The shocking sight of the shelters being thrown away in Huntley Street

A DOZEN homeless people were evicted from their sleeping spot next to a hospital last Friday, as police, security and bin workers arrived in the masses to throw away tents.

The makeshift shelters were tossed into the back of a refuse truck.

A week after the now former home secretary Suella Braverman announced her desire to restrict the use of tents by rough sleepers, you might not have thought a similar stand would be taken in an area like Camden – controlled by Labour and Sir Keir Starmer’s constituency.

But in an eviction which left people in shock and tears, 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) in Huntley Street.

Some people had been living in tents at the location for nine months, keeping warm through the heat emitted from the air-conditioning vents.

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 more than a year. The hospital’s 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 posted on X: “Find&Treat in no way support the actions of UCLH – utterly shameful.” Camden Council initially posted on social media that it “had no role in enforcing this eviction”.

The council then deleted the post, stating instead it had ordered an “urgent investigation” into what had happened. This investigation found that there was “operational involvement” from the council. Veolia said they worked to council instructions.

Mr Starmer said: “I was very concerned by the videos from Friday and welcome Camden Council’s commitment to launch a full investigation. It is vital that adequate support and assistance is offered to those who need it.” 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 NHS hospital security staff when there were only a few tents camped there.

Last Tuesday, community protection officers told the people using tents that they had to move by the end of the week. Police officers arrived on Friday morning to issue dispersal orders to two people, including Anthony, on what they said was grounds of antisocial behaviour, including “defecating in the street, begging and harassing members of the public”.

This gave them 90 minutes to pack up and leave and temporarily banned them from an area starting at Euston Road and stretching 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 refused to give as he was not under arrest. It was at this point that he was put in handcuffs.

“It was degrading and it’s discriminating,” he 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 doesn’t take drugs. They aren’t alcoholics.”

When the police came back to the site after 90 minutes, Anthony refused to move and he was arrested and taken away in a police van. His tent and belongings were seized but officers at the scene said they would not throw them away.

But other people living on the streets outside the hospital who were not in their tents when the officers arrived 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. 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.

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.”

He added: “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.”

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: “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.”

He said he has been visited twice there by the council’s Routes Off the Streets team but every time they come they are accompanied by a community protection officer.

Jodie Beck, policy and campaigns officer at Liberty, was present during the eviction. She told the New Journal: “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.”

On Saturday, outreach group Streets Kitchen were back on the streets handing out tents to rough sleepers. They gave out 137 breakfasts in Camden. The widespread outcry at video footage of tents being crushed encouraged people to donate, and they raised over £14,000 in a few days.

This has been spent on 50 tents, 150 sleep pods and 20 shelter suits. “People are wonderful,” Jon Glackin from Streets Kitchen said. “We have managed to already replace all the guys’ stuff that was taken.”

Over the weekend, barriers tied with locks and cable ties were put up around the hospital.

Streets Kitchen and the Camden New Journal are hosting a community response to homelessness meeting at St Michael’s Church in Camden Town, tonight (Thursday) from 6-8pm. All are welcome.

The council

CAMDEN Council was coming under fire this week as even its own leaders were struggling to work out whether it had been involved. As videos were shared of the incident on Friday afternoon, the Town Hall was denying it had been part of the tent-clearing operation.

By Monday, it had looked into the sequence of events and found that its staff had been aware of what was going to happen.  Veolia said, as contractors, it worked under instruction from the council.

Liberal Democrat councillor Tom Simon, the leader of the opposition in Camden’s council chamber, 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.”

He added: “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.”

On Monday, Labour councillor 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 [Pat Callaghan] has ordered an investigation into what happened, which is ongoing and we 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.”

He added: “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.”

The police

A Met Police spokesperson said: “Met officers worked with University College London Hospital and other partners on Friday, November 10, in response to concerns about approximately 10 tents near the entrance to the hospital in Huntley Street. 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 intimidated or verbally abused by some of those begging and sleeping rough at the location.

“On November 6 and 7, 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 November 10.

“A Section 35 Dispersal Order was authorised on November 10, 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.”

The hospital

A University College London Hospital spokesperson said: “Following public health concerns, the police have helped to relocate some people sleeping outside the Grafton Way Building, a hospital treating immuno-compromised patients.

“Over time, the hospital received an increasing number of complaints from patients, staff and members of the public about antisocial behaviour and criminal damage. Reports were also made to the police about other concerns including drug dealing.  “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.

“We do acknowledge the challenges, however, of balancing the welfare of homeless people around our sites with ensuring the safety of our patients and staff.”

The waste contractors

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.”