Campaigners force delay in removing Kensal Rise Library books Butt, who took over as leader on 16th May, said: "I didn't have time to go to the library yesterday. It was a difficult day and I do feel conflicted. Margaret Bailey, Co-Chair of the Friends of Kensal Road Library, said: "We were hoping they would put a freeze on the removal and that we'd get a meeting with Council leader Butt. That would make the whole thing less controversial. There has been very little in the way of dialogue up to now. Under the previous leadership, the council was intransigent and hostile. We want to offer them the chance to facilitate what we can do as a community and run the library as a no-cost solution to Brent. The vibrant campaign to defend Kensal Rise Library attracted support from around the literary community, including from Zadie Smith, Philip Pullman and Alan Bennett. When playwright Bennett spoke at a church benefit in 2011 to raise legal funds for the campaign, he compared the loss to "child abuse." Yesterday, residents and members of the Friends of Kensal Rise Campaign (FOKR) gathered outside the building in a desperate attempt to halt the removal of the books. Police were called to the scene only as a precautionary measure. Those at the Save Kensal Rise Library campaign point to a letter received in March from the Oxford college, which says that All Souls "would be happy to consider the library being kept open" as proposed in their business plan. The good-humoured demonstration yesterday included one protester lying down outside the library and reading a copy of JG Farrell's The Siege of Krishnapur. Bailey added: "People were distressed at seeing the library stripped. They chose to go in at 7.30am but the quick support we got was fantastic. It was very easy to mobilise the community and the place was soon swarming.