Hundreds of protesters gathered at Redfern’s Aboriginal Tent Embassy on 1 June to defend what’s left of Aboriginal land in Sydney.

Corporate development that has gobbled up most of Redfern, but the Embassy recently celebrated its one year anniversary and shows no sign of going anywhere.

“Deicorp, Deicorp – we won’t stop, get your hands off the Block!” We huddled around the Embassy campfire in the cold and chanted against the property developer to keep warm. Deicorp is trying to evict the protest site and build student accommodation worth $70 million.

Embassy organisers say the area, won through a land rights campaign in 1973 to build low-income Aboriginal housing, should be reserved for that purpose. The latest eviction notice has been effective from 26 May.

Murri poet and activist Ken Canning read out the Embassy’s letter to Deicorp, which demands an end to the development plans. The protest then marched up the street to Deicorp’s offices, just footsteps from another enemy of the Indigenous struggle: the Redfern police station.

A crowd of two hundred entered the building, rushing up the escalators and stairs to deliver the message in person. An impromptu sit-in took place on the ground floor for a half hour, before embassy spokesperson Aunty Jenny Munro declared a victory.

“A representative of Deicorp has taken our letter and assured us that their superiors will read it”, she said, promising that the Embassy would be a pain in Deicorp’s side for as long as it takes.