Activists who reopened a disused homeless shelter in Glasgow to accommodate visiting climate campaigners during Cop26 are to be evicted immediately, a court has ruled. The Glasgow city council property in Tradeston, nicknamed Baile Hoose, was restored to habitability by a group of local activists frustrated at reports of visitors having to sleep rough because of a chronic shortage of accommodation in the city. After the conference finished, some activists and others in need of a safe place to sleep remained there, and the occupation took on a more overtly political tone as a “protest against the lack of accessible and emergency accommodation in Glasgow”. The activists vowed to continue their fight to put buildings such as Baile Hoose back into the hands of the local community after it opened on the third day of the climate summit. The protest garnered cross-party and public support, with the Scottish government minister and Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie voicing solidarity with the activists. Squatters do not have rights under Scottish properly law and on Wednesday afternoon a sheriff granted a decree allowing the council to employ court officers to take back possession of the building and evict the remaining occupants. Ryan McNaughton, speaking for the group at Baile Hoose, said they would continue their fight to return the building to public use and planned to request that the Scottish government transfer the site to the community. “We have a homelessness and refugee and migrant housing crisis and Glasgow city council is not tackling these issues,” he said. “We keep seeing buildings being sold to private developers who continue to profit off the systematic destruction of community spaces in Glasgow.” Betty, from West Lothian, who arrived at Baile Hoose during Cop26 and has remained there since, said the group included three homeless people with nowhere to stay on Wednesday night. “We’d like to set a precedent that squatting should be legal in Scotland. I come from the London squatting scene, and it’s a really good way to live and a training ground for activism. It’s about living as a community, and being the change you want to see.” Betty questioned why the building was standing empty, although the council has said there are concerns about fire safety and possible asbestos. According to a recent Scottish government survey, in 2019 just over half of Glasgow’s population lived less than 500 metres from vacant and derelict land. A Glasgow council spokesperson said: “The council has been clear throughout the occupation that the building is not suitable or safe to be used as accommodation, and it welcomes the court’s decision to grant the decree. It would be in the best interests of all concerned if the occupiers now vacated the premises. “The council and HSCP [Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership] remain ready to provide appropriate support to those on site, including anyone who is homeless.”