Anti-eviction protest to hit East London

Campaigners are planning to picket the Tower Hamlets Council Town Hall in London tonight to demand protection of families in the impoverished East London borough from eviction if they are forced into rent arrears due to benefit cuts.

The campaigners from the Tower Hamlets Benefits Justice will submit a petition to the councilors, asking them to challenge the government and refuse to evict tenants that cannot pay their rents.

Local residents say although the council is not responsible for the government’s austerity drive and the benefit cuts, they can stand up to the government’s “dirty work” and avoid signing the eviction orders.

“We calculate 10,000 households will be hit when further cuts come in next month,” a spokesman for the group said.

“Benefits are high in the East End because of the high rents in this expensive part of London”.

Tower Hamlets is the home to London’s financial hub, the Canary Wharf that houses major multinational banks and financial institutions.

However, the Ease London borough is a prime example of poor-rich divide in the British capital, as four out of ten children living there are in poverty.

It is estimated that one-in-five disability benefits claimants in Tower Hamlets could lose their entitlements, due to government cuts.