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Anger at naming of tower blocks after gang of police killers
Elizabeth Hopkirk, Evening Standard26.09.08
A housing association in Tower Hamlets has sparked anger after naming two tower blocks after the leader of a gang of police killers.
Peter House and Painter House are dedicated to Peter Piaktow, known as Peter the Painter, the head of a gang of Latvian anarchists who in December 1910 shot dead three policemen investigating a jewellery shop raid.
Sarah Drury, vice-chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said: "It's disappointing that the local housing association has chosen to honour the anarchists in this manner."
The killings resulted in the Siege of Sidney Street a fortnight later when Winston Churchill, then Home Secretary, went to watch and a bullet passed through his top hat.
Tower Hamlets Community Housing chief executive Mike Tyrrell said: "There is no evidence that Peter the Painter killed the three policemen."
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