Owner of property near Buckingham Palace seeks urgent possession notice after group occupied third building in Belgravia

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The high court granted a possession order on Friday against a group of squatters who are occupying a £14m mansion opposite Buckingham Palace. The case to remove them was fast-tracked after the owners of the building said they were putting the queen’s security at risk.



The building, 19 Buckingham Gate, is opposite Wellington barracks and the palace. It is the third multimillion-pound property the squatters have occupied in the luxurious district in a matter of weeks.

The seven-storey mansion is owned by Bahraini banker Abdulrahman Aljasmi. His company, 18-19 Buckingham Gate Investments Ltd, sought an urgent possession order from the high court on Friday arguing that the squatters should not remain in situ any longer as they pose a security threat to the Queen.

London squatters occupying £15m mansion evicted Read more

In a witness statement to the high court, another director of the company, Archie Riby-Williams, said he had spoken to a royal protection officer at the palace who expressed concern about the potential security risk if the squatters got on to the roof of the building next door, 18 Buckingham Gate, which would allow them to see directly into Buckingham Palace’s gardens.

Riby-Williams highlighted a post on a squatters’ website saying they had decided to “relocate as close to the Queen’s bedroom as possible”.

He added that a neighbouring property manager said he was “regularly contacted by snipers placed on the roof of Wellington barracks expressing concern that the roof of 18 Buckingham Gate had a clear view into the Buckingham Palace gardens”.

Known as Autonomous Nation of Anarchist Libertarians, or Anal, the activists are involved with a “rolling programme” to occupy high-value and high-profile buildings in central London to spotlight what they say is the scandal of thousands of empty buildings while the numbers of homeless people in general and rough sleepers in particular are on the rise. They also aim to highlight the gulf between the richest and poorest.

The 35-room 19 Buckingham Gate dates back to 1730 but was extensively rebuilt after being bombed during the second world war.

An application was submitted to Westminster council in June 2015 by GSP Real Estate to demolish the building and convert it and the property next door into 14 luxury flats with terraces, off-street parking and a car lift.

The squatters continue to occupy another large property in nearby Grosvenor Gardens. Despite securing an interim possession order in the Central London county court more than a week ago, the company named in the court papers as the leaseholder, Rowhurst Ltd, has not attempted to evict them although it is thought eviction is imminent.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Members of Anal pose inside a property on Eaton Square, which they occupied for more than a week. Photograph: Frantzesco Kangaris/The Guardian

The squatters have been accommodating and feeding homeless people in Grosvenor Gardens and hosting events such as talks and film nights.

“Now that we have two properties we are using the Grosvenor Gardens one as accommodation for homeless people and our new place opposite Buckingham Palace as our office headquarters,” said Daniel, one of the activists.

The 19 Buckingham Gate building was previously used as office space and the International Public Relations Association was based there. Documents relating to one of their clients, Mikhail Gorbachev, remain in the building.

The squatters discovered a cache of documents relating to the Gorbachev Foundation, an initiative set up by the former Soviet president involving statespeople, political leaders, intellectuals and spiritual leaders to work together “to provide a blueprint for stability and human interaction for the new millennium.”

“We would like to work with Gorbachev to tackle these issues,” said Daniel.

Among the documents marked private and confidential is an original letter signed by Gorbachev. The documents include letters to various multinationals asking them to sponsor the initiative. Companies including Shell, British Airways, HSBC, BT and Virgin Hotels all declined to do so.

The squatters previously occupied a £15m mansion in nearby Eaton Square, belonging to the Russian oligarch Andrey Goncharenko, for more than a week.