On the sixth of May 1999 the City Counsel voted to close the Youth House, an autonomous youth centre i Copenhagen (Denmark. The house is historic and was build by the workers movement over 100 years ago. In 1982 it was given to the squatters movement by the mayor (he later stated that it was biggest mistake in his career), and since then it has been working as a social centre, with concerts, rehearsal space for bands, performance art, peoples kitchen, cafe, infoshop and a lot of other things.
They say that the house is a fungus-infested ruin, that it will cost 1 million pounds, to repair, and that it is only used by 25. THEY ARE LYING. We are ready to finance all reparations by ourselves. The real reason is that, we on daily basis prove that it is possible to run a community cultural centre without the interferance of the autorities and without hording money.
So far we have tried to run a peaceful campaign, to keep our house. But with the decission sixth of may, we have decided to fight for our house in every possible way. This resultet in a Black Block demonstration the 20/5. The police tried to attack the demonstration on a bridge, but they soon realised that we were better prepared than them, and they retreated (see pictures from the demo here).
Not only Ungdomshuset, but also 2 parks in the same district are threatened by eviction, and we fear they will be next, after an eviction of Ungdomshuset.
Our plans for the next months are:
Dates of other demonstrations: 16/6 and 17/6 starting at Ungdomshuset.
Day of action 10/7: from 10.00 to 15.00 actions, 15.00 Demonstration from Ungdomshuset to City Hall and later, eating and party at Christiania (an autonomous village in Copenhagen, squatted 25 years ago).
Copenhagen Jazz Festival in Ungdomshuset the 2/7-11/7
International Punk/Hardcore Festival the 9/7 and 10/7 at Christiania (Free entrance).
If you contact us we can arrange places to sleep. Call or write for information:
Adress:
Ungdomshuset
Jagtvej 69
2200 Kbh N
DK
E-mail: ungdomshuset [at] angelfire [dot] com Tlf: (0045)35839611
