LONDON -- The Libyan consulate in London has fallen on bad times.
The grand marble-columned reception room, once a meeting place for statesmen, is now strewn with papers and a few folded mattresses and can be entered with a gentle push of the front door.
An X-ray machine and other security equipment stands to one side, covered with dust.
The 40-room neo-classical building, still carpeted and fully furnished, is now a rent-free haven for 25 homeless people.
The consulate was closed two years ago, following the shooting of a London policewoman that led to a 10-day police siege and the eventual expulsion of Libyan diplomats for the killing.
The Libyans left in a hurry, leaving couches, desks full of official papers and hundreds of copies of Col. Moammar Gadhafi's 'Green Book,' which sets out his philosophy. Six-foot portraits of the Libyan leader still hang on the walls.
Squatters broke the front-door lock three months ago and took over. The students and unemployed Londoners have made the most of their elegant new home by producing their own plays in an upstairs room and throwing a few parties.
They charged a small entry fee for these events to pay for a battered generator that powers electric razors and supplies heat for a tea kettle.
A 25-year-old woman known only as Liz moved into a room next to her brother three weeks ago and sleeps on a mattress perched on filing cabinets.
She said the residents formed a theater company called 'Wot State' to perform a play written by a fellow roommate, Julia. She said they might put on another production to help pay for repairs on the building.
The squatters have taken advantage of a confused legal situation regarding former diplomatic properties.
The Foreign Office declared the building is no longer diplomatic property and passed reponsibility to the Home Office. A baffled Home Office spokesman said the former consulate was under the control of Saudi Arabians who are managing Libyan interests in Britain.
Libya's lease runs until the year 2003.
Darren, a soft-spoken 20-year-old, said two dozen notices had been pushed under their door during the past few months, but it was not until July 3 that he and two others made their first appearance in court.
An unidentified Arab sued to take possession of the building, but neither the squatters nor the Saudi Arabians know whathe intends to do with it.
In any case, the squatters have been told by the court to leave within a month.
