Squatters have become a major problem, demanding they be able to take over empty public buildings until they are demolished.
Their lineage extends to the Restoration, when acting troupes took over empty dining rooms above pubs to perform plays of lewd material that went well with a pint.
●An urban gardening advocate's blog about how Occupy Wall Street can help communities seeking to take over empty lots is circulating on Facebook.
Inspiring Occupy tactics in other countries, they have been taking over empty bank-owned properties across the country from Galicia to Andalucia and Madrid to Barcelona.
Dubbed "the slack space movement" by The Guardian newspaper, they are taking over empty shops and turning them into temporary studios and galleries.
New York City is not now contemplating graveyard evictions, although the state did pass a law several years ago that allows cemeteries to take over empty plots bought more than 75 years ago if the owner cannot be reached.
In the euphoric pandemonium that followed, workers occupied factories, landowners' estates were seized by peasants, homeless people took over empty apartment buildings and tram conductors declined to collect passengers' fares.
Without mentioning Mr. Bush or Mr. Cheney by name, he accused the Republicans of trying to paper over empty promises and harsh policies with a feel-good, slickly choreographed convention that offered little more than "confetti and klieg lights".
Peter Box, of the Local Government Association (LGA), said: "Councils have long recognised that our high streets need an urgent revamp, which is why the Local Government Association called for councils to have the power to take over empty shops and use them to provide services such as training centres, libraries or youth clubs, while tenants were found.
He would borrow land from Edinburgh city council that had been set aside for "meanwhile use": this is a government-endorsed initiative that allows entrepreneurs, often with a social vision, to take over empty land or commercial spaces on a short-term basis.
"Shells have landed in my family's garden," she says, and we quickly follow her through the rubble of bombed-out Beirut, with clouds of smoke hovering over empty buildings, to arrive at her family's home - a 200-year-old house fronted by a huge marble staircase and filled with chandeliers and Oriental rugs.
