Issue 13
thegryphon.co.uk
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Fancy a break from the library, or maybe Leeds on the whole? Check out our Berlin travel guide ITM p.18
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Akihiko Sato
tourismusberlin.com
27.02.15
In The Middle speak to the cereal connoisseurs over at the brand new Moo’d Cereal Cafe ITM p.19
p.8
Features Men’s rights: hearing marginalised voices or just plain misogynistic?
p.14
Debate Is our prison system broken?
p.16
Science Beware the rise of the machines
© Samuel Blake Lewis
Leeds RAG Fashion Show 2015: models hit the runway for charity: pg. 7
Protesters in despair over ‘illegal’ removal •
Uni and police face questions over methods
Charlotte Mason
News Editor
Lucy Connolly
Protesters have said that they are considering taking legal action after they were removed from University land last week. Three members of the Leeds Community Project were arrested during a six-day occupation of 6 Grosvenor Mount in protest of plans to sell the holding to private investors. University security and police officers attended the scene on Thursday 19th February, when demonstrators were arrested on suspicion of stealing electricity from the site. They were later released without charge. The group claims that activists were ‘unlawfully evicted’ and that University security staff entered the site illegally.
However, the University has argued that protesters were trespassing on its land. A Police spokesperson confirmed that officers had made the arrests after being called to the scene to deal with ‘squatters who were in dispute with representatives of the site’s owner’. In a statement, Leeds Community Project writes, ‘These were wrongful arrests as LCP had accounts set up in order to pay for the electricity. As a result of the arrests, the site was no longer occupied by LCP and the University was able to reclaim it. Other members arrived soon after and were threatened with detainment for trespassing. Given this ultimatum, LCP members chose to leave to avoid any further arrests’. Leeds City Council rejected a bid to recognise 6 Grosvenor Mount as a community asset in January, and stated that the site has ‘no current use’. However, Leeds Community Project
argues that the land ‘holds many future possibilities for sustainable food growing and can be envisioned as a space for education and social events, as well as a space for nature and wildlife’. They also claim that local residents have been unable to access the site as it is currently closed off. A University spokesperson said, ‘We can confirm that the University became aware of the occupation of the land and property at Grosvenor Mount by members of the Leeds Community Project and accordingly, the University security team attended the land. The land and property at Grosvenor Mount is privately owned by the University. As a result, members of the Leeds Community Project were trespassing on the site and accordingly, left the land after security and the police attended’. A local food poverty café has come... ->->->-> continued on page 2 ->->->->