The Pocono Record, Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania
Originally published in The Pocono Record, Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, Thursday, November 3rd, 1977
Frestonia wants to be ‘friends’
Transcript
Frestonia wants to be ‘friends’
LONDON (UPI) – The Independent Republic of Frestonia, population 120, wants cordial relations with surrounding Britain.
One day old Wednesday, Frestonian independence was declared by residents of two west London streets who are squatting in Greater London Council-owned houses due for demolition.
Notice of Frestonia’s independence was sent to 10 Downing Street, Buckingham Palace and the United Nations.
“We have applied for full membership in the United Nations and if faced with GLC aggression we will ask for a U.N. peacekeeping force,” said Frestonian Foreign Minister David Rappaport-Bramley.
“We are confident our application will be accepted,” he said. “Our biggest problem is finding somewhere in New York for our ambassador to squat.”
The Frestonians are serious about one thing – they want to publicise and win support for their drive to stop the GLC from tearing down their houses and replacing them with an industrial development that includes no new housing.
“We know people will think we’re crazy, but although we’re all squatters, we have built up a super community in an area that was just left to die,” said artist Geoff Gough-Bramely, who designed Frestonia’s coat-of-arms.
“If it hadn’t been for us, these houses would have been rat-infested and derelict by now. We have proved that rundown areas like this are worth saving.”
Foreign Minister Rappaport-Bramely said, “We are quite willing to give up squatting. We aren’t looking for hostilities. But we would like to protect the area.”
