-petrol bombs thrown by residents, police respond with tear gas
By Subhana Shiwmangal
A months-long standoff over the government’s appeal for Mocha Arcadia squatters to make way for a road ended yesterday with seven houses being torn down leaving 32 persons homeless.
The Mocha Arcadia squatters were warned since October 9 last year that they had to move to make way for an East Bank road link. The government had said it had made offers of housing and land but that these were refused and the squatters had made unreasonable demands at the instigation of the opposition. Up to Tuesday they defied attempts by the Ministry of Housing to evict them and a standoff developed with dozens of residents and members of the opposition arriving on the scene.