The operation to confiscate and throw away tents outside UCLH today (Friday)

A DOZEN homeless people were evicted from their sleeping spot next to a hospital this afternoon (Friday), as police, security and bin workers arrived in the masses to throw away tents and life-saving belongings.

A week after the home secretary announced her desire to restrict the use of tents by rough sleepers, police officers, council community protection officers, hospital security staff and a team of Veolia workers descended on a camp of 11 tents outside University College London Hospital (UCLH) near Warren Street.

Some people had been living in tents at the location for nine months. Some were staying there because they had no recourse to public funds and were therefore not eligible to stay in hostels. Others had been on homeless hostel waiting lists for over a year.

UCLH security asked police for the tents to be removed due to “public health concerns” to their immunocompromised cancer patients. The Trust stressed it is “deeply committed” to improving the health of homeless people, which includes their mobile Find and Treat clinic.

On Friday, the Find and Treat service tweeted: “Find&Treat in no way support the actions of UCLH – utterly shameful.”

After the incident went viral, Camden Council initially posted on X, formerly Twitter, that it “had no role in enforcing this eviction”. The council deleted the post, stating instead it had ordered an “urgent investigation” into what happened, which later found that there was “operational involvement” from Camden.

The New Journal reported in June that one person who was staying there, Anthony, had his tent and belongings, including his asthma medication and passport, thrown away by hospital security staff when there were only a few tents camped there. Security staff told him his things were removed because the area is private property.

On Tuesday, community protection officers told the encampment they had to move by Friday. Police officers arrived this morning to issue dispersal orders to two people, including Anthony, on the grounds of antisocial behaviour, giving them 90 minutes to pack up and leave. The area they were dispersed from starts at Euston Road and stretches down to Covent Garden and Holborn.

Anthony, a former bus driver, told the New Journal that after he was handed the dispersal notice the police asked for his name, which he lawfully refused to do as he was not under arrest. Then they put him in handcuffs.

Anthony holding a map of the area where he was temporarily banned from

Anthony said: “They asked me to come out of my tent. Then I put my camera on and came out. They said what’s your name? I said i’ve not committed a crime, I don’t need to tell you my name. They put my hands in handcuffs. They said they were arresting me for refusing to give my name. It was degrading. And it’s discriminating. They’re targeting me.”

They removed the handcuffs after they found his name. The terms on his dispersal notice include defecating in the street, harassing members of the public and begging. They banned him from returning to the area for 20 hours.

Anthony said: “I’ve never defecated on the street ever. The hospital over there lets me use their toilets and I shower at the gym. I don’t beg. Never ever ever. I wouldn’t harass anyone. Why would I do that? The homeless get treated like crap by the police.

“Everyone from the second tent here down to here don’t take drugs. They aren’t alcoholics.”

The camp of tents outside UCLH in October

When the police came back to the site after 90 minutes. Anthony refused to move. He was arrested and taken away in a police van. The New Journal asked an officer why they were here. He replied due to reports of drug dealing. However, drug dealing was not mentioned in the grounds of the dispersal notice.

Anthony’s tent and belongings were seized but officers at the scene said they would not throw them away.

That was not the same fate for the other residents outside the hospital. Those who were not in their tents when the officers were there had their shelters – which included personal documents, clothes and even a bike – slashed, seized and thrown into the back of a bin truck. The pavement was then hosed down.

Abdoul, who has been on the streets for eight months and is from Senegal, was also served a dispersal notice by the police but it was not explained to him in his native language of French. He is unable to claim benefits after he lost his biometric ID card. He said his dream when he was a young boy was to move to England to play football, but the reality of being in the UK doesn’t live up to his dream.

Abdoul packing up his belongings

Ed Allnutt, a gardener who witnessed the trashing of tents, said: “I’m still processing what I witnessed today and I have been teary all afternoon. These are my fellow human beings. I saw Abdoul, an asylum seeker, trying to carry all his possessions on his back as he was forced from his temporary home outside a hospital. I saw Anthony, who said he had nowhere to go, arrested for trying to stay put.

“Then I watched a dump truck crushing up tents in which people had been living over the last few months.

“My heart is heavy. I don’t want to live in a country where people fleeing conflicts and down on their luck have their only shelter destroyed at the beginning of winter. How can this happen in the heart of London – in Keir Starmer’s constituency? It feels like something has gone very wrong, has been going wrong for a while.

“There were dozens of officers, council workers, and waste disposal people there – and not one official on the side of the little man. It is devastating. I’m devastated.”

Another man who has been at the site for seven months, who asked not to be named, moved before the police arrived. He told the New Journal: “This is the first place I’ve stayed where I’ve been left alone by the police and now they’re here again.

“I’m getting the help they told me to get. I’ve now got to wait the same as everybody else. I’m not a priority so I have to wait [to get a hostel]. In between that time, where am I supposed to go? Everywhere I tend to sleep I get arrested so what am I supposed to do? It’s exhausting.

“You can be on the waiting list then you can get bumped down if someone else comes on who is deemed a higher priority. It’s been a month and three years now.

“The CPN thing is an offshoot from an ABSO as far as I can tell. I can’t see how I’m being antisocial. I’m not being antisocial whatsoever. They’re just grasping at straws.”

Camden Council’s contracted waste operator throwing away the tents

He said he has been visited twice by the council’s Routes Off the Streets team but every time they come they are accompanied by a community protection officer. He said: “All they seem to be interested in is getting your details while the police officer is putting their details into their database to find out if there are warrants or anything like that. You don’t hear anything about housing or anything like that. They literally come round to working with the police, it’s really weird.”

The man was issued a CPN, banning him from a large area in Camden, after he was found sleeping in a stairwell when it was -7 degrees.

Jodie Beck, Liberty policy and campaigns officer, was present during the eviction. She said: “We are appalled by what we witnessed on Friday. This Government has a long history of equipping the police with tools to criminalise people who are affected by poverty, and on Friday we saw the devastating reality of this for our communities. 

“Police tools like dispersal orders not only criminalise people for sleeping rough – they also leave them in an even more precarious position and force them to leave vital support networks behind. 

“We should all be able to access safe accommodation and be treated with dignity and respect. Instead of criminalising people, the Government should be working to tackle the root causes of rough sleeping, like the lack of safe, affordable accommodation and the cost-of-living crisis.”

A Met spokesperson said: “Met officers worked with University College London Hospital and other partners on Friday, 10 November, in response to concerns about approximately ten tents near the entrance to the hospital in Huntley Street, NW1.

“The hospital’s security team had requested the assistance of police. This action was necessary due to the hospital’s concerns for patient welfare. The tents were on private land close to the UCLH Macmillan Cancer Centre and had been at the location for up to nine months.

“Police had also received reports of drug use and drug dealing, urination and defecation and of patients and staff being intimated or verbally abused by some of those begging and sleeping rough at the location.

“On 6 and 7 November, all of those present at the site were fully engaged with by partner organisations and advised of the hospital’s intention to clear the site on 10 November.

“A Section 35 Dispersal Order was authorised on 10 November, and two hours prior to the site clearance taking place, all individuals who were present on the site were given time to leave. All but one of those present left the site; some taking tents with them and some leaving them behind.

“The one man who remained was arrested for breaching the Section 35 order.

“Veolia staff removed the tents left behind after they had been untied from the side of the hospital building by UCLH security staff.

“Appropriate support was provided by partner organisations to those affected.”

Routes Off The Streets were not present at the eviction.

Acting leader of the council, Labour councillor Pat Callaghan said: “We are deeply concerned to see these videos and I am ordering an urgent investigation into what happened. Nothing is more important to us than the welfare, safety, and rights of every person who is experiencing homelessness. Our outreach team, Routes off the Streets, have been working hard to offer support to every person sleeping rough in Camden, including access to accommodation and a range of other services.

“I’m also concerned that our contracted waste operator has been engaged in this operation and I will be personally looking into why this has happened.”

A UCLH spokesperson said: “Following public health concerns, the police have helped to relocate some people sleeping outside the Grafton Way Building, a hospital treating immunocompromised patients.

“UCLH is deeply committed to improving the health and wellbeing of homeless people and we provide a number of services for this vulnerable group. This includes our homeless healthcare team and our mobile Find and Treat clinic that tests and treats thousands of homeless patients a year for serious illness, helping prevent onward infection, improving public health and providing routes to referral for accommodation.”

Councillor Tom Simon, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said: “What was done to the rough sleepers at UCLH on Friday was a travesty. Camden Council facilitating the cruel agenda of Suella Braverman is a failure of political leadership. The council should be supporting rough sleepers, who are some of the most vulnerable members of society, not seeking to sweep them off the streets.

“There must be an urgent investigation into exactly what happened, which must show what role the council played, who made the decisions to involve Camden officers and Veolia, as well as who knew about the decisions or should have known. And the results of this investigation should be made public at the earliest opportunity.

“Once again the Liberal Democrats find ourselves criticising the Labour-run Council for its failure to keep its residents safe. Last year we highlighted the shocking failings to support people in temporary accommodation. Earlier this year it was the Regulator for Social Housing notice on fire safety in council homes. Now this appalling treatment of rough sleepers. This is a dark day for Camden Council.”

Anthony was released by police officers on Friday evening.

On Monday (November 13), deputy leader of Camden Council Adam Harrison said: “It’s important to acknowledge what happened on Friday was unacceptable. We are sorry about this and our Acting Leader of the Council has ordered an investigation into what happened, which is ongoing and will report as soon as possible.

“Here in Camden we want to put people at the heart of everything we do, but it is clear that something has gone wrong here.

“We can now share that initial investigations, since the operation, have shown that there was operational involvement from Camden – what happened was unacceptable and doesn’t reflect the values we hold as a Council.  We will make sure this is clear and understood at every level of the organisation.

“Whilst this dispersal order was applied for by University College Hospital London and enforced by the police, we acknowledge that waste collection services were arranged through the Council and our rough sleeping support services were engaged to support people affected.

“We are determined to make improvements to how rough sleepers are supported in the borough.

“Our outreach teams are available to provide support to anyone rough sleeping tonight. If you are worried about someone sleeping rough in Camden, please let us know by using the Camden Streetsafe app, emailing Streetsafe@cgl.org.uk, or calling 0808 800 0005.”

A Veolia spokesperson said: “For many years we have provided waste management and recycling services in the borough on behalf of and under the strict supervision of Camden Council. We consider ourselves to be part of the local community and strive to carry out our duties with compassion and understanding.

“We follow all the procedures and requirements needed when it comes to removing sensitive items, under the strict instructions and supervision of Camden Council and the police. This is what happened in this case. We are working internally and with Camden Council to review how requests of this nature will be dealt with in the future.”

Streets Kitchen and the Camden New Journal are hosting a community response to homelessness meeting at St Michael’s Church in Camden Town, next to Sainsbury’s, on Thursday, November 16, from 6-8pm. All are welcome to attend.