Two people have been detained after trying to breach a cordon outside a Russian oligarch’s London mansion which has been occupied by squatters.
The pair were stopped by police near the property belonging to Oleg Deripaska in Belgrave Square, west London, at around 6.30pm on Monday.
The Metropolitan Police said: “Police have detained two people who attempted to breach a police cordon close to the building where a protest remains ongoing in Belgrave Square, W1.”
Police remain at the scene where four protesters have been surrounded by officers on the balcony of the central London mansion.
The squatters broke into the property at around 1am on Monday and declared that it “belongs to Ukrainian refugees”.
The street has been cordoned off with at least 10 police vehicles and more than 30 officers at the scene.
A Scotland Yard spokesperson said officers completed a search of the property early in the afternoon and found no protesters inside.
Officers wearing harnesses first tried to deploy a ladder to access the balcony but after the squatters sat in the way to obstruct them, a JCB crane was moved in to lift them up instead.
Police wearing riot gear used a drill to break open the front door and enter the house.
The squatters call themselves the London Mahknovists, after Nestor Makhno, who led an anarchist force that attempted to form a stateless society in Ukraine during the Russian Revolution of 1917-23.
They hung a Ukrainian flag as well as two signs which read “this property has been liberated” and “Putin go f*** yourself”.
They also danced, played music and one man sang lines from the Dirty Dancing song (I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life.
Mr Deripaska has been described as “a prominent Russian businessman and pro-Kremlin oligarch” who is “closely associated” with the Russian government and President Vladimir Putin.
His wealth is estimated to be £2.3 billion and he has a multimillion-pound property portfolio in the UK which, according to a 2007 High Court judgment, includes the house at 5 Belgrave Square.
Records indicate it has not changed hands since and is owned by an offshore British Virgin Islands company.
