Saving libraries by people power
On Thursday night more than forty protestors entered Carnegie Library in London’s Herne Hill and have been occupying it ever since. The group, who include Doctor Who actress Adjoa Andoh entered the library to protest plans to turn it into a healthy living centre, and now they have been presented with a possession order from Lambeth council.
Despite the order, delivered by Lambeth enforcement officers yesterday the protestors say they won’t leave the Carnegie Library until the council reconsiders this plan and retains the library services. The possession order reads “You are occupying the premises of Carnegie Library without the licence or consent of the council. The council has an immediate right to full and vacant possession of the premises but you have failed to leave despite being asked to. The council has now applied to the court for an interim possession order against you.”, and a first possession hearing will take place on Friday 8th April.
Protestors say they won’t be along to this hearing as they have no intention of leaving the library, but say the protest is going perfectly as the protest is ‘creating just the kind of ripples we need’.
In recent months we’ve heard a lot about library closures in the UK and as the government further tightens local spending, it seems there are plenty of people prepared to go out there and fight for their library!
This being the Carnegie Library makes it all the more poignant, given that without the work of Carnegie, we may have no public libraries at all. At the rate that cuts are happening, this could be a very real future too, and this makes libraries worth fighting for!
The Devil all the Time adaptation coming to Netflix
