Tag Archives: spokesman-said

About damn time!! British Store Removes Anti-Homeless Spikes Tesco has removed spikes from outside one of its stores after activists claimed they were “anti-homeless.” Via Telegraph UK reports: The supermarket had claimed the “studs” on a ledge outside the Metro convenience store in Regent Street in central London were installed to deter anti-social behaviour like smoking and drinking, which intimidated customers. But Tesco bowed to pressure from protesters who were due to demonstrate outside the shop on Thursday night. Left Unity organised the protest after pictures of an unrelated set of spikes, outside a block of flats in the London borough of Southwark, caused fury on Twitter earlier this week. Spokeswoman Bianca Todd said: ”Tesco had tried to distract from the issues here – now they have been forced to back down. Thousands of people have made their feelings known online and this should be a message to any other company thinking of using anti-homeless spikes. The campaign to remove all the anti-homeless spikes from everywhere they have been put in continues. We don’t want to live in a society where public space is covered in spikes. Homeless people are not pigeons. Instead of leaving people homeless, they should be housed in one of the 700,000 homes currently lying empty in Britain. Homeless people need homes not spikes. A Tesco spokesman said: “Customers told us they were intimidated by anti-social behavior outside our Regent Street store and we put studs in place to try and stop it. These studs have caused concern for some who have interpreted them as an anti-homeless measure so we have decided to remove them to address this concern. SMH!!!! Guy Corbishley / Demotix

Excerpt from:
A “Lil Positivity”: Wealthy White Neighborhood Removes Dangerous “Anti-Homeless” Spikes After Twitter Protests