The London HQ in Berkeley Square was the target of an anonymous overnight protest action against the huge multi-national investment fund, Blackstone. They boarded up the entrance to the office and attached a banner that read “Expropriated by the people”.
According to Eurostat, house prices have increased across Europe by nearly 60% in just 16 years, and campaigners point to major investment firms like Blackstone, Cerberus and Goldman Sachs ramping up their property investments since the 2008 financial crash. The effect of this has been to turn what should be a basic right to us, into a financial product providing massive profit and expansion for them. Almost 10% of Europeans spend more than 40% of their income on housing.
In prestigious Berkeley Square, Blackstone are waiting for the completion of building works before moving into a much larger property next door, no doubt partly funded by their rapid growth in profits from buying up property at low cost then maximising rents, evicting residents and ‘gentrifying’ areas, driving ordinary workers out.
Not only is Blackstone one of the largest investment funds operating in the housing market, driving inequality and a shortage of affordable homes, but activists point to its substantial economic ties with Israel, including partnerships with its biggest financial institution Phoenix Financial, and software developer Priority Software.
An activists spokesperson said “The housing crisis is today one of the main factors driving inequality. It’s not a result of shortage of homes, but of the profit interest of the companies who are speculating with a basic right, driving residents out of their neighbourhoods and making it impossible to live with dignity.”
All video and images supplied by the group.
