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Bristol Post
Bristol Post
National
Jessica Sykes

Reports of extensive damage inside Bristol buildings following eviction of squatters

A major police operation took place this morning to reclaim buildings in the city centre.

This is after squatters took over multiple building on the High Street.

Number 39 was the first building taken over, in March 2021 and since then numbers 45 and 46 have also been occupied.

A month-long closure order was put in place yesterday (Thursday, June 3) as police say there has been "escalating criminality and antisocial behaviour (ASB)".

Avon and Somerset Police arrived around 6am this morning to evict to occupants.

More than 15 police vans were in attendance.

Officers removed a barricade from the building that the squatters had used to block police entry.

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Chief inspector for North central Bristol, Rob Cheeseman, said: "Our objectives were to come here and make sure all the premises were empty and that there was nobody illegally on any of those premises.

"We've managed to gain entry to all three of those locations and we were able to confirm that there was nobody left inside those illegally on the premises.

"We're now in the process of securing these to make sure that they can be preserved for the next 28 days.

"Inside some of the buildings they are messy, there's lots of litter inside and graffiti.

"There is some extensive damage and reports that there has been a wall knocked down inside.

"There's a lot of work to be done by the property owners to get it back to the state it was before it was occupied."

The major police operation required a large police presence today due to the 'unknowns' facing the officers including how many people inside the buildings.

The police have now secured the area and will maintain a presence on the property whilst they continue their work.

Chief Insp Cheeseman said: "The closure order was put in force this week and that was due to the rising levels of anti-social behaviour, disorder and criminal activity that is associated with the addresses here.

"That closure order was applied for in court yesterday and granted.

"From that court order being granted, we needed to ensure that these buildings were empty and that there was nobody in breach of that order for us to be able to secure that and to ensure we were able to maintain that order for the next month."

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