Squatters take over former police station

A group of squatters has taken over a disused East End police station, leaving officers in the embarrassing position of having to take legal action to reclaim the building.

Up to 20 squatters - including a teaching assistant, artists and a Polish couple - moved into the former Arbour Square police station in Stepney nearly a month ago.

The police are powerless to evict the new occupants by force and are now having to go to court to repossess the imposing red-brick building.

They have applied for an eviction order which will be heard at Shoreditch County Court on Wednesday. A police source said: "It is all very embarrassing because they are probably using the old police showers and cooking in the police canteen."

The building, which once held the Kray twins and alleged IRA terrorists, closed in 1999. It was recently sold at auction and contracts are due to be exchanged with the new owners, who plan to convert it into luxury flats.

The squatters first broke in on 16 December. The following day officers from Limehouse evicted seven people using dogs, but on 21 December the building was taken over again.

Police believe the new occupants are "professional" squatters who know their rights and have access to lawyers.

They are said to have hooked up lights and heating, sleeping in one half of the building and holding parties in the other. A skull-and-crossbones flag has replaced the Union flag which used to fly over the building.

One squatter, who would not give his name, told the Standard: "We're not animals, we just want somewhere to live."

Another - a Peruvian called Jimmy - said he had been living there for the past fortnight, but refused to say what life is like inside.

Anthony Puckridge of Babcock Infrastructure Services, a contractor-for the Metropolitan Police, said he gained entry when the squatters were first evicted and found fires had been started in three places, with piles of excrement left next to the old cells.

But a 25-year-old Polish woman, who said she had been squatting at the station for more than a month, insisted " conditions inside are very good".

She added that "British people are very tidy so it's very tidy in here," and claimed that "no one will suffer if we are using this place to squat."

Elaine Peters, 42, a neighbour, said the squatters must go.

"They should be forced out," she said. "The station's been closed for years - it should be a police station again. That's what we want round here. We have a bad drugs problem."