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A group of hippies known as the London Street Commune occupied a sixty-room mansion in central London in September 1969. 144 Piccadilly became a flash point for the conflict between alternative culture and the mainstream \\u2013 and it was later cleared by the police. Lucy Burns speaks to Richie Gardener, who was one of the squatters.

Picture credit: A policeman removes a flag from the balcony of 144 Piccadilly as squatters are evicted from the building, London, 21st September 1969. (Photo by Terry Disney/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)