion, a number of supporters of the group are believed to have attended.
Gray said: “We are an architecture prize. We weren't prepared to become a propaganda tool for these Extinction Rebellion people.”
“We support the erection of the structure, the workshop, training people to do construction and craftsmanship. It doesn't extend to any endorsement of Extinction Rebellion, on whom I'm neutral at best.”
The raid on Hoxton Docks came as part of a number of police raids in London aimed at disrupting Extinction Rebellion, reports The Guardian.
While the police are reported to have had intelligence that the group planned to use similar structures to All Along the Watchtower in future demonstrations, it is unclear what rationale or justification they had for raiding an arts centre with no meaningful connection to the group.
Story source: Dezeen and The Guardian