Binario 68, an eclectic squat born in March 2014 in a huge disused tobacco factory in the suburbs of Lecce, was evicted by cops and Digos in the early hours of Wednesday 2nd September. After a year and a half of initiatives, meetings, talks, concerts, parties, exhibitions, tattoo circuses and other activities, the occupiers were thrown out of their home by the usual bastards in uniform, but not before resisting till the end.
A spontaneous demo through the centre of the town, a confrontation with the mayor of Lecce in the corridors of the town hall, a lot of noise and rubbish bins upturned on pavements following the intervention of the cops, as many people arrived in solidarity from all over the province. The day ended with the occupation of another abandoned building, just to show how the Binario 68 squatters, however varied a group they are, don’t like the city of Lecce, its luxury shops and restaurants, prudish citizens, political leaders, radical chic leftists, historic centre transformed into a disgusting shop window for rich shoppers, cops, cameras, fascists, and so on.
That’s why they had decided to occupy the tobacco factory and lift it from the state of degradation characteristic of the city suburbs, a place where their desires and ideas could be expressed and experienced in ways quite different to those of the wealthy bourgeoisie, characteristic of Lecce’s high streets. The Binario 68 squatters didn’t waste time: they occupied another place on the very day that the authorities evicted them; and two days later they moved to a bigger and brighter squat.
Here is what the squatters themselves say:
After the eviction of Binario68, our immediate response to the heinous police repression was to occupy an ex post office situated on Via Leuca. During the two days we occupied the building we had a lot of discussion, trying to imagine a place where it would be possible to create some long-term projectuality.
Taking these days as a temporary stage, we made an effort to find a place that suited our needs and those of the city. We feel the urge to stay close to it so as to involve everyone, be they people in solidarity with us or just curious about In order to be a presence in the area.
So we identified a new place, this one also long abandoned and forgotten. It is an ex slaughter house situated in Via San Nicola, the same site that had caused widespread indignation for being a real open air rubbish dump. It is important to be many to collaborate in sorting out the space, so we invite anyone willing to bring solidarity to help us with the work.
There will be cleaning up inside the place the whole day.
At 1.30pm collective lunch, at 7pm open meeting and from 9pm DJ sets.
WE ARE OCCUPYING YET AGAIN, CONTINUING TO DO WHAT WE’VE ALWAYS DONE AGAINST AUTHORITY AND REPRESSION.
FOR SELF-MANAGEMENT AND FOR THE STRUGGLE!
