October 7, 2009

Les bâtons: While there are police operating in Lowtown, the chances of any of them bothering to clean out a junkie squat like this one are nil. Bâtons are basically community watch organizations, sometimes supported by troops from the local tête. They're generally willing to live and let live as long as the squat stays quiet and none of the inhabitants hurt anyone: on the other hand, once the bâton is roused, they're unlikely to stop at a warning or worry about damages. It's quite frequent that people are beaten to death in bâton raids. Most squats have thus developed a certain paranoia and even some basic self-policing to avoid the righteous fury of decent citizens.