"You occupy Ukraine, we occupy you.”
Squatters have occupied a mansion belonging to Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska in central London.
Deripaska is among seven Russian oligarchs who the UK government sanctioned last week. In a message to Russian oligarchs, the squatters said: “You occupy Ukraine, we occupy you.”
The building, believed to be worth at least £25 million and located in Belgravia, had a Ukrainian flag placed on it as well as signs, one of which read ‘this property has been liberated’. A second banner reads: “Putin go f*** yourself’.
A twitter account, by the name of resist London, shared a statement which it said was from the occupied mansion. The statement reads: “We are anarchists. We occupy this property in protest against Putin and his world.
“This mansion belongs to a Russian oligarch complicit in Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Do we need to remind you why Putin sucks? The invasion of Ukraine is only the last episode in a long series from the support of Assad in Syria to concentration camps for LGBTQ+ people, ecocides, massive wealth inequality, brutal repression of political opponents, and so on.
“By occupying this mansion, we want to show solidarity with the people of Ukraine, but also the people of Russia who never agreed to this madness. As always with wars, empires benefit and common people pay the price.
“We want to show our sympathy to the brave protesters who have been fighting in the belly of the beast, and suffer unjust imprisonment for standing up to Putin.
“We say with you: Putin, go f*** yourself.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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