Another illegal eviction. Saturday afternoon we announced a new squat on Zeeburgerpad 22. Not much later we were forced to pack our bags and leave again. Thanks to the presence of a large number of friends outside, people inside managed to get away safely without getting arrested. But of course, no one is safe if they’re sleeping in the streets, so we’ll be back.
On the 18th of February, we made it public that we squatted Zeeburgerpad 22. Many people showed up to show support and protect the occupation.
We had already been inside for a week and had evidence of this. But as some of the members of our collective are in a vulnerable position we decided to force contact with the owner/ police by dropping a banner & speaking to the neighbours. It wasn’t the first time this place has been squatted, it was squatted in 2013 and again in 2018.
After the last eviction in 2021, some renovations took place but apart from that nothing much happened, the place remained empty. The daughter of the owner and Pablo ( the neighbour and owner of the company next door) showed up and provided us with some much-needed entertainment. [Read More]
Amsterdam: Evictions continue, Squatting will too!
Amsterdam: Statement about the illegal eviction at Noorderdwarsstraat 9
On the 24th of January, a squat in the center of Amsterdam got revealed by Autonomous Shelter, a squatted appartment on Noorderdwarsstraat 9. The same morning it got illegaly evicted.
This appartment had been empty since four to six years, according to the neighbors. The neighbours were all supportive, bringing us tea and chatting with us. The beginning of the action went really calmly. We provided cops with documents showing that we had been living there since the 21st of February, and neighbors told us they could indeed confirm our house peace if the cops asked them.
After over an hour of waiting we suddenly got the message that they would evict us and that we had 5 min to leave. 5 police vans appeared and suddenly 30 cops were standing in the small street. When we asked why they wanted to evict us they first stated “because squatting is illegal”. Only after, one of them told us it was for heterdaad, meaning that they claimed to have caught us in the act.
This is total bullshit as all our documents and the statements from the neighbors showed that we had house peace. [Read More]
Ghent: The Pandemisten occupy ‘t Vredeshuis!
Peace, love and a little revolution.
Since January 2023 we occupy ‘t Vredeshuis!
The government tries to sell our public places without us noticing.
But the Pandemisten are back from never gone! We take direct action and fight against the privatization of our city!
‘t Vredeshuis was a place for international solidarity with a lot of organisations involved. We continue with this mission from bottom up and work together with organisations like Rojava Congres Gent, Woman life freedom, …
The biggest changes in the world came out of small initiatives from big dreamers. We take back ‘t Vredeshuis and welcome everyone to fight
together for what is ours: THE CITY!
Come join this new social-cultural centre! there’s a lot of space for a lot of projects!
Friday 20 january, reception, grand opening: https://squ.at/r/96ld [Read More]
London: The Autonomous Cafe & Bookshop returns
The Autonomous Cafe & Bookshop is re-opening this Wednesday [Dec 14] at 88 Hardinge Street, Shadwell. It will continue to provide liberated coffee and food on a pay-what-you-can basis, and serve as a warm bank for the increasing numbers of people unable to access heating. Doors will open from 2pm, and there will be an open mic from 6pm onward, with all funds raised shared among those working at the cafe, and used to contribute to the project.
“People are fucking dying. In times of crisis, environmental, economic or otherwise, there’s a choice to be made. We reject the servile passivity which brought us to this point. We hope you’ll join us in doing the same, in expressing your own solidarity and resilience.
[Read More]
Mexico: Call For Solidarity With Yorch And Okupa Che
The following is a statement on the recent arrest of compañero Yorch of the Okupa Che in Mexico City.
On Thursday, December 8, 2022, at approximately 8:30 pm, in Ciudad Universitaria, UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) in the south of Mexico City, “Yorch” Jorge Esquivel was followed by three people in civilian clothes, once outside the university property, more than a dozen plainclothes police officers separated him from his bicycle and immobilized him in order to force him into a gray car without plates and with tinted windows. This is an illegal but common police practice in Mexico City. Jorge’s whereabouts were unknown until later that night, when he contacted a compañero to tell him that he was being held in the Reclusorio Preventivo Varonil Oriente (Mexico’s largest prison) and that his hearing was scheduled for the following morning. After a long wait, in the evening at the conclusion of the hearing, Jorge’s lawyer informed us that our compañero had been detained on the basis of a re-arrest warrant and that the judge had determined that the proceedings would be resumed during which he does not have the right to be released, so no bail was set.
[Read More]
USA: A Communiqué From The Liberated Dining Halls Of So-Called Santa Cruz
During the ongoing United Auto Workers (UAW) strike by workers on UC campuses, dining halls have been liberated and opened up to strikers and the wider community. The following communiqué, from so-called Santa Cruz, addresses a recent coordinated wave of dining hall liberations.
The colonial capitalist university will never win. Union sell-outs and scabs will never win.
Here at so-called Santa Cruz, we declare and express our solidarity to all communities in struggle. Today, along with comrades across so-called California, we are engaging in a transterritorial attack on UC incorporated and what they call food insecurity, a condition created by their capitalist greed. These spaces, like the dining commons, are spaces we understand as battlegrounds of the ongoing war against subsistence, where proles take up the war against capital by expropriating dining halls and feeding one another.
[Read More]
Athens: about the repressive operation and the defense of Prosfygika
We are still here … The Community remains strong and united … Prosfygika will win!!!!
On 22/11/2022, at 5.45 am, all kinds of police forces, riot police MAT, state security, Delta, OPKE and EKAM, invaded the squated neighbourhood of Prosfygika on Alexandra Avenue and more specifically the 7th block, on Tikhonidos Street (behind the Elpis Hospital). They broke through the outer door of the building, breaking it. Then they went up to the second floor where two community companions, the arrested companion and another refugee from Iran live. They kidnapped both of them and proceeded to carry out a thorough search of the building. At the same time, the entire neighborhood was surrounded by the repression forces, not only at the site of the search but in total, attempting to occupy it.
The operation was spotted by the community’s daily morning patrol who began to inform the neighborhood. Comrades and compañeras took to the rooftops to wake up the rest of us. Not knowing exactly what was happening, we recognized that the operation was limited to a specific building, but we also realized the serious possibility of a general attack. In retrospect, we judge that the invasion that took place was premeditated from the morning. All the time that elapsed until the moment of the invasion was the result of preparation, judgment on costs and gains, as well as a measurement of our determination, by the officials of the GADA and the ministry. [Read More]
Amsterdam: update Vossiusstraat 16 squat
Last Wednesday we heard the verdict of our court case. As many of you may have heard already, WE WON! This is not just great for all the people living in the Vossiusstraat squat and organising political events in it, but for the entire squatting movement and for everyone who likes watching (Russian) billionaires get their property taken away.
Volozh’s lawyer tried to claim that Volozh’s family plans to move into the building. In that case, why did they split the building into three different addresses? Why are there SIX bathtubs? Why does every floor have its own locks?
The renovations of the building were ruled to be unlawful. If we had not squatted the building, they would have continued their works undisturbed — as per their own admittance. This makes clear that at this moment, the sanctions are not actually being upheld by the Dutch government. [Read More]
Brighton: Court update
Deputy district dickhead (and judge) “Hang ’em” Mills last week gave an enthralling lesson in British justice to supporters of the Squat the Slope occupation, which was in court in Brighton to fight an IPO (the fast track possession claim). The squat has been there for almost a month, fighting a fantastic struggle against the university’s megalomaniac plans to turn all students into consumerbots.
[Read More]
Amsterdam: come to the court case for Vossiusstraat 16
CALL TO ACTION: Come to our civil court case and support the squat on the Vossiusstraat 16!
This Wednesday 9th of November 10:30 at Parnassusweg 280, 1076 AV Amsterdam. Let’s show the judge, the owner Arkadiy Volozj (who is a sanctioned Russian billionaire) and Wolfs Advocaten that there is broad support for the squatting of Vossiusstraat 16. Volozj’s involvement in the war will not go unnoticed. We will not be intimidated by the law or the rich!
The court case is publicly accessible. You can be present for the entire hearing, or a part thereof, to show support for the action. To attend the hearing you need to show your identification at the entrance of the courthouse, but your name will not be shared with anyone besides the personel of the courthouse. It is therefore not anonymous, we encourage those who do not feel comfortable identifying themselves to the court to show up anyway but stay outside in front of the courthouse as a solidarity protest. [Read More]
Amsterdam: building from russian oligarch squatted
Today we are announcing our new home at Vossiusstraat 16. The police just arrived! Come and support.
We purposefully decided to squat this building, owned by Russian billionaire Arkadiy Volozj. As everyone knows, the Russian army invaded Ukraine this year. This is just the latest in a list of Putin’s crimes, against Ukraine, against LGBT people, in Syria, and many more. With this year’s invasion, the Russian state is finally widely denounced as criminal, genocidal, and as an authoritarian state. Volozj, who founded Russian propaganda site Yandex, has been placed on the sanctions list of the European Union since the invasion, as the EU determined he “is supporting, materially or financially, the Government of the Russian Federation and is responsible for supporting actions or policies which undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.”.
Yet this house was not frozen until a few weeks ago, because it’s owned through a company on the Virgin Islands. The billionaire’s lawyers contacted the government to inform them of his property here, but the government didn’t send it on to the department responsible for sanctions. Clearly, the Dutch state doesn’t see it as a priority to curb billionaires and oligarchs. National sanctions coordinator Stef Blok claimed that the Dutch housing market just isn’t interesting to Russian oligarchs. That’s obviously bullshit.
About 9000 properties in the Netherlands were bought through companies in tax havens. 6000 houses are owned by companies that through shady constructions are untraceable. In total, they own 10.5 billion euros worth of properties. It’s clear: There is no housing shortage, there is an excess of rich people. [Read More]
Rotterdam: a house in the Pompenburg flat has been squatted
There are new squatters in town! A house in the Pompenburg flat has been squatted by the anarchist collective RATS. It’s squatted in solidarity with the inhabitants of the Pompenburg Flat who are fighting against the demolition of the building.
The building which is home to hundreds of residents in 226 social housing homes was announced to be demolished in 2019 (and residents only found out by the newspaper!) for a 250 meter high tower developed by RED Company in collaboration with social housing corporation Havensteder and gemeente Rotterdam. The building, which was originally not in the redevelopment plans for the Pompenburg area, was campaigned to be demolished by the municipality themselves despite over 80% of the residents against demolition. These plans also call for the eviction and destruction of communal gardens in Park Pompenburg and the various community projects based in Schieblock whom are dear friends of ours, for high rise towers of mostly luxury apartments.
We stand in solidarity with the residents organizing and fighting for the last three years against backroom deals to demolish their homes. Sloop ons niet! [Read More]