Tesco is removing anti-homeless spikes outside its Regent Street branch after a backlash from homeless charities.
The news comes after protestors poured a concrete mixture on the spikes on Wednesday and threatened to protest outside the supermarket.
In a statement, Tesco said: “Customers told us they were intimidated by antisocial behaviour outside our Regent Street store and we put studs in place to try to stop it.
“These studs have caused concern for some, who have interpreted them as an anti-homeless measure, so we have decided to remove them to address this concern. We will find a different solution and hope this clears up any confusion.”
Earlier this week, metal spikes to prevent the homeless from camping outside a luxury apartment block in Southwark got furious reactions. London Mayor Boris Johnson called the spikes “ugly, self defeating and stupid” and urged for them to be removed.
Left unity held a protest outside Tesco’s Regent Street branch yesterday.
Bianca Todd of Left Unity said:
“Tesco had tried to distract from the issues here – now they have been forced to back down. Thousands of people have made their feelings known online and this should be a message to any other company thinking of using anti-homeless spikes.
“The campaign to remove all the anti-homeless spikes from everywhere they have been put in continues. We don’t want to live in a society where public space is covered in spikes. Homeless people are not pigeons.
“Instead of leaving people homeless, they should be housed in one of the 700,000 homes currently lying empty in Britain. Homeless people need homes not spikes.”
Down Regent Street protesting against homeless spikes with @LeftUnityUK #HomesNotSpikespic.twitter.com/stUSltNHNK
— Nathan J. Bolton (@nathanjbolton) June 12, 2014
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