On July 1st after a Homeless Liberation Initiative meeting Andres Soriano, the co-owner of the Assembly Room, stopped us as we were leaving to say that we can’t bring homeless people into the Assembly Room anymore for meetings.
Apparently letting a few homeless people use the bathroom is costing the Assembly Room a fortune! But when people who don’t look homeless use the bathroom without buying anything, it’s suddenly no longer an issue! There are virtually no public bathrooms in downtown New Britain, where are people supposed to go?
A lot of homeless people in downtown New Britain have told us they’ve been kicked out of the Assembly Room, whether they’ve bought something or not. Last night he chose to be cordial with a few DTS members who remained after everyone else left, but if we left first who knows how hostile he would’ve been towards our homeless contacts.
Whether its business owners who harass homeless people or cops, don’t fall for the cordial shit, what they’re enforcing and saying is disgusting, even if it’s in a “nicer tone”.
Why is this happening?
The Assembly Room food hall opened in November 2021 in downtown New Britain. “A trendy destination spot” that came in as The Brit luxury apartments’ construction was underway. The introduction of luxury amenities signals a change coming to downtown New Britain: Gentrification. Re-development alone isn’t bad, but it often leads to residents getting priced out along with locals getting increasingly harassed and criminalized by police and local business owners. The latter is exactly what we saw happen yesterday!
Our only mistake Tuesday night was not shaming him enough and causing a bigger scene, something we fully intend to do. If you’re in downtown New Britain, feel free to skip this place or let the owner know how you feel about him harassing the homeless.
We demand the Assembly Room stop discriminating against homeless people, let people use the bathrooms and charge their phones. We’d even suggest that Andres Soriano be banned from using the Assembly Room’s bathroom so he knows how it feels!
To the Assembly Room and any other business in the downtown New Britain area who decides to harass homeless people: If you continue to do so, we will put you on blast for it online and in person. People aren’t asking for luxury, just respect, humanity and a bathroom.
Dare to Struggle 