A GROUP OF activists in London has taken to placing mattresses over ‘anti-homeless’ spikes placed outside buildings in the city.
Space, Not Spikes said the collective came into being over the “anger” its members felt about the spikes.
The organisation’s manifesto reads:
We’re told where we can walk, where we can sit, where we are welcome but only if we spend money.
Anti-homeless spikes are part of that invention, Nothing says “keep out” to a person more than rows of sharpened butt plugs laid out to stop people from enjoying or using public space.
As well as a mattress, the group built a mini-library at one location in Shoreditch.
The move has received a positive reaction online.
The term ‘defensive architecture’ is often used to describe buildings that have spikes outside them to discourage rough sleeping or loitering.
Leah Borromeo, one of the activists, told the UK Independent this phrase is a “misnomer” and should be replaced with “hostile architecture”.
“What are [businesses] defending against? If you are doing something in defence there has to be an attack and I don’t see people encumbered with large shopping bags, or homeless people, or people without any money on the attack for anything,” Borromeo said.
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