This morning, as usual, I read the news. Whilst there was no mention on Sky or the BBC something on Twitter caught my eye.
The trending topic #stokescroft which is a part of central Bristol.
For those of you who don’t know, whilst I live in Sweden and spent most of my adult life in London, Bristol is where I spent most of my life. Today I still class this as my hometown. I actually lived in Stokes Croft for several years.
I went to the local Bristol news and spent the next thirty minutes reading reports that, in all honesty, shocked and appalled me.
To cut a long story short there is a building in Bristol that has been occupied by squatters for a long time, decades now. Stokes Croft is a small part of Bristol that still has many family run shops, lovely pubs and is a place I would highly recommend anyone who visits Bristol to go to.
Two years ago, Tesco (The UK’s largest chain of food store) opened up one of their Express stores in opposite the building where the squatters live and to cut a long story short, last night things got very ugly indeed.
The video below tells the true story but, in summary, here is my view.
Everyone has the right to protest at something that is affecting their neighbourhood. Yet this was no protest. This was purely an act of mindless vandalism and thuggery that tarnishes the true feeling of the Stokes Croft community.
These reckless idiots have given Bristol a bad name and I truly hope they are caught and prosecuted to the maximum.
I know several long serving squatters who have campaigned the correct way without any issues, until now.
Bristol has had a hard time the last ten years emerging from a city with a troubled reputation to, it’s rightful place, as the capital of the South West.
Bristol is my home, a city I am proud of and love dearly.
It is such a shame that it is moments like these that ruin its real beauty.
