Everything we saw as St Peter's Square homeless tent camp is broken up with dozens evicted at dawn - Manchester Evening News

Feb 27, 2025

At 6.30am on a Wednesday, St Peter's Square was eerily quiet. The twenty or so tents huddled by the town hall's arches (under which they had once sheltered, before metal fencing went up to oust them) were motionless.

There was hardly a noise from the few trams going past; only a few office workers and legging-clad gym goers had dared brave the rain, which was tipping down in sheets from the glowering sky above, a typical Mancunian welcome.

But it was the occupants of the tents themselves that would soon receive just the opposite.

Just before 6.45am, a group of council enforcement officers and bailiffs rounded the corner and began what they had promised they would do in court weeks prior - remove the encampment altogether.

The officers began by tapping on the roof of each tent: "Good morning sir, council enforcement..." Body cams pinned to the front of their coats glowed electric blue in the dark.

Head after head popped out of the tent entrances, bundled in hats and thick coats, blinking open tired eyes, squinting up into the drizzle at the faces above them.

Interpreters were on hand to help explain what was happening to the occupants, all of them refugees and asylum seekers with leave to remain in the UK.

The occupants were trespassing on council land, and had to disperse. They would be given time to collect their belongings, but anything they left behind would be disposed of.

These officers were flanked by what appeared to be bailiffs, who wore no lanyard or identification, just head-to-toe black. If their clothing said little, they themselves said nothing at all - but the meaning of their presence was obvious.

Behind these hovered council staff, clutching information leaflets and clear plastic bags. They gave these out to the occupants so that they could pack up their things, although some used them as anoraks against the unrelenting downpour.

As the sky above turned from dark blue to grey, and St Peter's Square began to fill with office commuters and neon-clad runners stopping to look, the packing-up began.

Most went quietly, dismantling their tents with an ease that suggested they'd done it many times before. They filled their bags with pillows, sleeping bags, yoga mats (presumably serving as mattresses), shoes and meagre food supplies.

The police officers standing by had very little to trouble them, except for some back-and-forth with handful of protestors who made their feelings on the whole process clear.

These stood filming the scene - some in tears - and brought hot drinks to the residents, to comfort them as they packed up their life's possessions in the freezing cold.

Before long, rubbish trucks arrived, hazard lights and horns blaring, their dazzling headlamps serving as another kind of wakeup call. It was these - the Biffa staff - that did most of the actual clearing.

Whatever had been left behind by the residents - whether they had not had time to clear it or hadn't wanted to - everything was cleared.

Biffa operatives in neon orange jumpsuits gathered up the remaining tents, cardboard boxes and sleeping bags and fed them into the red metal maw of the bin lorry.

Most of the occupants of the tents stood in huddles and looked on at the scene in silence. Whether it was due to a language barrier or the shock of the eviction was hard to say - but they watched with faces blank, eyes glazed over.

Some weren't giving up without a fight, however. One man who said he was from Eritrea lay down on top of his tent in protest. "Just put me in the rubbish," he said, "you are trying to put me in the tip."

"We have given you ample opportunity to collect your belongings," explained an enforcement officer. "I sympathise with your situation, but if you do not vacate this area, we will have to forcibly remove you."

"You can't touch me," came the response. "I am not going anywhere."

The bailiffs then sprang into action, picking him up by the arms and carrying him some distance away, where they deposited him to watch his home - a black tent - get crushed as well.

Another man had dropped down onto his haunches, his head in his hands, clutching a sheaf of documents and a bulging hold-all. He seemed to be struggling to comprehend what was happening.

A police officer knelt down beside him. "You are free to collect your belongings," he said. "I know it's a horrible situation." He picked up what he needed and slunk away.

Another of the last to leave was a woman from Sudan who did not give her name but spoke to the M.E.N. from inside her tent, the zipped-up flap obscuring her face.

“What can I do, walk around the streets by myself?" she said. "Where do I go? You go somewhere and they let you in one day and turn you away the next."

She had been in the UK for a year and nine months. "I came here for safety and shelter. Sudan is full of problems. I don’t have anywhere to go."

All around, the question resounded: where can I go? Where can I go? Angry protestors directed the question over and over at council staff, who stood impassively by, not engaging.

By 9am the square was busy, and the scene was attracting considerable attention from passers-by. "Shame on Manchester City Council," said one man, watching the bin lorry swallow another sleeping bag.

"It's absolutely disgusting. All these high rises sitting empty. It's a disgrace."

But in the end, the occupants didn’t have far to go. Before long a row of tents had begun lining one flank of the Midland Hotel - setting up a new camp some 500ft away from their old one.

A council statement issued hours after the evictions said: “The court order instructing people in the St Peter’s Square camp to leave the area was carried out successfully this morning.

“This brings to an end the encampment which has been in place there for several months, with fluctuating numbers, occupied by people who are refugees who have been granted the right to remain in the country.

“We have conducted homelessness assessments for people camping there and offered temporary accommodation to everyone who we owed a statutory duty – anyone classed as vulnerable and in priority need. Others on site who were not classed as vulnerable were still offered advice and support, including a personal housing plan, to help them secure accommodation for themselves.

“People were given the choice to pack up and take their tents with them. The only tents which were disposed of were ones which had been abandoned.

“We would reiterate that help is at hand for any Manchester resident facing homelessness. The Council’s homelessness service works hard alongside a fantastic network of voluntary and community sector organisations in the city.

“But as we have consistently stated, this informal camp in St Peter’s Square was not a safe, sanitary or suitable place from which to access support. Nor does camping in a public space accelerate their homelessness application or gain them any other advantage.

“We have had a number of issues in keeping the area safe, secure and clean - as we saw in the run-up to Remembrance Weekend and New Year’s Eve events. The presence of the tents has also impacted on the day-to-day delivery of services from the town hall extension, including hindering evacuation in the event of an alarm.

“We’re glad the issue at this location has been addressed and would stress that help is available through established procedures for anyone who finds themselves facing homelessness.

“The possession order was specific to St Peter’s Square - and the issues there - to ensure it was reasonable and proportionate. While those specific issues have now been addressed, we remain clear that such encampments anywhere in the city are not in anyone’s best interests and are not a suitable place from which to access support.

"We will continue to engage with the people in the tents and monitor the situation."

A statement from the Greater Manchester Law Centre, which represented refugees in court on February 11, said: "We are continuing to work with the people who have been evicted today from the Council’s land without any offers of alternative accommodation.

"Rough sleeping is not a choice, and many of the people we are working with have been seeking help for weeks, if not months. Our concern remains that the decision to evict has simply moved people on rather than resolving their homelessness."