[Squat!net]

Yesterday, the Somali group of We Are Here won the court case against the State of the Netherlands with regard to their stay at Florijn 8-11 in Amsterdam-Zuidoost. The authorities ordered the immediate eviction of the ‘Vluchtlumumba’, which they started to inhabit on 9 April 2017. However, their request to stay until the end of the Ramadan has been granted by the Court of Amsterdam.

The group consists of 20 men who have been in the Netherlands for a long time. Some of them have been here for up to 20 years, without the possibility to go back, or to lead a normal life in The Netherlands. After being evicted from a previous building last year, they were on the street for four months. As many of them have various health problems and as they needed more time to find another place, the group decided not to leave the building as ordered, but demanded to be allowed to stay until 3 July. [Read More]

Amsterdam, 24 december 2016 – Today, we, a Swahili subgroup of the refugee action collective We Are Here, squatted a building on the Amstelstraat 29-31. We had no other option because we were evicted from our previous location at the Rijswijkstraat.
We have asked the municipality many times to help us with sattisfying our basic needs, such as a simple proper shelter for day and night, but nothing has happened so far. Therefore we have to continue to squat buildings.
We are a small group and want to take good care for the building. We had friendly contact with the owners of our buildings before and we hope to come to a good agreement again. We also welcome all our neighbours to visit us. [Read More]

The We Are Here group asks for support at Hoogte Kadijk 401 where they have a sit-in / sleep-in in front of a building that is owned by the governement and where a few anti-squatters live. The police stated that they will tolerate the action till 9 pm tonight. Warm drinks, warm food en warm blankets are very welcome!

We are here, we are refugees & we need a solution.
Again our building was evicted on December 13. Our group We Are Here is struggling for over 4 years now and building after building has been evicted, over 20 times in 4 years now. Staying on the street is no solution, nightshelter for a few of us is no solution. We need a real solution and this is permission to stay and building our lives. We are people. We would like to study, we would like to work, we would like to be with the ones we love. Just like you! We are no different. We are refugees and asked for asylum in the Netherlands. We went through a lot in our countries of origin and in our travel to a safe Europe. We told our stories but they are not believed. In order to get asylum we have to come with new proof of our stories, that are hard or even impossible to get or would put our lives even in more danger. We do not get any housing but are also not allowed to work, therefore we are out on the street. We didn’t expect to find ourselves in this situation when we came here as a refugee. That is why we started our action. First in a tent camp, followed by many different squatted buildings. Vluchtkerk, Vluchtkerkluchtflat, Vluchtkantoor, Vluchtgarage, Vluchtgemeente, etc. [Read More]

Today, Sunday, September 18th, We Are Here (Wij Zijn Hier) squatted two buildings on Burgemeester Roelstraat 70 (for women) and Rijswijkstraat 2 (for men). We squatted these buildings cracked because the Vluchtgemeente squat, where many of us stay, will be evicted on Monday.
[Read More]

On Friday May 29, 2015 the We Are Here refugee group left the Vluchtgebouw. This is the squatted building at Jan Tooropstraat 649 where they had taken up residence since August 2014, after they were evicted from the Vluchthaven.

The refugees left the building voluntarily, after consultation with the owner, because the building will be demolished. The owner has in the 9 months of their stay been very helpful.

Where the refugees now have to go is unclear. Except temporary accommodation there is no other place. They are looking for a REAL solution, not a shelter where they can only sleep at night and in the morning again have to leave again.

[A mainstream media account suggests they found a warehouse in Amsterdam North]
[Read More]

Wednesday night (July 9th), after the eviction of the VluchtMarkt, of the VluchtHaven, and the short tent-camp in the Oosterpark, the ‘We Are Here’ group opened a new building on the Linnaeushof 4, Amsterdam: the VluchtOpvang.

The building is owned by the speculator W.M. Honselaar Onroerend Goed BV. The same company facilitated the eviction of the social space of the VluchtMarkt (Ten Katestraat 49) by signing a contract agreement with the owner, ‘Peters and Van der Vloodt’, to develop an hotel. [Read More]

Van der Laan have announced that the eviction will take place on Thursday, July 10. He also said that anyone who will be found still inside will be arrested by the ‘foreign police’.

Lawyer Pim Fischer appealed (urgent appeal) against the verdict of the court on the eviction about the Vluchthaven. The verdict and the next steps were discussed on Friday together with the group of refugees living in the building. The lawyer also asked for suspension of the sentence (and thus delaying the eviction) until the appeal will take place. [Read More]

The Vluchtmarkt (Ten Katestraat 61-63) has lost the court case against the state, and it will be evicted next Tuesday, July 8.

The verdict of the Vluchtmarkt court case is negative. The judge argued that although the people who live in the squatted buildings are undocumented migrants who have no right to work, to welfare and to a roof, this is a social problem that does not have to fall on the backs of private owners.
The judge evaluated the ‘proportionality’ of interests between the squatters and the owner, and ruled that the owner has the right to access its properties at any time. [Read More]

In the court case of the State (Openbaar Ministerie) against the VluchtMarkt, lawyer Uppal argued that although since 2010 squatting is a crime, the decision of evictions must be evaluated as proportionate to the interests of the squatters and the ones of the owners. Apart from a few technical exceptions, so far no judge has ruled in favour of the interests of the squatters. [Read More]

Tomorrow, Thursday 19th, at 10.30 AM court case for defending the VluchtMarkt

The squatted buildings on Ten Katestraat 61 and 63, owned by Rochdale, are under threat. The officer of justice Otto van der Bijl has sent the 8 weeks notice, which means that not the owner, but the state itself is taking initiative against the refugees. It is the first time that a ‘We Are Here‘ squat is treated with the criminal law. According to local politicians, Rochdale still seems to have no plans and no permits to renovate the properties, while the people occupying them have spend many weeks re-building the spaces (including toilets, showers, electricity, floors and ceilings) and made them safe and liveable. [Read More]

Most of the members of We Are Here currently living at the former prison in the Havenstraat in Amsterdam had to leave the building past June 1st. Which they didn’t and following to that the city subpoenaed everyone. The case will take place coming Friday, June 13, 13.30h. at the court of Amsterdam, Parnassusweg 220. The lawyer Pim Fischer is preparing for a strong plea for access to human basic necessaries for everyone.

The group of establishers “We Are Here” are decided not leave the government building , Havenstraat. “Here is the place to know our destiny clearly” We signed agreement in vluchtkantoor for two things:
1/ Those of who can lead their life in Nederland must clearly confirmed and told.
2/ Those of who can go back and will go back must be clearly assisted and taken to their country ! [Read More]

8 weeks letter to Ten Katestraat 61-63

A few days after the civil court case initiated by the owner of Ten Katestraat 49, also the squatted buildings on Ten Katestraat 61 and 63, owned by Rochdale, are under threat. The officer of justice Otto van der Bijl has sent the 8 weeks notice, which means that not the owner, but the state itself is taking initiative against the refugees. It is the first time that a ‘We Are Here‘ squat is treated with the criminal law. According to local politicians, Rochdale still seems to have no plans and no permits to renovate the properties, while the people occupying them have spend many weeks re-building the spaces (including toilets, showers, electricity, floors and ceilings) and made them safe and liveable. The group has 1 week to start a proceeding to defend the squats in court. If the case will be lost, also women and babies will be again on the street. [Read More]