Bailiffs have evicted the last resident of the Sweets Way housing estate in north London following months of protests from squatters and former residents.
Heroes.
Mostafa Aliverdipour, 52, lived on the estate for around 10 months with his wife, son, and two young daughters.
According to his son Hossein, Aliverdipour has a severe spinal injury that requires the frequent need of a wheelchair and regular access to medical attention.
Activists at Sweets Way, who did not want to be identified for security reasons, told BuzzFeed News that Aliverdipour's home was forcibly entered by bailiffs at around 7:30am this morning and he was taken out of the house while sitting in his wheelchair.
On Wednesday, the high court rejected Aliverdipour's request to extend his residence in Sweets Way, after he was given an eviction notice at the beginning of this year.
Barnet county court had also granted permission to bailiffs to evict dozens of squatters who have occupied the estate.
Four people were arrested today for resisting removal by court officials, The Guardian reported.
Aliverdipour and his family were previously living in temporary housing in Golders Green, and according to Hossein, they have moved over 10 times in the past 12 years.
"He requires attention a lot of the time," Hossein told BuzzFeed News.
"The council did provide him with temporary accommodation but it was not compatible with his health issues. In the house there is no space for wheelchairs and it was difficult for him to move around.
"They offered houses that weren't good for him. One of them was three storeys and had a narrow door where he couldn't fit his wheelchair into."
Hossein also said that the family told the council but it refused to help because it classified Aliverdipour as a "part-time" wheelchair user and therefore ineligible for housing that could accommodate his wheelchair needs.
According to the activist group Sweets Way Resists' website, the council's assessment contradicts alleged statements made by Aliverdipour's occupational therapist.
The medical assessment allegedly states that Aliverdipour has said he has "little confidence" without his wheelchair and that his left leg can "collapse" while moving.
However, Barnet Homes, the housing arm of Barnet council, said it had offered Aliverdipour suitable housing based on the medical information he had given.
"Based on the medical evidence we have been provided, we were able to locate a newly refurbished three-bedroom house on the borough border that fully meets Mr Aliverdipour and his household's needs," a spokesperson said.
Barnet Homes also told BuzzFeed News that following today's eviction, it urged Aliverdipour to get in touch and arranged transport arrangements for him.
Yesterday dozens of police officers surrounded a part of Sweets Way to evict squatters who had occupied the estate for the past six months.
Protesters moved into the estate in January after a number of families were reportedly evicted despite allegedly protesting to Barnet council that they would have nowhere else to stay.
According to those occupying Sweets Way, police and bailiffs arrived with sledgehammers and battering rams on Wednesday morning to evict them.
The protesters responded by erecting barriers using broken sinks, furniture, and wood to block officials from entering the estate.
They claimed police officers forced their way into homes and ordered occupants to leave the estate "within 10 minutes".
Some claimed they were threatened with arrest and alleged officers had "improperly assaulted residents protesting peacefully against them".
Others claimed they had been left with cuts and bruises on their faces.
BuzzFeed News was unable to verify these claims with the Metropolitan police.
The estate is due to be demolished in order to make way for new luxury flats, according to those occupying the area.
The flats are to be built by the housing developer Annington Homes, which is planning to regenerate the estate with 288 new flats. It has said that under agreement with Barnet council, around 20% of the new flats will be affordable housing – which amounts to just under 60 flats.
While Annington Homes insists that the regeneration will be affordable, former residents told BuzzFeed News that the council was still charging at market rate levels, meaning that "eventually, we would be forced to move out".
"We said this to some of the developers when they came here a few weeks ago," Shani, an occupier, told BuzzFeed News. "They just said it [wasn't] their problem."
BuzzFeed News was unable to speak to a representative of the firm, but in a statement released on Wednesday, a spokesperson from Annington Homes said: "Today's action relates to the mass eviction of over 50 properties currently illegally occupied by squatters.
"Two high court writs of possession have been issued for high court enforcement officers, working in conjunction with the police to clear the illegal occupation of the estate prior to demolition and the development of new homes."
Others occupying the estate said Sweets Way was one of the few places where homeless people and those who couldn't afford to live in London could come and stay.
Katya, who lives with her boyfriend, Paul, told BuzzFeed News that activists had occupied the estate in support of the Aliverdipour family but that a large number had arrived after being evicted from other parts of London.
"Housing in London is a joke," she said. "There were people here who had been evicted from their houses with no space to go.
"It's happening all over London. Poor people being priced out to make way for rich people. We're here to say that London belongs to us, not them."
Others told BuzzFeed News that Sweets Way provided a place of shelter and that if they were evicted they would find themselves homeless.
"I've been staying in Sweets for the past three months," says Adam, who did not want to be photographed.
Clutching a small supermarket bag with a few shirts, pairs of underwear, a toothbrush, and a couple of books, he said: "There's nowhere else around here that will take me. I've been to homeless shelters but they aren't safe and good spaces to live. I like the people here, they're like my family."
Some of the occupiers also said that they had endured intimidation from bailiffs who attempted to get them to leave, despite Aliverdipour's case not going through the courts until late on Wednesday afternoon.
"They don't give a shit about the law," one activist told BuzzFeed News. "They aren't supposed to be developing on the site for another year and these houses were empty.
"They tried to kick us out by destroying all the taps, toilets, and appliances in the house so we would have nothing.
"It's not human."