Defend our autonomous spaces!
Ungdomshuset (Youth house) in Copenhagen, Denmark, is an autonomous space run according to anti-authoritarian and anti-capitalist principles. Ungdomshuset is used for various activities such as DIY concerts and festivals (including the K-town festival), soup kitchens, radical meetings, bookstore/info shop, screen-printing, rehearsing rooms and studio, city garden, and much more; all arranged and run by the people who use the house.
Ungdomshuset was given to the autonomous/squatter movement in 1982, after a long struggle with government and police, for a self-organized youth center. In 1999 the government put the house on the market. The official reason was: \223The house is only used by 25 subcultural youths\224. This is not the case! The truth is that it is used by several hundreds of different people and has since birth, been a thorn in the side of the government!
The house was bought by a fundamentalist Christian group called Faderhuset (The Father house), whose goal is to start a church and save us all from Satan. Of course we will not accept this! Since 2001 Faderhuset has dragged us through the courtroom circus. The verdict is set for September 18th, but no matter what they decide we are here to stay!
For 24 years the house has been an active part in the fight against normalization and apathy and a place for people to be themselves outside the oppressive norms of society.
National court has spoken … but nobody listened 29 Aug 2006
Yesterday on Monday the 28th the national court decided to second the decision of Copenhagen City Court from 2003. This means that we have lost the right to use the house.
After the verdict we had a huge meeting with several hundred people where we discussed what to do.
We have of course decided not to follow the decision of the court. We have not spent the last 24 years developing a unique culture centre used by thousands of kids and youngsters from the whole city, – and the rest of the world just to throw it all away on the whim of a corrupt legal system.
Throughout this whole process we have tried to get the politicians to take responsibility for their mistakes and join the efforts to find a solution. They have not showed any interest in this.
Therefore we must underline that if a political solution is made impossible then confrontations will be inevitable.
What will happen now is uncertain but we will prepare ourselves for an eviction attempt from the police in the coming weeks and months. At the same time we are encouraging everybody everywhere to do actions in support of Ungdomshuset and send their pictures and statements to info [at] ungeren [dot] dk. By so doing, we will show Faderhuset and the politicians, that the only authority over Jagtvej 69 is Ungdomshuset’s assembly.
Show up in September!!! We would also like to invite everybody for the weekend 22nd thtough 24th of September. There will be a lot of things going on. A large demonstration on the 23rd and a Reclaim the Streets action on the 24th amongst parties, exhibitions, debates and more. It is going be a blast don’t miss it.
Love Ungdomshuset
—
Status Tuesday the politicians wish to negotiate 30 Aug 2006
The National Court spoke Monday. Since a lot has been happening. This is an attempt to summarize some of what has happened until late Tuesday.
Monday We had call for an extraordinary assembly in the house after the court released its decision. Copenhagen was crawling with cops since noon. But the cops had forgotten that this fight is bigger than N�rrebro. Different groups in other cities carried out solidarity-actions and in Norway the Danish embassy in Oslo was occupied by friends of Ungdomshuset
Most of the evening was spend debating our next moves. The big concert hall was full of people eager to act. We decided right away that in the case of an eviction attempt we would not set any limitations to how people should express their rage. We also decided to get as many actions as possible going to show how many we are who are ready to defend the house. Tuesday Under the cover of night the kids of Copenhagen had expressed their feelings about the courts decision. In spite of a massive police presence in the area most banks on N�rrebro had been attacked and new graffiti sprung up everywhere. The cops were extremely pissed that they did not catch anyone.
Before noon an old military island fort was occupied and the police had to use boats to stop the action and get the Ungdomshus-pirates. In the afternoon people started dropping by with materials for barricading and from the website support messages kept running in
Before it was dark the politicians decided to meet for negotiations Thursday. We welcome this initiative. In the meantime the barricading of the house continued.
At around 9 pm a party started on the bridge to the inner city. It was of course harassed by the police. People had to fight their way through heavy rain and aggressive police to escape mass arrests.
Late Tuesday N�rrebro was still crawling with anxious cops\205
More info: www.ungdomshuset.dk
THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES!
[squat!net]
