Scouts weren't prepared for this... squatters from St Paul's

Squatters from the St Paul's protest camp have taken over central London's Scouting headquarters - and police claim they are powerless to evict them.

The occupation has locked children and teenagers out of their community hall where they study for badges and had planned to sleep over to highlight homelessness.

It is the most dramatic example of London's squatting crisis that has seen occupations from multi-million Hampstead houses to terrace family homes in Leytonstone, Lambeth and Ilford.

About 15 squatters, mostly men, occupied the headquarters of Camden, City and Islington Scouts in Holloway Road on Wednesday last week. But when police arrived two days later they told the owners they could not help.

Scout leader District Commissioner John Cronin said: "They broke in through a side door and blacked out the windows with paper. It's been turned into a commune.

"I was told by the police they have a standard policy: they're saying because they cannot prove it's the group in there that broke in, they cannot do anything. They had done a reasonable amount of damage and taken out shelving and cupboards.

"I'm really angry about it, the law is letting us down. We are the legal owners and users of the property. We're bringing children up to be good adults. But we can't even use it."

MP Mike Weatherley, who is campaigning to criminalise squatting, said: "The young Scouts did nothing to deserve this treatment."

Celebrity adventurer Bear Grylls is Chief Scout and the Duchess of Cambridge recently became a volunteer for Cubs and Beavers. Today the squatters pledged to leave by Monday, but the Scouts have begun legal proceedings to evict them.

The squatters claimed to be from the "Occupy frontline", which targeted St Paul's, Finsbury Square, an empty UBS building and the Shoreditch courthouse.