In New York, protesters protect tenants from forced eviction

A group of protesters managed to stop what officials called a heartless and illegal eviction of tenants from a house in Brooklyn on Tuesday, July 7, in the evening. Writes about it New York Post.

Tenants living in a four-story building in Coron Heights accused their landlords of arriving on Monday, July 6, without warning, in order to drive them out and move into the house themselves.

They claim that the owners, Gennaro Brooks Church and his ex-wife Loretta Gendville, broke into the bedroom, where one of the tenants was there after taking a shower.

Eleven residents in the house lost their jobs and income amid coronavirus in March and were unable to pay rent from April to June.

“It took me months to get unemployment benefits,” said 24-year-old tenant Angelina Martinez. - I filed my tax return in February and still have not received a refund. There are so many people here who did not receive any financial assistance during the pandemic. ”

According to Martinez, when they sent an email to homeowners saying they were willing to pay rent for July, but they were ignored.

“We sent an e-mail informing that everyone can pay the rent and asked them to respond within 24 hours. Alas, they never received an answer, ”Martinez said.

Instead, Brooks Church and his ex-wife appeared with their children and two dogs, ready to move in.

“They came with furniture and beds. They said they would move in immediately and burst into the house, ”Martinez recalls. "The children said it was very nice to be at home."

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Martinez works as a barista. She told how Gendville tried to get a girl’s neighbor from the bedroom when she was undressed, as she had just left the shower.

“They were actively trying to get her out of the bedroom,” she said.

Later that night, Brooks Church dozed off in one of the bedrooms, and tenants tried to fall asleep in neighboring rooms.

“We had to sleep with him in the house. He took one of the bedrooms. So I had a chance to spend Monday and Tuesday nights inside the house with Brooks Church, ”Martinez recalls.

“We are all gay women of different races. There are sex workers here. It was a safe haven for us and we had never seen it before, ”she added.

According to Martinez, on Tuesday, July 7, U-Haul arrived in the afternoon, and the owners confiscated the furniture.

“They started to ravage the house, took out the mattresses, started cleaning things from the bedroom, and we started to resent,” Martinez continued.

When tenants turned to Equality for Flatbush, a human rights advocacy group, they launched an online campaign calling for support and posting homeowners' phone numbers on their social media pages.

Dozens of protesters helped tenants push homeowners who arrived not by themselves, but with strong men, to knock out the front doors.

“People don't have to pay rent when they are not working,” said Em, the group's organizer. - We need to cancel the rent. We need to cancel the homeowners - they are exploiting their tenants. "

At the moment, there are three tenants left, including Martinez, who moves in two weeks. According to her, one of the tenants is recovering from a traumatic brain injury.

Brooks Church owns a "contract and design art firm." An article was published about him in the New York Times in 2018. It tells about what he had to go to cover his house in Carroll Gardens with a patterned wall of plants.

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He denied all charges.

“This is totally untrue,” Brooks-Church said. - I'm a white man. I'm demonized for being a white man. "

Answering a question about the version of events of tenants, Brooks Church described it as a “pure lie”.

“I never told them to leave,” he added.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a decree in March to impose a moratorium on eviction due to non-payment of rents to ease the burden of tenants who have lost their jobs.

But given that this moratorium was due to expire on June 20, the governor extended the order in May until August 20 with key changes limiting the protection of persons entitled to unemployment benefits or “otherwise experiencing financial difficulties” due to a pandemic .

Brooklyn Democratic Senator Julia Salazar said eviction would be illegal regardless of moratorium.

"Yes, it is absolutely illegal to do what is described here, even without a moratorium," Salazar wrote on Twitter.