On the 12th of April the Vossiusstraat 16 has their second court case, the appeal to the decision that was given in November and which had allowed the squatters to stay.
To show support to the squatters, and in order to voice our disagreement with the the high presence of Yandex in the Netherlands, a demonstration will take place on Sunday the 9th of April. It will start on Leidseplein at 3pm!

Volozh, the billionaire Maltese passport-purchaser, was put on the sanctions list because Yandex promoted Kremlin propaganda and passed on data about activists to the state. All while being registered as a company in the Netherlands. Yandex's news site has in the meantime been bought by the Russian state and now the company thinks they can turn over a bright new leaf as a normal. Since the first court case, Volozh’s company Yandex has massively expanded their presence in the Netherlands. Other EU countries have banned Yandex services from operating in their country, but not the Netherlands!

Because this country thinks it’s perfectly fine to let any company, no matter their shady ethics, to settle here and barely pay taxes. Supposedly, that’s good for the economy. But in the mean time, there’s a housing crisis, there’s a crisis in healthcare — what's good for the economy doesn't seem to be any good for us.

After the Vossiusstraat 16 won the court case against oligarch Arkady Volozh, he decided to appeal. We are demonstrating against the buying up of our city by the rich who see Amsterdam as an investment and a fun little playground for their shitty yuppie tastes. Even in the court documents, his son says he plans to come to Amsterdam ‘a few times a year’, because it’s a ‘really cool city’.

In the meantime, instead of being a holiday house for oligarchs, Vossiusstraat 16 has been made into a social center which has been hosting political discussions, meetings, parties and fundraisers. Vossiusstraat 16 is a house, but also a place of resistance and creation. It's a place to come together, organize politically and build anarchist alternatives. We believe that this is a better way to use this huge mansion.

Volozh is still on the sanctions list, he’s still not allowed to travel in the EU, he has no business owning property in Amsterdam.

There is a housing crisis in this country, but not for oligarchs! They think having a second (or third, or fourth...) home in a country they visit a few times a year and leave empty the rest of the time is perfectly fine. Meanwhile the rest of us struggle to find proper housing and to remain in the city that we want to live in.

On Sunday 9th of April a demonstration in support of the Vossiusstraat 16 squat and against Yandex and oligarchs will take place. We meet at 3pm on Leidseplein!

There's not too few houses, there's just too many rich people!