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Rough sleepers outside Oxford Street's former John Lewis flagship after migrant 'shanty town' cleared out

Rough sleepers outside Oxford Street's former John Lewis flagship after migrant 'shanty town' cleared out

Daily Mail​13-07-2025
Migrants slept in white duvets on Oxford Street overnight after people were evicted from the area last week.
The group, which set up camp outside the shopping destination's John Lewis, were seen in a line sitting on their duvets as they rested and smoked cigarettes this morning.
Just fewer than 10 people were seen gathered on the pavement outside the department store as shoppers and commuters walked around them.
The new camp has been spotted just days after a 'tent city' full of homeless people in the area was broken up.
Enforcement teams were called in on Friday to tear down the encampment which blighted Hyde Park Corner for months.
The action was taken by Transport for London (TfL), which applied for a possession order to retake the land.
MailOnline understands it was the fourth such time the site had been cleared in the last 12 months.
The camp was next to London's West End tourist Mecca, and just a stone's throw away from Hyde Park, Marble Arch, Speaker's Corner, as well as Oxford Street.
Migrants sleeping in new white duvets outside John Lewis on London's Oxford Street today
Dramatic pictures on Friday showed groups of people from the squalid site being moved on by officers, some of whom appeared to be wearing stab vests.
Occupants of the camp were forced to rip down dwellings made of tarpaulin sheeting while bailiffs watched on.
Some from the tent city were pictured hauling grubby-looking mattresses after being evicted.
Security teams comprising dog-handling units maintained a presence at the former campsite today.
For months the prime city centre spot, opposite The Dorchester - a famous hotel in Park Lane - has been plagued by people living rough.
Up to 100 migrants were reportedly camped at the site at one point, with some defiantly saying they won't go anywhere.
But their presence ignited fury from exasperated local residents, who wanted the rough sleepers turfed out.
When MailOnline visited a previous Mayfair location last year, those living there insisted they were going nowhere.
'We don't have any money [to go anywhere else]. We will just stay here until we can find something,' said someone from the group - which at the time was believed to be made up mainly of Bosnians.
The eyesore was just yards from an Aston Martin showroom and other prestigious hotels like the Beaumont, the Hyatt Regency and the Connaught.
But for the tycoons looking out on the camp from their penthouses, were reportedly furious at allegedly seeing people drinking at 7am and using Hyde Park's shrubberies as toilets.
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