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Housing campaigner hit in the face
Sam Middleton struck by Newham Council guards at anti-eviction protest

A HOUSING campaigner was punched in the face yesterday when Newham Council security guards got aggressive with people protesting against the eviction of young mother.

Sam Middleton took the blow from a bouncer as she attempted to accompany homeless mother-of-one Candice to an emergency meeting with the council.

Ms Middleton - one of the famous Focus E15 mums - was also shoved and had her foot stamped on by the four burly security guards.

Candice, who didn't want to give her full name, had been relying on friends and family for shelter in recent months until the Focus E15 campaign took up her case.

On Monday she was told by Newham Council's housing services at Bridge House that if she did not accept accommodation outside London her case would be closed.

But she won her fight with the help of the Focus E15 mums yesterday when Newham was forced to find a flat for Candice and her one-year-old baby.

Speaking to the Star before the end of the meeting, campaigner Helen said: "I just think it's really disgusting what's happening.

"We are just next to the Carpenters Estate where we know - and the Focus E15 campaign has proven and drawn international attention to the fact - that there are hundreds of empty homes available."

Helen had herself been barred from entering Bridge House earlier as security closed the building due to alleged "security threats."

A homeless family of three desperately awaited to be let in after having been called an hour earlier with the promise of a potential home.

Inside Bridge House, Ms Middleton shared her time between advising Candice and listening to other families in the waiting room.

An A-level student told the Focus E15 mums how her large family had been put on the streets and how they now waited - suitcases in hand - for a home to be made available.

"This has been going on all over the country every day for a long time," Helen said.

"It's obviously accelerating and what the Focus E15 campaign has done is not only highlighted it but also underlined that not only can we fight back, but we must fight back."

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