sadly its not as simple as the “feds being bastards” (although they often are and there were clearly excessive levels of force as a reprisal against them initially being defied).
thanks to UK property and land values warehouses cost up to half a million quid or more – even shitty abandoned ones and they are often not quite “abandoned” but simply awaiting another tenant. when warehouses get raved they are often left full of rubbish, balloons, even human shit etc (as not all crews are able to get the water/plumbing on) – the smashy smashy crew make things worse…
OK some crews do try and clear up but its not always done, they can’t fix walls that have been kicked in or ripped out plumbing, and flooded places, and there are people who try and shit in random places as jokes :yakk::yakk:
further, if people were able to just constantly break into buildings and do what the fuck they wanted in them there would also be bare travellers (particularly the more “pikey” type) rinsing them and making a site out of the place, plus the more desperate homeless / immigrants who can’t get housing in town squatting them midweek..
I’m not being racist here, just saying it like it is and from what I have seen in the city where I used to live – actually a lot of these travellers/homeless people/immigrants were mates of mine and some of them used to have raves in the buildings as well but gave up because the buildings got smashed..
So because of all the above locals and building owners expect the cops to defend their property rights by whatever means necessary (as many are actually shit-scared of 300+ people who have just taken over a space by their own hands)
Stuff like cops taking their numbers off and putting on balaclavas is alarming but sadly its been accepted within those in British society with power, and has been going on since the 1960s when people first stopped accepting some of the more restrictive dogmas of conventional British society.
What is essentially happening is the police are taking on a paramilitary role and settling a civil conflict to reclaim the property rights of the building owners.. (look at film of the Iraq war, you don’t see the soldiers wearing numbers/name badges..) In other nations there is a gendarmerie or even the regular Army is called in to deal with stuff like this, and often lots of CS and even live rounds may be discharged!
anyway, anyone who is interested in why shit like this happens and how it is dealt with by cops and govt should read this book (you may need to borrow it from your college or local library as it is expensive and hard to get otherwise)
http://www.oup.com/uk/catalogue/?ci=9780198273592
