By Dean Austen and Jason Collie
AUCKLAND - Protesters stood vigil outside Len Parker's Sandringham state house last night, ready to defy police attempts to evict the rent rebel.
Along with two supporters, 64-year-old Mr Parker barricaded himself into his Balmoral Rd home yesterday after an eviction notice expired at midday.
The pensioner
owes $6500 in back rent to Housing New Zealand since joining the strike against market rents on state houses in 1993.
Supporters - numbering up to 100 early on - rallied outside in the rain last night, ready to form a human shield against any attempts to enforce the eviction notice.
"Our people are prepared to stand their ground," said Peter Hughes, a member of the State Housing Action Coalition. "Our policy is peaceful disobedience."
Mr Parker, who has refused to give Housing New Zealand any more than 25 per cent of his income and pays $91 when his rent is set at $112, was joined inside by former Engineers' Union delegate Tony Haines and Socialist Workers editor, Grant Morgan.
The trio spent three days readying the house, with bars on every window, doors boarded up and braced with thick beams, stores of tinned food and contingency plans if water and power is cut off.
Speaking through a grille, Mr Parker said he had learned from the experience of other rent strikers, who had bailiffs smash down their doors.
Of the support outside, he said: "I think it's brilliant in the face of the weather and it is an indication of the mood of the people."
A Housing New Zealand spokesman, Tim Lawrey, said the company would work with Mr Parker to seek a solution to the stand-off.
