[Squat!net]

After the first cop climbed over the fence surrounding the house, others used the ladder found in the yard of the squat.

At that moment there were three persons in the house, one of them living there permanetly. Police officers claimed that the legal owner of the house had called them. When activist told them that they had a verbal agreement with the owners, police called the owner to ask about it. After the owner had confirmed the agreement, police asked him for permission to enter the house and also asked for documents of the people inside the house. Activists refused at first but after they were threatened to be arrested for disrupting police work they gave their ID’s. A primitive “drug test” was carried out – flashlights were forced into the faces of squatters to check their pupils. While inside, policemen took photos of the house, smelled tea bags, asked about different equipment as they thought some things were stolen. Also a water heating system was partly damaged, as it was mistaken for being used for growing drugs. Nothing illegal was found. [Read More]

We are a group that squatted Commelinstraat 246 – 250 on Sunday 15th of February. On Monday morning we were awakened by a group of at least ten men, led by Menno Jeen Bos (the owner of this building) into the house. They broke down the door, and threatening physical violence, they demanded that we leave within ten seconds.

By breaking into this house, where we had secured the right to domestic peace, they took the law into their own hands. They throw us out onto the street and then threw our belongings down from the second floor onto our heads. Due to these actions a few people sustained physical injuries.

The police came and asked mister Bos the reason for the disturbance. He claimed that the house had not been empty for a year and that anti-squatters were living there last sunmmer. We know this is a lie for we have received from several neighbours, declarations that say that the house is empty for at least a year (average astimation – 2 years). When mister Bos could not reproduce any documentation for his story, the police respected our legal rights to be there and let us back into the building, with no further immediate action taken against mister Bos.

[Read More]

*SUPPORT LETTER FOR COX18 SOCIAL CENTRE*

We are writing to show our solidarity with the Cox18 Social Centre in Milan, and to support the permanent occupation of the space, after the 22-day eviction. We are also writing to support the demonstration which will take place on 28 February, in support of autonomous spaces.

Based on what we have seen on the news and over email lists, we understand the eviction of the Conchetta is part of a wider move to ‘clean up the city’, in preparation for Expo2015. We are experiencing a similar situation in London with the preparations for the 2012 Olympics, not to mention the ongoing gentrification we have experienced for a long time, caused by the expansion of the financial district and the greed of the real estate market. This has accelerated the eviction of social centres, the destruction of street markets, the privatisation of public housing and the surveillance and regulation of urban space. This situation which is shared by London, Milan, as many other cities in Europe and beyond, makes the need for spaces like the Conchetta Social Centre all the more urgent, because they represent and promote a completely different set of values. We support your attempts to take back the Centre—permanently.

To contact Cox18, email: archiviomoroni(AT)ecn.org or cox18(AT)inventati.org

http://therampart.wordpress.com

THE FIRST OF MARCH

THE PEOPLES RIGHT. THE HIGHEST LAW.

THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES FOR MORE FREE SPACES.

DEMONSTRATION AT 5pm. FROM GAMMELTORV, COPENHAGEN.

NOTHING FORGOTTEN! NOTHING FORGIVEN!

JAGTVEJ 69 WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN.

NO ALCOHOL NO PANIC.

Spread the word!!!

Call for Autonomous Demonstration 3/14/2009

United we stay- Collective, offensive, subversive.

Berlin beginning 2009: The process of gentrification continues. In the early 90′s there were more than 100 squats and now there remains only a few autonomous spaces. They are living culture projects. As redevelopments, modernisation and refurbishments continue, so does the attack on our remaining free spaces. We are being expelled from the city. There are currently about 10 projects endangered in Berlin. Gentrification is a process which doesn´t just attack, it also chases away parts of the population from their living areas, their social environment.

There are many who cannot and do not want to fit into the beautiful image of Berlin and its rich city centre of Neo liberal capitalism. Not just Berlin, everywhere. We do not want to be chased away without resistance. Our projects are colourful, diverse and also we as individuals are loud and powerful. We want to go to the streets together and demand:

-A political solution for all house projects.

-Detailed solutions for the current endangered house projects and wagon places now. Immediatly!

-We demand an end to the neo liberal city reorganisation.

The city belongs to everybody! Berlin should stay colourful, political, creative, full of solidarity, lively, diverse, but also affordable for everybody. United we stay-collective, offensive, subversive!

To find expression for our rage organise creative actions outside of the demonstration within the city, we welcome solidary actions in the entire country and everywhere. Come to Berlin, organise yourself, stay spontanious.

We need to stay together, full in solidarity for our autonomous spaces, for emancipatory projects and uncommercial culture. Make your own “redevelopments“ and reorganise the city in rebellion against the expulsion of our living projects!!!!!!!

Against expulsion and repression! For more self organisated life in Berlin and worldwide!!!!!

Fr. 3/13 from 6 pm, Rigaerstr. 78: Infos, Worshops, Food Sat. 3/14 3 pm, Hermannplatz/Neukölln: DEMO! Sun. 3/15 from 2 pm, Køpi: Breakfast, 3pm Plenum

Watch out for infopresentations nearby!!!

The demo concept and more, you can find information at: http://unitedwestay.noblogs.org or http://wba.blogspot.de

Source http://www.koepi137.net

13th/14th february 2009

The COX18 social centre in Milan has been re-occupied tonight !

http://lombardia.indymedia.org/node/13804

Tonight around 200 people re-occupied the COX18 social centre, the Kaluska Library and the Primo Moroni Archive that were evicted few weeks ago in Milan.

A demo for the self-management (autogestione) of social-spaces has been called for Saturday 28 Februray in Milan. http://cox18.noblogs.org/post/2009/02/28/manifestazione-nazionale

COX18′s door is open again.

http://cox18.noblogs.org/gallery/4839/COX18-OPEN.jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skMkz7Y8J0M

xoc for Indy UK

On Monday the 9th February, at 2.15pm, British Transport Police & Bath constabulary conspired to commit an illegal eviction of a new short-lived squat on the edge of Twerton, in Bath.

The former Twerton-on-Avon railway station fell out of use in 1917, and was briefly the site of Andromeda Gardening Services owned by R. Potter. R. Potter was arrested and found guilty of a huge cannibis growing operation in the loft of the building in 2003, and was believed to have been forced to sell the property to pay off the fine. The building was later occupied by European squatters in 2006 & 2007, whom the local residents mistakenly assumed were the cannibis dealers. Contending with that and confusing the issue, Network Rail also claimed squatters’ rights to the building, and their twelve years’ were due to be up in August 2008, except for the intervention of our European friends.

[Read More]

On the night of 6th and 7th February the web pages of the first Czech squatters’ real estate agency were launched. At the same time, the supporters of the squatters’ movement were hanging out several dozens of banners from Prague’s houses that had been unused for a long time and had been falling into disrepair.

The goal of this action is to point out the paradox that is typical for the capitalist society in developed countries of Europe: in every bigger city there are thousands of people who (because of various reasons) do not have a place to live and who are left to live in the streets. The very same streets are filled with uncared-for empty houses, whose owners do not show any interest in taking care of them. This is not just an issue of the homeless people. Except few privileged ones, this concerns practically all young people and students who would like to become independent from their parents, but they cannot afford to pay overcharged rents. The same problems are also encountered by artists who are looking for a foul territory for their creations: an acquisition of a studio in Prague remains an unreachable dream for most of them.

Nevertheless, it is required so little: to have a group of similarly thinking people and to have a desire to extricate from the experienced stereotypes and to start experimenting a bit. Anybody can try to make a deal with the owner of an empty house about its use for a symbolic rent or for maintaining it, and who will feel like it, can omit this part and move in straight away. We should not be beseeching anybody for the one of our primary rights – the right to housing. Nowadays housing policy and financial crisis make squatting completely rightful.

The project of squatters’ real estate should help everybody who will choose to take their life into their own hands. It is the time to come out from the isolation of your prefab flats, to say good bye to the terrible day-to-day job and to start looking for alternatives.

This way the life is more fun and fully lived than if we unceasingly have to pay for it to somebody.

https://realitka.squat.net

UK National Squat Meetup 2009: 14th-15th March

NATIONAL SQUAT MEET 2009

http://squatmeet09.wordpress.com/

NOW IS A PERFECT TIME TO SQUAT

Now is a perfect time to come together to share our collective creativity, rage, and pride in our cultural identity; to come together for ourselves and look to our future with solidarity and passion. Let’s meet and empower ourselves in our common struggle!

[Read More]

In 2001, a group of antifascist activists connected to the anti-German movement occupied the long-abandoned Topf & Söhne factory grounds in Erfurt, Germany, where the crematoriums for the Nazi death camps were manufactured.

From the decaying shambles they forged a dozen apartments, a free kitchen, studio & rehearsal spaces, a performance space, a free store, and a museum documenting the crimes that occurred there. They also succeeded in building a community which has become a locus for organized resistance to resurgent fascism in Germany’s east, which is an ever-present and ever-growing threat.

Local authorities intend to evict the Topf & Söhne squatters. A new owner has acquired the property and plans to demolish the site, erasing both historical evidence of the Nazi atrocities and an important community resource, so that the land can be redeveloped into a commercial complex. Only one structure, the administrative offices, will remain as an official historical site, a concession earned through the continued agitation of the squatters and allied local citizens to preserve the entirety of the site.

The squatters themselves, who have struggled nobly, will be left without a home. They nonetheless intend to stick it out, awaiting the inevitable showdown. Stand up to defend community, historical memory, and grassroots resistance! Please contact your local German consular and ask them to intervene to stop the eviction and demolition of Topf & Söhne.

Webpage: http://topf.squat.net

Source Indy UK

In South Korea, 5 people died while protesting against an imminent forced eviction…

1. Summary of the Incidence

At 6 a.m. on 20th January [2009], people who were asking for solutions to avoid eviction in February in Youngsan-Gu, Seoul lost their lives as a consequence of violent oppression from the police. A 1500 strong police force was dispatched to disperse about 50 protesters. The police actions taken toward these protesters were similar to those taken in times war.
Less than a day after those facing eviction started protesting and without further conversations or an effort to discuss the issues, the government dispatched a special police force and staged an anti-terror operation. After the police entered the building where the protesters were, a fire broke out and the circumstances became dangerous. However, without taking any safety measures, the police proceeded with the operation which resulted in the death of 5 protesters and 1 police officer.

[Read More]