After an hour or so of searching the police decided to arrest everyone who had slept in the houses that night and anyone who came home during the search (13 people in all). It is assumed that this decision was made as the houses were a lot bigger than Lincolnshire police expected and most people have a lot of stuff in their rooms, so they wanted activists kept out of the way.
The police took a wide variety of personal and communal effects. They seized 15 computers between the two houses. The computers at both houses were used by lots of people and groups. If you have used the Cornerstone computers in either house in the past then please be aware that the police now have copies of any work you have done. They also have Cornerstone's email address book and email archive.
One of the justifications for the raid was that a van was stopped in the vicinity of the action and our address (number 40) was given by one or more occupants of the van. Cornerstone were totally unaware that their address had been used in this way until the raid. The members of Cornerstone ask that people who are not members of the co-op don't use their address in such circumstances (ie when asked by the police to give an address).
All arrestees were released without being charged with "conspiracy to burgle" but have been bailed to return to the police station on 6,7,8,9 January 2003. Everyone arrested had fingerprints and DNA taken (this was authorised by a superintendent as nobody was charged). While some members of Cornerstone have a history of political activism on a wide range of issues, other members of the co-op are (simply) people who believe in the co-operative ideal and want to live in a housing co-op - this has been especially hard on them (it was a very extreme first arrest). Everyone in the co-op knows that someone has been through everything that they own while they were locked up.
Cornerstone would like to express our solidarity with the other three places raided in the last ten days (ie mid-November) on unrelated pretexts, namely A-Spire (Leeds), a friend in Manchester and the Sumac Centre (Nottingham).
Cornerstone (0113 262 9365, Cornerstone@ukf.net)