Squatters were in the Woodward’s building for around a week before it was raided by riot police. After their arrests, squatters returned to the Woodward’s building to continue their protest, camping out on the sidewalk around the perimeter of the building. The flow of sidewalk traffic suddenly became a major concern for those who opposed the squat. The status of the sidewalk as public space and the obstruction posed by tents was a legal knot to be untangled. In the face of a demand for social housing, slabs of concrete became the prefered battleground for the state. The significance of the Woodward’s sidewalk is explored in Nicholas Blomley’s article “Civil Rights Meets Civil Engineering: Urban Public Space and Traffic Logic.”
